Agroecology Coordination – how to protect Sicily’s immense biodiversity heritage
Agroecology Coordination – how to protect Sicily’s immense biodiversity heritage
The land of Sicily is probably one of the most unique and rare places that exists in the world and, almost always, those who were born there and live there do not realize it. This awareness, unfortunately, is rarer than you think and only a few people, researchers, scholars, enthusiasts, in love with this land grasp its uniqueness; among these I often mention Renzino Barbera, a true and authentic Sicilian poet, who wrote on the subject: “… on the sixth day, God completed his work and pleased to have created so much beauty, he took the earth in his hands and kissed it , where he put his lips is Sicily”; any comment seems superfluous to us.
But where does so much beauty come from, surely from being at the center of that Mediterranean sea, a historical crossroads of peoples, traditions, art, history, hope ….
However, there is a heritage among the heritages that we must make understood not only by the millions of tourists who come to visit us every year but above all by its inhabitants and, in particular, by young people and, therefore, by future generations.
It is the heritage of biodiversity.
In order to understand the size and importance of this heritage, one should bear in mind that in the European panorama, Italy is the country which, by far, has the highest number of species: we host about half of the plant species and about a third of all animal species currently present in Europe.
Within Italy, Sicily, together with Sardinia, leads the national ranking of biodiversity, confirming itself as an island of wonders, clearly detaching the other very rich Italian island.
Wanting to give very concise information, just think that in Sicily the fauna is estimated at over 58,000 species, of which about 55,000 of Invertebrates (95%), 1812 of Protozoa (3%) and 1265 of Vertebrates (2%), with a overall incidence of endemic species equal to about 30%.
As far as the flora is concerned, there are 3252 specific and infraspecific, native, adventitious and naturalized taxa, divided into 880 genera and 134 families. Therefore, despite the strong anthropization and the degradation of natural ecosystems, the Sicilian flora is still surprisingly rich thanks to the remarkable variety of environments, bioclimates, types of soils and rocks, orographic configurations, etc.
The richest genera are: Trifolium (64), Limonium (45), Allium (37), Ophrys (33), Silene (32), Centaurea (31), Anthemis (19), Brassica (18), Linaria (16) , Dianthus and Helichrysum (13), Micromeria (11) and Genista (10). The most represented families are the Asteraceae (371), Poaceae (300), Fabaceae (295). Brassicaceae (141), Apiaceae (135) etc., 64 entities referable to the Pteridophyta, 14 are Gymnospermae, 3173 are Angiospermae (2463 Dicotyledons and 710 Monocotyledons).
The biogeographical spectrum shows the prevalence of the Mediterranean element (46.88%), followed by the Eastern (13.14%), the Western (9.75%), the Boreal (8.58%) and the Southern ( 8.55%). Cosmopolitans are represented by 426 taxa (13.1%). Endemism (included entirely in the Mediterranean element) is 15.44%, of which 9.90% (about 380 taxa according to recent estimates) is exclusive to Sicily, 3.69% is shared with Southern Italy, while the endemics shared with a few other areas of the Mediterranean amount to 1.85%.
In a nutshell, it is a biodiversity, also the result of an ecodiversity, which is found only in the continental levels, which make Sicily a real biodiversity hotspot which, however, is threatened by habitat loss, climate change and extensive loss of species.
We recall that biodiversity represents a wealth of information, energy and living matter which, if lost, risks jeopardizing human life itself and its geopolitical balance. It is something on which we still little reflect and in which the world of politics does very little or nothing.
Yet something starts to move.
Suffice it to say that the first Italian research center dedicated to biodiversity was born in these days: the National Biodiversity Future Center, which kicks off with 300 million euros and 1,300 researchers.
This center is coordinated by the National Research Council, it is one of the five national centers established as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan: Among the topics it will deal with, there are strategies for dealing with the climate crisis and those for species invasive aliens, the recovery of degraded ecosystems and the study of endangered species. The Center will also have the objective of understanding and addressing the factors associated with the decline of biodiversity at marine, terrestrial and urban levels, and of enhancing biodiversity to make it a great opportunity for economic development.
And how not to mention the L.R. 21 of 29 July 2021 of the Sicilian Region on “Agroecology, protection of biodiversity and Sicilian agricultural products and technological innovation in agriculture…”; a law created and approved to protect not only the island’s agricultural biodiversity but also to avoid interference between agricultural production systems and natural ecosystems.
But all this is not enough, it is necessary to involve the communities, free citizens’ organizations, such as those of the Agroecology Coordination of Sicily which, after having concretely collaborated in the drafting and approval of the aforementioned law, proposes to dialogue with the social and political parties to now move on to concrete acts, including not only regulatory aspects but also addressing, training and awareness-raising aspects.
The work carried out by the Agroecology Coordination, especially for the proposal of the Rural Energy Plan of Sicily and the path that led to the law on Agroecology of the Sicilian Region and the subsequent implementation steps, has been taken as an example and model of virtuous policies for a proposal from Horizon Europe, entitled INCITE-DEM, in response to a call for tenders Reshaping democracies.
We recall that INCITE-DEM is a project that aims to improve inclusive participation and civic engagement, expanding democratic innovation and dynamic feedback mechanisms between citizens and institutional actors in representative democracies.
The proposal is conducted by the FCiencias.ID Association of Lisbon, with European partners, including the Kyoto Club for Italy. The Kyoto Club is a non-profit organization, created in February 1999, made up of companies, bodies, associations and local administrations, committed to achieving the objectives of reducing greenhouse gas emissions undertaken with the Kyoto Protocol, with the decisions at EU level and with the Paris Agreement of December 2015.
This recognition gives the Agroecology Coordination greater responsibility. It is a race against time, against indifference rather than against the great interests of multinationals and finance which, in a cohesive cultural fabric and conscience, could not take root.
To all the inhabitants of the planet Earth, and not only to the Sicilians, the watchword is: to pass from complaints to concrete facts, to virtuous democratic processes, and not those of armed revolutions, which bring only devastation, destruction and death, but those of the revolutions of consciences with their consequent taking of positions and consequent actions.
Guido Bissanti