Share skills and knowledge to protect Sicily’s biodiversity and develop a cutting-edge research network that aims to guide institutional practices and policies towards greater environmental sustainability. This is the ambitious goal of a cooperation agreement recently signed in Palermo between the Presidency of the Sicilian Region and the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC)one of the five national centers dedicated to frontier research, financed by the PNRR and coordinated by the CNR.
At Palazzo d’Orléans, seat of the Presidency of the Sicilian Region, the agreement was signed not only by the governor of Sicily, but also by the regional councilor for the Environment, by the general director of Arpa Sicilia (the regional agency for Environment), by the rector of the University of Palermo and, obviously, by the president of the NBFC, the body created with the mission of contributing to the achievement of the objectives of the United Nations Agenda 2030.
This initiative – say the promoters – represents a significant step towards the protection of biodiversity and sustainable development in Sicily, placing the region at the center of an international network of environmental research and innovation. A network that takes on a particular value thanks also to the skills and expertise of the University of Palermo in the field of research and technological transfer.
But to act as a counterbalance and to mark a certain schizophrenia of regional politics, it is the absence of the implementing decrees of the regional law on agroecologya law which, it is worth remembering, was approved unanimously by the Sicilian Parliament for almost three years ago and which hinges precisely on the protection of biodiversity with particular reference to agricultural activity.
Thanks to the agreement of recent days and the resulting patronage of the Presidency of the Sicilian Region, the NBFC will set up its “Biodiversity Science Gateway”a platform, both physical and digital, which will offer citizens, companies and public bodies data, results and publications for raise awareness about biodiversity. Furthermore, it will provide support in designing international scientific and technological collaborations in the name of environmental sustainability. The headquarters, which also hosts Arpa Sicilia, has been redeveloped by the Region to become a scientific center of excellence.
Angela Scioritino
