The Italian Hiking Federation(FIE) proposes a program for the development of the marginal and mountainous areas of our country, with a view to long-term structural interventions that enhance neglected but potentially strategic realities.
Guardians of ecosystems
In the mountainous territory, thousands of workers-small farmers, ranchers, artisans, artists-have been participating in ecosystem conservation for centuries. With the characteristic activities of mountain agriculture (farming, herding and transhumance) and various initiatives to enhance the area.
The FIE’s appeal is addressed to all institutions, central and local, which in the Covid-19 era are called upon to plan the country’s economic agenda as a matter of urgency.
The development program
The Rural Community Development Program of Marginal and Mountain Areas must consider:
– guarantee of universal services (post office, banking, health care, basic education, social services),
– Tax simplification and/or defiscalization for small business operators,
– Essential telematic and road infrastructure,
– renewable energy plan,
– subsidized ‘green’ credit lines,
– Land maintenance and restoration of historical, monumental and environmental assets,
– Funding for policies to protect biodiversity and enhance ancient production varieties,
– A plan on green tourism, focusing on the usability of protected areas and hiking trails in the entirety of their hierarchical value (European Trails, Thematic Trails, High Routes, Historical and Local Thematic Trails).
The gradual abandonment and consequent depopulation of rural and mountainous areas must be averted, including through specific legislative interventions, to safeguard ancient knowledge and techniques, a socio-cultural and morphological-territorial safeguard.
The protection of inland and mountain valleys, and the natural heritage reposed in them, holds additional value after the experience with the Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed, preserving the natural environment, without further subtracting soil, is among the best precautions against the emergence and spread of viruses originating in certain animal species that are candidates for species jumping.
Similarly, facilitating life in less populated housing developments that are more in harmony with nature, as opposed to urbanized and more polluted settings, can prove to be a powerful public health protection measure.
Giulia Caddeo
Graduated in law, master in Food, Law & Finance. You have explored the theme of green procurement and urban food policies in the International Cooperation and Peace sector of the City of Turin.
