ELBA2035: LET’S TAKE STOCK OF OUR PROGRESS BEFORE RESTARTING ON THE 19th OF OCTOBER.
On Monday the 19th of October, at the De Laugier Cultural Centre of Portoferraio, workshops will take place to dwell upon topics raised during the preparatory phases of ELBA2035.
Attendees to this event shall include, as indeed has always been the case since the start of this project, all people interested in providing Isola d’Elba with a future characterised by sustainable development: entrepreneurs, administrators, the youth, ordinary citizens…
The topics for discussion were summarised by those who took part in the Webinar on the 5th of October, launched by Fabio Murzi, President of Acqua dell’Elba, whilst clarifying the objective of this project: to act together, in order to devise a new strategy of sustainable development, capable of turning Elba into a role model and example for the whole Country.
According to Gianni Bottalico, head of ASviS Italia (Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development), #Elba2035’s originality arises precisely from its ability to involve all stakeholders in a joint approach to sustainability, giving importance to local territory and its wealth of ideas and planning potential.
For Francesco Petracchini, Director of the Minor Islands Observatory for CNR (Italian National Research Council), the islands represent extremely interesting territories which may offer the right locations for experiments aimed at consolidating protection, development and innovation initiatives with immediately measurable results, thanks to the specificity of insisting on a clearly defined geographical territory.
Strategies for the promotion of sustainable development were also at the forefront of speeches by Ilaria Neirotti from E&Y Italy and Luigi Di Marco from ASviS Italia. If, on the one hand, Ilaria Neirotti illustrated (using European and International examples) how technological innovation may be exploited to correlate huge quantities of data, thus allowing for the effective study of the socio-environmental impact of various sustainable development strategies, on the other, Luigi di Marco highlighted how in this particular historical moment it is crucial to be ambitious. Indeed, this is the only way to obtain more investment for projects, such as for example submitting a plan to turn Isola d’Elba into a completely sustainable island.
To conclude the Webinar, Norman La Rocca (head of communications and marketing for Acqua dell’Elba) declared his confidence that Isola d’Elba and its inhabitants shall transform in concrete content the results of a planning process which was able to transfer the energy of the territory into an actual project, with precise target dates and milestones.
Indeed, the first shall be the encounter planned for the 19th of October, after which the three jointly defined themed workshops will work autonomously, in order to then meet again “virtually” on the 10th of December and again in person on the 26th of March, with the aim of commencing the draft of a Sustainability Manifesto ELBA2035, to be presented during the next edition of SEIF - Sea Essence International Festival.