Press Release
Kick-off meeting del Progetto Interreg IT-HR "BlueDiversity"
BlueDiversity – the Interreg Italy-Croatia 2021 – 2027 project for the creation of replicable models for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems starts on Monday 23rd September, 2024 in Lecce, Italy.
On 23 and 24 September 2024, the kick-off meeting of the BlueDiversity project, financed by the Interreg VI – A (2021 – 2027) cooperation programme involving the Italian and Croatian regions bordering the Adriatic Sea, will be held at the Rectorate of the University of Salento (Piazza Tancredi 7, Lecce, Italy).
University of Salento, leader of BlueDiversity project through the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, coordinates an Italian-Croatian public-private partnership consisting of two other research institutions – the Institute of Oceanography & Fisheries in Split (Croatia) and the University of Padova, two institutions both managing protected coastal areas – the Public Institution for the Management of Protected Areas of Nature in Split Dalmatia County – Sea and Karst (Croatia) and the Public Institution for the Management of Protected Natural Areas of Dubrovnik-Neretva County (Croatia), and two private Italian companies – namely Eduforma and Blue Marine Service.
BlueDiversity aims to create replicable models to support biodiversity and the conservation of coastal ecosystems in the current transition phase towards a blue economy in the Adriatic Sea. Cross-border pilot actions focus on the application of innovative tools for the assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services, as well as sustainable practices in order to reduce human impacts and safeguard economic activities.
Key objectives of the project, which will close on 31 August 2026, include stakeholder engagement, the creation of living labs and a virtual open space to support local activities, while promoting collaboration between stakeholders, schools and local communities.
The pilot activities under the coordination of University of Salento will be carried out at the Acquatina Research Centre in Frigole, a field research infrastructure that includes a coastal lagoon. The Acquatina Lagoon is a privileged site as it is part of the NATURA 2000 network, the group of sites of community interest and special protection areas created by the European Union for the protection and conservation of habitats and species.
As Prof. Maurizio Pinna, Scientific Coordinator of the project, emphasizes ‘The coastal strip of the Adriatic Sea has historically been characterized by a mosaic of socio-economic, cultural and ecological conditions whose stability is strongly threatened by environmental factors of change linked to different scales, global vs. local, acting on this same context, forcing evolution and adaptation, not always positively, and that require differentiated interventions with respect to the levels of human dimensions involved’
Prof. M. Pinna continues, ‘When threats lead to possible radical changes, the effect mainly affects local economic operators, who are highly exposed to these changes and lack adequate knowledge and tools to deal with them. We believe it is essential to support them, by strengthening research, the development of practices for sustainable management of resources and productions processes, and for the conservation of biodiversity.’
For more details: https://www.italy-croatia.eu/web/bluediversity
