International Centre for Sustainable Development (IZNE)
Report: Green Economy Symposium
„"The symposium gave me a great insight into the Sardinian agriculture and the efforts to combine sustainability and education locally."”
"The symposium gave me a great insight into the Sardinian agriculture and the efforts to combine sustainability and education locally."
From the 3rd until the 7th of October 2021 the DAAD-Symposium “Green Economy, Climate and Biodiversity Conservation and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) for a Sound Prosperity – An Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Dialogue- Platform on the Italian Island of Sardinia” – has taken place in Sardinia. The symposium was inter- and transdisciplinary with the participation of German and Sardinian experts, scientists, PhDs and students from different disciplines and departments such as Agriculture, Biology, Political Sciences, and Economics. Altogether, 12 persons from Germany and 18 from Sardinia participated in the activities.
Dialogue for Sustainable Development
The symposium consisted of oral presentations, workshops, field excursions, and public events with the overarching goal to establish a long-term Dialogue-Platform for further activities and to identify and develop possible training modules and programmes of the participating universities as well as of other partner organizations. The symposium was based on the following key questions:
- What is biodiversity and why is it important? How could we better protect and manage it to prevent environmental risks?
- How can Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and capacity building contribute to sustainable and sound development in Sardinia, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in order to overcome the weak economic development with high unemployment and social inequality towards sound prosperity as an example for Italy?
- How can Green Economy contribute to sustainable development and nature conservation on the island? Which peculiarities is Sardinia facing nowadays?
- How can new and innovative jobs be created though the protection and conservation of natural resources and biodiversity? Which adapted training/programs are necessary?
Involving local stakeholders
The participants discussed the above mentioned topics during the symposium, shared their knowledge and experience, and developed joint project ideas for the nearest future. Local stakeholders like farmers, practitioners (i.e. agronomists and other consultants) and regional consultants for agriculture and education were invited to discuss practical applications and capacity building opportunities and to give input (transdisciplinarity). Workshops took place with a focus on sustainable agriculture, sustainable tourism and ESD and with special attention to rural and coastal environments, biodiversity conservation as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation.
A film documenting the events of the symposium will be available on this page.
„"The conference, for me, is a valuable opportunity to get down-to-earth experiences in sustainable development promotion from the dedicated experts and locals in the beautiful Sardinia."”
"The conference, for me, is a valuable opportunity to get down-to-earth experiences in sustainable development promotion from the dedicated experts and locals in the beautiful Sardinia."
Recommendations for decision-makers
One of the major outcomes of the symposium was the belief that sustainable development in Sardinia including the integration of green economy, biodiversity and climate conservation is feasible and achievable but only under certain conditions.
Key drivers for successful implementation were identified as follows:
- Governance and governmental willingness and support
- Harmonised regulations and guidelines
- Less bureaucracy and adequate land planning
- Stakeholder engagement, including citizens and the civil society
- A bottom-up approach and the scaling up of successful initiatives
- Building strong partnerships and cooperation among different institutions at the local, national and international level, in particular involving the scientific community
- A trans- and interdisciplinary approach
- Transparency and communication with local people to raise awareness and to improve acceptance and willingness
- Infrastructure development and mobility (better bus/train transport)
- Support renewable energies
- Different measures for biodiversity and agrobiodiversity, e.g. support of ecotourism
- Financial resources and capacities for the implementation of targets
- Investments in technology and innovation
Within the education for sustainable development (ESD) framework, education and training activities are needed at all levels, in particular:
- In the academic sector
- In capacity building
- An interdisciplinary approach and a solid collaboration among different actors (i.e. schools and out-of-school education centres) and with administrations
- Less technical measures to reach more people, more communication activities and dialogue
- More education and training activities especially in small towns/villages of the inland
- Training for teachers and multipliers on ESD, biodiversity and climate topics
Further results
During the workshops and the final session, the following aspects have been discussed.
Collaboration in the future: What shall we do? Are you interested in future cooperation?
- Establishment of the Dialogue Platform
- Joint publication(s)
- Collaboration with Sardinian regional agencies
- Collaboration between the Botanical Gardens of Bonn and Sassari
- Collaboration with Protected Areas
- Collaboration with Sardinian NGOs
- Support of Inter- and Transdisciplinarity
What kind of projects shall we initiate?
- Projects on the topics of Green Economy & Biodiversity conservation / Climate Conservation / Adaptation / Citizen science
- Projects with a focus on Education for Sustainable Development, at an academic and non-academic level
- Academic exchange between the University of Sassari and the two universities of the Bonn region
- Projects involving the Protected Areas
Project partners and participating institutions
Sardinia:
- Dipartimento di Agraria, Università degli Studi di Sassari (www.agrariaweb.uniss.it)
- ISSLA – Istituto Sardo di Scienze, Lettere e Arti (www.issla.it)
- Arpas – Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione dell’Ambiente in Sardegna (www.sardegnaambiente.it)
- Laore Sardegna – Agenzia Regionale per lo Sviluppo in Agricoltura (www.sardegnaagricoltura.it)
- Parco di Porto Conte, Alghero (www.algheroparks.it)
- Tepilora, Parco Naturale Regionale Posada, Torpé, Lodé, Bitti
- Tepilora Rio Posada Montalbo – UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
Germany:
- IZNE - International Centre for Sustainable Development, Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (H-BRS), University of Applied Sciences (https://www.h-brs.de/en/izne)
- BIO-Diverse (www.bio-diverse.de)
- BION-Biodiversity Network Bonn e.V. (www.new.bion-bonn.org)
- Global Nature Fund (www.globalnature.org)
- IfaS - Institut für angewandtes Stoffstrommanagement, Fachhochschule – Umwelt Campus Birkenfeld, Trier (www.stoffstrom.org)
- INRES – (Geobotanik und Naturschutz), University of Bonn (https://www.geobotanik.uni-bonn.de/geobotanik-1)
- Nees Institute for Biodiversity of Plants, University of Bonn (www.nees.uni-bonn.de)
- The Center for Development Research – ZEF, University of Bonn (www.zef.de)
The symposium was financially supported by the DAAD - German Academic Exchange Service.