The monitoring visit of the LIFE GREENCHANGE project was held from 3 to 5 April, with meetings to analyze the progress of the works carried out in the Agro pontino by the Province of Latina, the project’s lead partner, and by the project partners CIRF, Consorzio Poliedra, U-Space, Confagricoltura Latina, Miema Malta, through the creation of green infrastructure and the implementation of low-impact agricultural practices.
After the discussion on the financial aspects, on April 4, in the headquarters of the Province of Latina, the project partners illustrated the work for the conservation of biodiversity to the representatives of the European program for the environment and the climate LIFE (project officer Silvia Donato and the monitor Noemi Spagnoletti) implemented due to the co-financing of the European Union. During the technical session we explained the conservation actions from C1 to C9 for environmental and river restoration, for the creation of green infrastructure, land stewardship agreements, the biodiversity pact and the training of farmers for the enhancement of services ecosystems; D actions with monitoring analyzes for the effectiveness of the interventions and their impacts on ecosystems and E actions for raising awareness and sharing the results achieved, networking and replicability of the project’s strategy and intervention tools. On the afternoon of 4 April we visited three of the areas affected by the works: the Gelasio Caetani farm, where one of the most substantial interventions was carried out with the creation of a new wetland for the conservation of biodiversity in a high naturalistic value rural; the Fosso Cicerchia in the Ganci farm and the Canale Allacciante in the Agrilatina farm.
In these areas we restored the vegetation of some stretches of the hydrographic network, eradicating the alien plant species and creating new wetlands, hygrophilous and mesophilous woods and stable meadows. On April 5th we went to the Ufente river in the territory of the municipality of Pontinia where we created two wetlands and we have almost completed the interventions for the creation of green infrastructure and the multifunctional interventions to strengthen the ecological connectivity of the area.
Finally we moved on to the Garden of Ninfa Natural Monument – Pantanello Park where actions are underway to increase the ecological functionality of the entire area through the development of linear formations for the strengthening of connections and shelters, the installation of bat boxes and basking islands to encourage the rest and reproduction of birdlife.
Finally, the visit to the Roana farm where action C7 is dedicated to the environmental requalification of livestock farms and consists in carrying out a demonstration intervention aimed at increasing the biodiversity of the minor rainwater drainage network.
The MIEMA-Malta Intelligent Energy Management Agency partner, which is operating on the island of Malta and Gozo to restore the rubble walls, also took part in the monitoring visit. The action C9 consists in the arrangement and restoration of 1.5 km of degraded rubble walls and in implementation of wooded strips along the borders of the agricultural land and adjacent to the existing rubble walls for 10 km in the Northern region of Malta.