A
national park, a natural protected area may represent a new
approach with the natural heritage, with the landscape and
the area: no looting or devastation of the environment any longer,
but a rational use of the resources
through effective planning tools.
They represent a new sustainable and long-lasting
development which offer growth opportunities to the local
populations and job opportunities for young people. Compatible agriculture,
tourism, handicraft, the restoration of old centers, quality products,
etc. are the new prospects opened by a national park. However, the
enforcement of the law about protected areas, approved in 1991 after
30 years of legal struggles, meets a lot of difficulties, for it
is hindered by numerous problems. Only the implementation of the
project included in this law, considered as an important civil and
democratic goal, will put Italy in the same line with the most advanced
nations.
At the end of the Eighties, the WWF-Italy
created a strategy including a series
of pilot-initiatives in the protected areas with the active
participation of local people, groups and organizations,
through some capacity building activities.
The purpose of this process is to help the
abilities of people, institutions and organizations to make
people know and understand first the
natural and cultural resources of a protected area and, later, help
in their management with some procedures suitable for the local
needs and contexts and in a sustainable way for the environment.
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Participation
The processes of "bottom-up development" were given a special attention
during the formulation of the projects proposed by the WWF in the
last few years. This kind of processes contributed to question the
old dominant approach towards the "up-bottom approach" which tried
to graft big-size industries with the contribution of the big industrial
sector and of the Government with no special focus on the socio-economical
background of the area. Huge resources have often been used for
development interventions in a given area; these resources had no
basis nor influence on the local community, therefore, the structures
and works financed remained unused and unmanaged.
The bottom-up development model has completely different implications
and meaning and is based upon the mobilization
of social energies around a project-idea. Therefore, an economical
activity is not considered independent from the society any longer:
the social, cultural and political environment where the economical
activity is developed is able to influence its destiny in a decisive
way.
Moreover, a quite common phenomenon in the areas affected by economical
recession, especially if it is a long term recession (a common situation
for many Italian rural areas, included the park areas), is the lack
of collaboration. The economical crisis is often associated
with a more general distrust in the possibilities of any collective
action aimed at improving the situation. Opportunistic behaviors
are often created by this situation; because of that, the implementation
of any project, including the consensus and
collaboration of several people, is particularly difficult.
Moreover, the implementation of projects that need short-term investments
and, possibly, give medium and long term results is affected by
the lack of trust. Therefore, the construction of large public works
is considered more favorably, for they can produce immediate incomes
for an identifiable group of people, in comparison with projects
aimed at creating a general growth within a longer period of time.
Opportunism and individualism are reflected and increased by the
incapability to elaborate systematical projects; not only the actions
of the single agents tend to be opportunistic, but also the activities
of the programming authorities tend to distribute the resources
and the possible incentives to the various interest groups, instead
of looking for the collaboration through the identification of common
lines.
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Pollino N.P.:
"uomo lungo" nearby Orsomarso town
Cilento-Vallo di Diano N.P.:
Monti Alburni, cows to pasture
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