Sicily towards its first Blue Community: candidature signed between municipalities and associations in the Madonie area.
Sicily presents its first candidacy to join the global Blue Communities network. In the Council Chamber of the Municipality of Scillato, the candidature was officially signed, thanks to the joint efforts of 20 entities, including 14 municipalities of the Madonie district, the Madonie Park Authority, the GAL Isc Madonie and the People Help the People and Haliotis associations.
The initiative is part of the national project ‘Blue Communities – Young community promoters in defence of water’, coordinated by CeVI, Centre for International Volunteering, and co-financed by the Italian Development Cooperation Agency. The project aims to promote territorial networks committed to the protection of water as a common good, through the mobilisation of young people and local communities to combat the current water crisis.
Present at the event were Giuseppe Labita (president of People Help the People), Alessandro Ficile (So.Svi.Ma), Marco Iob, the project’s national coordinator, the mayors of the municipalities involved, and representatives of the bodies and associations that signed the application.
‘Today is an important day for the Madonie and for the whole of Sicily,’ explains Giuseppe Labita. ‘The signing of the candidacy represents a symbolic and operational pact between citizens, bodies and local institutions to defend a universal right: that to water. The candidacy stems from a concrete alliance that focuses on collective responsibility and a new way of thinking about territories, based on respect for natural resources and participation from below. An act that will be open to anyone who wants to commit to the commitments of the Blue Community’.
The signatories of the candidature of the first Sicilian Blue Community were, in addition to SO.SVI.MA, the representatives of the municipalities of Caltavuturo, Campofelice di Roccella, Castelbuono, Collesano, Gangi, Geraci Siculo, Gratteri, Isnello, Petralia Soprana, Petralia Sottana, Polizzi Generosa, Pollina, Scillato, Sclafani Bagni, the Madonie Park Authority, the G.A.L. ISC Madonie, People Help the People and Haliotis.
‘SO.SVI.MA deals with the safeguarding of water resources,’ Alessandro Ficile explains, ’and that is why we decided to sign this candidacy. The Madonie territory has valuable springs and springs in protected areas, such as the park authority. The reasons that prompted us to take up this challenge, in addition to the political will of the territories, is the desire to work to safeguard our waters. And the choice of Scillato as the venue for the meeting is no coincidence, as it is one of the places that supplies water to the territory,’ he says.
‘This signing represents a fundamental step in the construction of aware and responsible communities. Blue Communities,’ explains Marco Iob, ’are a concrete response to the water crisis and the climate challenge: local networks that act in an integrated way to protect the water cycle and ensure a sustainable future. They are a tool made available to territories to enhance local resources and wealth, and water is one of them. In the coming months, probably already by May, the national commission will meet to evaluate all the candidatures received from Italy’.
‘The signing of the candidature,’ says Salvatore Caltagirone, commissioner of the Madonie Park Authority, ’is an important step because, first of all, it creates a cohesive territory that brings together all its potential, with respect to a very serious problem such as water. The Blue Community is an important occasion, an occasion within which the entire Madonie territory will work to achieve the objectives we have set ourselves. We are here in Scillato, which is the country of water par excellence, and we are happy to have embarked on this path because it is necessary to pay the right attention to the water problem’.
Should the candidacy be ratified, the project will also involve schools, citizens, water managers, associations and companies, aiming to build an active and transversal network.
The creation of a Blue Community represents a model that can be replicated in other contexts on the island and in the country, with the aim of building fairer, more sustainable and participatory territorial policies in defence of water as a common good and a fundamental human right.
The initiative is also supported by the AWorld digital platform, which allows citizens to measure and improve their environmental impact.
