Kick-off Meeting in Manarola
November 11, 2019
October 3-4, 2019
The representatives of the Cinque Terre National Park, namely the Director Patrizio Scarpellini and the geologist Emanuele Raso, and the Chief Knowledge Officer of ITRB, Ugo Miretti, presented the project STONEWALLSFORLIFE during the Kick-off Meeting organized by the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) on October 3rd and 4th, 2019 at the Crowne Plaza congress room in Bruxelles.
The meeting was attended by the coordinating beneficiaries of the projects co-financed in 2019 by the LIFE programme, the EU’s funding instrument for the environment and climate action managed by EASME. In this occasion, they had the opportunity to present their proposals and to discuss the practices to be replicated in their countries in the areas of environment and climate policies and projects.
During the presentation, beside the environmental and economic sustainability of the proposal, STONEWALLSFORLIFE capacity of bringing together multidisciplinary knowledge has been particularly appreciated. Indeed, the project aims at repairing drystone walls through traditional techniques, which are coupled with an innovative social approach and new building and ground reinforcement solutions in order to face the new challenges caused by climate change; moreover, both positive and negative impacts related to slope dynamics affecting drystone walls will be monitored thanks to geotechnical and meteorological stations. STONEWALLSFORLIFE has an additional value since it highlights the social, natural and cultural value of drystone walls and supports their restoration by bringing together experienced builders with migrants and unemployed people, thus facilitating their social inclusion and job placements in the agricultural and wine sectors.
