The health of our ecosystem is at risk: we are facing a severe climate change, wildfires and floods, and a worldwide health pandemic.
Humans are disrupting biodiversity with deforestation, land-use change, intensified agriculture and livestock production or the growing illegal wildlife trade, actually increasing the transmission of infectious diseases from animals to humans like COVID-19.
According to the UN Environment Programme, from one new infection disease that emerges in humans every 4 months, 75% of these emerging diseases come from animals.
This demonstrates the profound correlation between human, animal and environmental health.
Last year we saw nature take back its spaces, while emissions and pollution have been reduced due to a more conscious use of resources, it is clear that we need to change our habits and move towards a more sustainable economy that works for both people and the planet.
New measures are therefore needed to combat climate change and implement sustainable development goal 13 by 2030. Adopting responsible consumption behaviour choosing sustainable energy solutions could be the first step steps to regain harmony with nature and restore our damaged ecosystems.
We think the value of this World Mother Earth Day is to remind ourselves that respect for our planet starts with each one of us, rather than with individual governments. This is why the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration will be officially launched with World Environment Day 2021 (5 June), with the main aim to help us stop, halt, and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and every ocean.
CESIE is fully committed in supporting the environmental protection, choosing responsible energy behaviors and promoting trainings for professionals to reduce the environmental impact of productive activities.
Here are our initiatives in the field.
Climate Box – Fighting the climate change building a more sustainable and inclusive society
Climate action and sustainability are key areas for broad societal engagement. We need everyone’s contribution in order to succeed in fighting climate change and building a more sustainable and inclusive society for everyone. Climate Box aims at supporting VET institutions and educational professionals in integrating climate change and climate action into their daily practices, therefore allowing people in lifelong learning education to engage with the issue of climate change and participating in the green transition, ultimately ensuring its success. By strengthening the competences of VET providers and educators through a set of 60 learning units covering all areas from climate and environmental education to consumptions and lifestyle choices we aim at reaching adults, especially those facing challenges, and stimulating their participation into the discussion and activating their input for the green transition. for additional information and getting involved in the project please contact Ettore Costa: ettore.costa@cesie.org
CRETHINK – Urban regeneration and innovative models of local governance
With the aim of promoting an innovative model of shared, collaborative and polycentric territorial governance, CESIE involved the students of the Istituto Magistrale “Camillo Finocchiaro Aprile” in a training course that will culminate in the pedestrianisation and consequent regeneration of the road adjacent to the school complex in Palermo. The students will be actively involved in the design of the green area through virtual workshops based on a participatory approach that will allow them to design the space and elaborate its prototype. To this end, as part of the CRETHINK project, CESIE established a partnership with the local working group responsible for the project implementation, Tu Sei La Città and PUSH.
For further information contact Manfredi Trapolino: manfredi.trapolino@cesie.org
ECHOTOURISM – Eco-friendly good practices for resposibile tourism
The European partners of the ECHO-Tourism project are finalizing the online training modules on responsible tourism, focusing on 6 main themes: food, water, waste management, cultural and natural heritage, mobility, energy as well as “eco-friendly good practices”. Tourists, professionals and/or operators in the tourism sector will be able to adopt these practices. Furthermore, the project aims to create new synergies among all stakeholders who promote sustainable development good practices and share a common vision of sobriety and eco-social responsibility.
Would you like to know more? Visit echo-tourism.eu/outputs or contact Laura La Scala, laura.lascala@cesie.org
GreenInterculturality – New models of integration and social cohesion from the environment
In an increasingly globalised European context exposed to the repercussions of the recent economic and social crises, the close link between the natural environment and intercultural dynamics plays a key role in strengthening social cohesion while establishing new integration models. It is in this sense that the GreenInterculturality project aims to thoroughly explore this relationship, at the same time promoting the inclusion of migrants and immigrants in the city of Palermo by the means of workshops and sustainable initiatives that include the “environmental component”, eventually valuing the knowledge and experience of different cultural backgrounds living together in the same urban context.
For further information contact Manfredi Trapolino: manfredi.trapolino@cesie.org.
ReFace – Managing environmental resources responsibly to create resilient communities
The sustainable management of environmental resources is essential to strengthen regional resilience. ReFace project aims to contribute to the creation of resilient communities, providing key-stakeholders with the necessary resources to enhance their competences and skills. The European Report conducted by ReFace partnership highlighted some of the environmental measures implemented in partners’ countries (Italy, Slovakia, France, Spain) and allowed to take relevant ideas to define the contents of the MOOC “Regions facing shocks: building resilient community”, currently at its initial stage.
For further information: visit reface-project.eu/ or contact Simona Sglavo: simona.sglavo@cesie.org
LIVERUR – Circular economy and living labs to unlock rural areas potential
Sustainable, circular and thriving rural areas are at the center of the LIVERUR (Horizon 2020) Project. The partnership including universities, research centers, public bodies and NGOs is developing and piloting a set of approaches based on the concept of Living Labs to support rural areas and unlock their potential. The living lab methodology is centered around the concept of interconnection and cooperation among stakeholders in order to generate new business models and ideas able to generate opportunities in rural areas while focusing on circular economy, social inclusion, innovation in agricultural practices and environmental and social sustainability. The RAIN Platform developed by the LIVERUR partnership, is designed to help rural stakeholders with the process of implementing living lab based methodologies in order to work on rural area’s economic, social, environmental sustainability.
For more information please contact Ettore Costa: ettore.costa@cesie.org
UNI-ECO – Good environmental practices at university campuses
The UNI-ECO project is the result of a solid cooperation between five European universities that share the goal of placing sustainability at the core of their strategies and action plans, thus promoting the adoption of good environmental practices on their campuses through the direct involvement of the entire university community – academia, students and administrative staff. One of the key products of the project are the Living Labs (LLs), which are cooperation models integrating pedagogical tools and innovation processes designed by CESIE to co-create project proposals that respond to concrete environmental needs in the environmental field, such as waste reduction, conscious consumption, sustainable mobility and biodiversity.
For further information contact Manfredi Trapolino: manfredi.trapolino@cesie.org.
