Inside perspective on the First MAG Meeting

Protected areas managers of Eastern Lombardy met at Mincio Regional Park to learn from pratices and to figure out why and how should they take actions to sustain the conservation of their areas.

The sinergy between SINCERE and Ecopay Connect 2020, a local project financed by a private Foundation, has shown all its potential in this meeting, while the presence of representatives of ten different protected areas confirmed the importance that this action has for the whole Region.

Ecosystem services have no more secrets for our stakeholders, as they’ve learnt about them and their importance in an interesting training session.

We could also collect questions and insights about the PES case study about poplar and biodiversity through FSC certification, which is already working. This proved to be an excellent case, and we explored potential for its replication.

The conclusion is that involving more and more poplar farmers in the future could transform the territory and the mentality of many actors, supporting a real cultural change both from the protection and from the agricoltural side. This winter will be full of appointments that will pace the way for the spread of this win-win solution.

Thanks to the wider knowledge stakeholders have gained, it will be easier in the future, beyond SINCERE activities, to explore the possibility to build other schemes like this, to enhance ecosystem services provision in the region, keeping an eye on the successful Ecopay Connect scheme. It is a long way to go, but we started out great.