ART-ER in collaboration with Po Delta Park and the University of Ferrara organized a workshop with regional Universities and stakeholders which took place on the 30th of September 2020. The workshop was held online via Zoom platform due to the Covid-19 restrictions.
This workshop was focused on the creation of a working group on ecosystem services guided by ART-ER and main local Universities, with the aim to present Delta Lady project and the main ongoing research carried out by local Universities. Participants were personally contacted via telephone and formally invited via e-mail. 36 participants were present: representatives of ART-ER; representatives of 4 Universities (Università di Ferrara, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Piacenza, Università di Parma, Università di Urbino); representatives of local land managing authorities and parks, and representatives of Emilia-Romagna Region departments. The main topic of the workshop was the presentation of experiences on assessment and evaluation of ecosystem services creating a discussion between academia, local stakeholders and regional authorities.
The workshop was divided into three sessions. At the first session, after a brief introduction of Delta Lady project, the invited professors of local Universities briefly presented outcomes of ongoing researches in the field of ecosystem services assessment and valorization. After that, local stakeholders involved in the managing of natural resources (water and natural/protected areas) discussed potential and critical points and needs of local administration related to the implementation of ecosystem services in local policies. The last session was dedicated to the discussion on future policy improvement related to ecosystem services from the regional point of view. Despite the involvement of all the participants in ecosystem services topics at different levels, the discussions are usually not coordinated and results are not known. The lesson learnt was that there is a need for dialogue between actors at the regional level, considering academia and local stakeholders.
The main point of the conclusion was that Universities at the regional level are working on ecosystem services issues with the same general aims but from different point of views. There is a need for closer coordination between academia, local stakeholders, and regional agencies.
The next workshop will take place during the 6th Semester which will be focused on action plan content and implementation.
