13 Marzo 2010
... on development cooperation and international solidarity
The changes of the last decade have deeply affected the terms of the "global-to-local" relationship: while the local level is getting stronger as a privileged key-point of identity/sharing/transformation, the role of global actors, linked to a common market, whose capacity to condition the life of the individuals, the destinies and the choices of the community in every corner of the planet, seems to be unlimited and, out of any possibility of control, is growing day by day.
National states, deprived of substantial shares of their own sovereignty seem to be experiencing a difficult time of passage, while international organisations still lack a new and definite role. Being able to develop, network and concretely exploit a whole and often sparse world of local experiences can eventually lead to the solution of the great disproportion that threaten our future at the beginning of the new millennium: ideas and projects of women and men seeking to find fair and possible answers to the explosive mixture of environmental crisis, poverty and over population we have to witness in so many areas of the world.
Legambiente, in this given context, looks at international co-operation as a primary tool for "Working together beyond borders", building partnerships with all those who share our very same goal: to strengthen local processes of eco-development, in order to give role and presence to a global actor able to voice effectively - in the new system of relationships whose birth we're witnessing - the rights and the demands of the environment as well as the needs of local communities and of future generations.
A eco-development of the planet is at the very heart of the idea of "Working together beyond borders". Concepts like "active citizenship" or "scientific environmentalism" can be looked at as substantial contributions to a new idea of development, and can effectively address problems and build answers, both in Italy and abroad.
Local communities have to be empowered with proper tools and resources, in order to be able to understand their present and to build their future on the ground of their own history.
Together with our partners we want to seek and implement alternatives of sustainable development aimed to bring out identities, create and spread a lasting welfare, ensure the protection of environmental values.
We co-operate with partners who share our approach and our goals in order to support processes of strategical value both at a local and a regional level, in two key areas concerning eco-development: the participated management of protected areas, and their enhancement as a mean of development; the integrated re-qualification of the great urban areas. Environmental education, thought as a system of tools and methodologies to promote active citizenship, forms the very pillar of every intervention and project.
... building exchange networks and promoting decentralized co-operation...
Local processes of eco-development can be in Italy the centre of a network of alliances and relationships, as well as the common ground on which to build networks aimed to exchange and co-operation with associations, NGOs, the fair-trade network, universities and research institutes and, moreover, those local communities which have to face similar issues: municipalities and provinces, regional and national parks. Also those enterprises which can possibly offer services and goods in the area of ecological re-conversion of productive processes can be seen as a possible stakeholder.
Co-operation is not only the matter of selected experts, or of a few skilled institutions, and there isn't such a thing as a pre-packaged set of solutions or measures. Co-operating, for us, means establishing contacts and creating a meeting point, opening communication and research channels in order to find effective solutions to problems which, notwithstanding the differences between contexts and situations, have a lot in common.. Co-operating means building a system of networks and alliances which can in turn enhance the knowledge and the experience of all those who're involved and so increase the impact of the local processes of eco-development.
Our goal is to spread a form of direct, decentralised, and horizontal co-operation, reaching from civil society to civil society, from institutions to institutions, based on the desire to know and confront each other. A way of co-operating, in other words, that acknowledges the existence of unresolved and common problems in a particular context among many, whose solution can be made easier if only it is possible to access the wealth of information, experiences and resources, represented by the people who're involved and who want to make it available in order to reach a common goal.
We are deeply convinced that Legambiente can play a major role in the construction of networks and alliances, at a global level, to support and increase the impact of local processes of eco-development. This conviction is based on the value of a organisational model which is probably unique in our field (the movement with the form of an association), on the strength of a presence deeply rooted in the Italian reality, on the vitality of thousand of experiences, of which we are promoters, on the store of - often original - methodological and conceptual tools accumulated in these years of life of the association. Our project of co-operation needs, in order to be fully carried out, an active involvement of all Legambiente: from local sections to regional ones, to different departments and sectors of the national office. It needs all of this to circulate that extraordinary wealth of ideas and experiences which we pride ourselves with. That same wealth of passion and motivations that can become a major resource to give force to our proposals and issues, and to those of so many people working towards the very same goals and, often, in conditions which are much more difficult.
[ 29-Lug-2008 ]
Legambiente Direzione Nazionale - Via Salaria 403, 00199 Roma
Tel. +39 06 862681 - fax +39 06 8621 8474
Cod. Fiscale 80458470582 - P. Iva 02143941009
Cooperazione e solidarietà