Udine celebrates World Water Day | Blue Communities. The commitment of Italy’s Municipality of Udine, CeVI, ITG Marinoni, for River Contracts and Blue Communities, communities that take care of water.
Fighting water wastage, reducing the water footprint and protecting rivers, lakes and aquatic ecosystems is an increasingly urgent challenge. On the occasion of World Water Day, the Municipality of Udine and CeVI – Centre for International Volunteering organised a public event entitled “Activating local pathways for the protection and management of water”, with a focus on Blue Communities and River Contracts. The initiative took place at the ITG ‘G.G. Marinoni’ in Udine, a school already committed to sustainability, which has now decided to promote concrete actions to save water and protect water resources.
Alongside this educational challenge is the strong commitment of the Municipality of Udine, which aims to strengthen its role in the sustainable management of water through the River Contracts and the path towards becoming a Blue Community, as stated by the Councillor for the Environment and River Contracts, Eleonora Meloni: “As an administration, we are proud to promote this conference, dedicated to the protection and preservation of our ‘blue gold’, on World Water Day.”
“Water is a precious and irreplaceable asset, essential for life and ecosystems, but today more than ever it is also a fragile resource threatened by the effects of climate change. The increasing frequency of droughts and extreme weather events reminds us of the urgency of adopting strategies for the sustainable management of water resources to ensure their availability for future generations. This will be an important opportunity for dialogue and discussion in which students will be the real protagonists, presenting concrete proposals to reduce water wastage and adopt responsible behaviour to combat climate change. Raising the awareness of the younger generations is fundamental to spreading a new culture of sustainability and protection of natural resources. We will talk about Blue Communities and River Contracts as tools for active citizenship, in which citizens, associations and institutions work together to promote concrete projects for the management and improvement of water resources, with the aim of preserving the environmental balance and improving the quality of life of our communities.”
The event highlights the importance of cooperation between local authorities, schools and civil society for the sustainable management of water resources. On the one hand, the Municipality of Udine is committed to innovative policies; On the other hand, CeVI, with its long experience in the field of water protection, is leading the way in raising awareness and involving citizens, while ITG Marinoni is reinforcing its role as a school at the forefront of sustainability, as illustrated by the speech given by the school’s director, Alberta Pettoello, “Towards the Marinoni in Blue”, said the headmistress, “is joining forces to offer its contribution to the education of young people who are aware of their right to water and their duty to preserve it for future generations, through a systemic approach made up of educational activities and concrete initiatives for the development of shared responsibility in water management”.
The event, promoted within the framework of the project “Blue Communities – Young community promoters in defence of water”, financed by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, counted also on the participation of the following experts:
- Giordano Cervi, CeVI: “The involvement of young people in water protection”;
- Anna Brusarosco, University of Udine: “The importance of river contracts as instruments of territorial participation”;
- Annalisa Pinzano, CAFC: ‘The crucial role of the PNRR in investing in water for a sustainable future’;
- Barbara Fico, Consorzio Bonifica Pianura Friulana: ‘Agriculture and climate change: strategies for a more efficient use of water’;
- Teresa Ditadi, Coordinamento Agende 21 Locali Italiane: ‘The good practices of municipalities in the defence of water’
The event took place on the morning of Friday 21 March 2025 (starting at 9.00 a.m.) in the room of the University of Trento.15), in the Aula Magna ITG ‘G.G. Marinoni’, viale Monsignor Nogara, 2 – Udine (UD).
