Networking activities also go on for the Maltese Islands. LIFE Greenchange, targeting Italian and Maltese rural areas, met LIFE Terracescape, a project working on the introduction of Land Stewardship Agreements in the island of Andros with the aim of expanding this tool to other islands of the Aegean and the Mediterranean.
The online meeting was held yesterday, March 18, with the participation of Miema, Malta Intelligent Energy Management Agency, partner of Greenchange.
Both projects, co-financed by the Life Programme, aim to improve and enhance dry-stone walls, typical of the Mediterranean rural landscape, in order to transform them into green infrastructures, able to contribute to climate change adaptation and to the fight against biodiversity loss.
The meeting explored the common aspects and the differences between the two projects.
As we have already told you, Greenchange wants to restore the dry-stone walls, heritage of the islands of Malta and Gozo, to strengthen the ecological value of agricultural systems, using Land Stewardship as one of the tools to achieve this goal.
Life Terracescape is also involved in the restoration and dry-stone terracing (also known as “pezoules” throughout Greece, and “aimasies” in Andros) but puts Land Stewardship Agreements and collective land governance at the heart of the project, using them as a leverage to transform terraced landscapes into green infrastructure.
Greenchange has the ambition to frame Land Stewardship Agreements into the wider governance tool of the Pact for biodiversity, that will involve public and private subjects in the management and implementation of sustainable agricultural policies.
The Region of Gozo has already signed the agreement, and further adhesions are expected soon.
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