AlpCity – WP7 Coordination

Name of the partner: Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia – Central Directorate for Agricultural, Natural, Forestry and Mountain Resources – Mountain Department
Name of the case study: ********Guidelines for obtaining the recovery of the abandoned areasenvironmental certification (involving the area of Forni di Sopra and Upper Tagliamento Valley near the borders of Austria and Slovenia
INSTITUTIONS INVOLVED
AND THEIR ROLE
LOCAL COUNTERPART /LEVEL OF
INVOLVEMENT-COLLABORATION (LOCAL AUTHORITIES – MUNICIPALITIES – CLASS ASSOCIATIONS - COMMUNITIES – CIVIL SOCIETY – NGOs etc ….) / Region of FVG:
- manages and coordinates the whole operation
- technical and financial support to local project managers;
The University of Udine - Civil Engineering Department:
- the company subject which has been appointed to carry out the pilot – case;
The seven eight Municipalities of the “Canal del Ferro Val Canale” Upper Tagliamento Valley:
- the local authorities involved in the actions related to the pilot case implementation (Tarvisio, Malborghetto Valbruna, Pontebba, Chiusaforte, Dogna, Resia, Resiutta, Moggio UdineseForni di Sopra and Ampezzo, which are more involved in the pilot case activities because they are the main towns of the valley, Forni di Sotto, Socchieve, Enemonzo, Preone and Raveo);
- the very final beneficiaries of the projects outputs;
The Mountain Community of Carnia Gemonese, Canal del Ferro e Val Canale:
- the Association of Municipalities of the Carnia mountain territory in which the above-mentioned Municipalities are grouped.including the Upper Tagliamento Valley, which is collaborating with all the other pilot case actors on specific matters related to environmental issues.
MAIN ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT (ANALYSIS, SURVEYS, FOCUS GROUPS ….) / Implementation,at a locallevel, of the activities related to the pilot case, that is, drafting guidelines on the recovery of abandoned areasnear the borders of Austria and Slovenia - due to the disappearance of borders– this also includes the relative project financing. In particular, the data is being collected.
The First Progress Report on this activity was presented at the end of May;the data collection and the preliminry environmental analysis of the Municipality of Ampezzo to apply for the EMAS Certification has been finalized;the first pilot case progress report has been forwarded by the appointed company.

ACHIEVED RESULTS

(UP TO: MONTH/YEAR) AND

DISCREPANCIES

FROM PLANNED ACTIVITIES AND EXPECTED RESULTS / -Involvement of regional and local authorities and starting up data collection;
-Preparation of a work plan;
-Setting up of a work group of experts;
-Starting up the collaboration with the Central Directorate for Spatial Planning of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region(responsible for the Integrated Plan of the Tarvisiano area)
-As can be gathered by the above mentioned outputs, the main results already achieved are the following:
setting up of a wide local partnership involving all the local authorities responsible for the selected area and the stakeholders interested in the pilot case issues;
carrying out of the first steps related to the definition of the guidelines for obtaining the environmental certification (EMAS) and the touristic promotion of the entire valley;
starting up of the midterm planning process for a sustainable development of the selected areas.
No discrepancies with the original plan and the expected results have been observed until now so far.
INSTRUMENTS PROPOSED/REVISED/FINALISED SUCH AS CONVENTIONS, BUSINESS PLAN, AGREEMENTS WITH LOCAL ACTORS, MANUALS ETC …. / - Agreement with the University of Udine - Civil Engineering Departmentconsultancy company (O-sistemi s.r.l.);
- Definition of the pilot-casemidterm plan;
- Involvement of local stakeholders andauthorities.
IMPACT ON THE LOCAL ENVIRONMENT – ACTORS - STAKEHOLDERS ETC … / Too early to assess impacts, nevertheless, efforts to increase awareness, improve communication and involvement seem to have been fruitful.
MAIN CRITICISMS AND STRATEGIES FOR OVERCOMING THEM /
  • At the beginning there were problems in communicating and defining responsibilities between local authorities and the Central Directorate for Spatial Planning of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region which have now been solved.
  • The acquisition of the abandoned areas is too expensive for the local authorities, because the owners (large public companies, such as, the Army, the National Railways Company, etc.) have fixed very high sale prices.
  • In order to overcome this problem the European Awareness Scenario Workshop (EASW) has been suggested as the methodology which can help in the dialogue together with local stakeholders’ involvement in the programmes of sustainable development planning at local levelas well as in finding the financial resources to carry out the planned projects.
No real criticism to be reported. At the very beginning the local authorities and the stakeholders involved in the pilot case activities showed some difficulties in dealing with an Interreg IIIB Alpine Space EU project as they were not familiar with this kind of intervention.
Technical assistance and few meetings with the appointed experts and the Region operators who are in charge of carrying out the pilot case helped to overcome the initial problems

METHODOLOGY and STRATEGY WITH REFERENCE TO ‘INTEGRATED PROJECTS’

(PARTICIPATION PROCESSES - PARTNERSHIP – LOCAL SOCIETY/LOCAL AUTHORITY EMPOWERMENT – CIVIL SOCIETY INVOLVEMENT/ENPOWERNMENT – INSTITUTIONAL BUILDGING ETC ….) / -Selecting the Department of the University of Udine as the sub-contractor which will carry out the pilot case;
-Involving local authorities;
-Gathering and integrating the best ideas expressed ata local level;
-Comparing these ideas with the Regional Integrated Plan;
Selection of the specialized company on the pilot case topics;
involvement of all the local authorities and stakeholders setting up informal work-groups;
networking among the Region operators, the appointed company and each local subject involved (Municipalities, stakeholders, Mountain Community, local agencies and so on).
ELEMENTS OF INNOVATION OF THE CASE STUDIES’ IN TERMS OF STRATEGIES/APPROACH/ACTIVITIES/
METHODOLOGY, ETC …. /
  • The integration of institutional and local ideas and their comparison with the Regional Integrated Plan for the areaunder examination.
  • Use of the European Awareness Scenario Workshop (EASW) methodology.
  • Formulation of project financing tools to carry out the selected ideas
The strict link between environmental strategies shared at local level and touristic development of the involved territories;
The networking methodology involving the whole area of the Upper Tagliamento Valley.
ASPECTS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST IN OTHER CASE STUDIES IN RELATION TO THE APPROACH – ACTIVITIES - RESULTS – FOLLOW-UP ALSO IN
VIEW OF POSSIBLE FUTURE COLLABORATION OR EXCHANGE OF KNOWLEDGE WITH OTHER PROJECT PARTNERS / The case-projects have some common peculiarities with the Regions of Veneto and Piedmont’s pilot-cases.
Every experience concerning the development of tourism based on the strengthening of the environmental aspects and resources.
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TITLE AND SYNTHESIS OF GOOD/BEST PRACTICES / The definition of the “best practices” is underway.
First results are expected to be ready for the Scientific Project Conference in Milan.