Environmental Hub in a National Park of Vesuvio

Environmental Sustainability Hub

The Project

Environmental sustainability hub

Environmental sustainability hub is a territorial defense in the Vesuvius National Park and Mediterranean area of Naples, promoted by Let's Do It Italy! Italy APS, in partnership with Associations such as Sott’e’Ncoppa ODV, Slow Food Vesuvio APS, cleanup ATS, N’Sea Yet APS, and APS mediterranean municipality. The project was born to answer severe environmental problems in the Vesuvian territory - such as damping of waste and arson- through an integrated model of civil participation, environmental education and social innovation.

Monitoring of waste sprinkled in the environment

Monitoring of waste sprinkled in the environment is a fundamental tool to contrast the phenomenon of illegal spills, a problem impacting the territory of Vesuvius National Park and the metropolitan area of Naples. The aim of this activity is to realize, update and manage a multimedial map on the areas of the Vesuvian territory and the metropolitan area of Naples and to activate a direct reporting service to the competent authorities to promote and support their intervention. The monitoring activity will be carried out within the Environmental Sustainability Hub, where there will be an operating room dedicated to the monitoring and reporting of illegal spills through the international platform “TrashOut”. Additionally, the activity will also see the active participation of the citizens. Coordinated by experted guides, a group of volunteers will conduct participatory monitoring excursions along the paths of the National Park of Vesuvius and in urban zones, exposed to a high risk, to identify and catalogue new sites affected by illegal dumping and spills of waste.

The school of civic participation and sustainable development

The school of civic participation and sustainable development is a way of training and capacity building that adopts innovative methodologies of non-formal, interactive and participatory education. The school is addressed to minors, young, citizens and third sector volunteers and it’s aimed at promoting a way of civic activation of actions and interventions oriented to accelerate the ecological transition of the vesuvian territory. The school combines tematics which are addressed to reinforce the knowledge about the environmental conservation and protection, sustainable agriculture, territorial regeneration and climatic changes and practical sessions useful to increase capacity and skills of participants in the community engagement, advocacy and campaigning and in the promotion of good practices for the environmental conservation and protection, and also sustainable development of the territory. The activity will take place in mixed mode with online lessons and presence lessons. Presence lessons will take place in the Environmental Sustainability Hub, in San Sebastiano municipality, ubicated in the Vesuvius National Park. The entire training path will be recorded and it will be available on e- learning platforms and social media and it will be a training tool and capacity building for young, citizens and third sector volunteers, also for the future.

Urban regeneration: Cleanup, planting and spaces requalification

The urban regeneration is an activity to identify areas and lands which are subjected to dumping, environmental degradation and intervention addressed to the recovery, valorization and requalification of degraded areas. The aim of this activity is to create more accessible, livable and sustainable public spaces with the active involvement of citizens, schools and young people for the improvement of urban ecosystems and community life spaces both from the environmental and social point of view. The action will include an action-research activity for abandoned, under-utilized and unused lands, with the participation of institutions and public entities and the creation of a digital map of identified areas. Clean-up days will be organized and realized, in particular on occasion of the World Cleanup Day, an international day organized by UN-HABITAT, for the cleaning and removal of waste from areas identified and selected thanks to the involvement of schools and citizens. The urban regeneration action also includes the organization and implementation of planting day of native trees and plants to promote the development of urban green spaces and the installation of urban furniture to improve the usability of public spaces.

Promotion of sustainable agriculture: agricultural and environmental valorization, biodiversity safeguard

Promoting sustainable agriculture means strengthening tools for civic engagement aimed at promoting agricultural biodiversity, supporting productive experiences which embrace forms and methods of ecological and sustainable agriculture, the construction and the strengthening of territorial circuits of critical and responsible consumption, a fundamental element for the establishment of local agro-food networks and a process of environmental, economic and social regeneration of the territory. The activity includes the organization and realization of educational agro-environmental and food laboratories, and a review of training events and awareness raising to critical consumption within the Vesuvius territory and the metropolitan area of Naples to promote the birth of healthy and informed connections between producers and consumers, between farmers and citizens, and the development of short supply chains. The activity also includes the promotion and animation of Gruppo Di Acquisto Solidale (GAS) and the creation of a permanent showroom at the Environmental Sustainability Hub to promote the knowledge and the consumption of local, sustainable and solidals products, and the development of a network of local economies. Finally, the activity includes the organization of co-design meetings and active solidarity paths focused on practices and concrete actions aimed at reducing food waste and promoting access to food for all.

Innovative path of environmental education

The activity includes the elaboration and the experimentation of innovative paths of environmental education and nature education. The aim of the action is to train students and teachers on sustainable development issues and of education in the nature with non-formal learning methodologies and practical activities and laboratories experimentations which can substitute educational and didactic paths from implement in the schools of the territory and within the future activities of the associations of the third sector engaged in the field of promotion of inclusive paths of formation and civic education. With the involvement of a group of experts in education and pedagogy, it will be designed and realized a toolkit for environmental and agro-food education aimed at minors, young people, teachers and trainers. The educational toolkit will be divided into specific activities on the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda and discussions on sustainable waste management, pollution reduction, biodiversity and protection of ecosystems and active citizens. To make the program more effective and lasting, a network of green schools will be created with the aim of facilitating the exchange of experiences between educational institutions and organizing environmental awareness events and shared projects in the territory and municipalities of the Vesuvius National Park.

Environmental Sustainability Hub

The environmental sustainability hub, promoted by Let’s Do it Italy, together with a third sector reality partnership, is a territorial defense into the Vesuvius National Park area and in the metropolitan city of Naples. This hub was born to cope with local environmental challenges – in particular the damping of the waste – through environmental education events, civil monitoring, sustainable agriculture and civil participation.

The hub is dedicated to:

  • waste monitoring trough TrashOut.org app
  • environmental education and urban regeneration laboratories
  •  agricultural biodiversity and Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale (GAS) promotion
  • participative and cultural activities addressed to citizens, schools, young and volunteers

The project lasts for 18 months, it’s co-financed by Campania Region with the Minister of Work and social politics resources, and it’s addressed to reinforce territorial networks and sustainability models of production, consumption and active citizenship.  

Progetto finanziato dalla regione Campania con fondi statali del ministero del lavoro e delle politiche sociali