Environment: ENEA presents Project Egadi, a pilot project for sustainable development

Visitors have increased by 7% in the last year

It’s the first sustainable tourism model developed and certified by a scientific institution with the aim of creating an example of eco-friendly management of services and territory,  at the same time promoting  tourism and making it more competitive. The project, developed by ENEA, also envisages a decrease in plastic waste (15 tons in less than 14 months), fertilizer production based on separate waste collection, an environmental quality label and a patent for the  management of beach-cast Posidonia oceanica residue.

The results of the  Project, that was awarded the prize Smart Communities SMAU Milan 2015 and the Green Coast Award 2013, were presented during the Conference “Sustainable tourism as a driver for development and territorial valorization-Project Egadi, a highly replicable pilot model” held in Rome. At the Conference, opened by ENEA Commissioner Federico Testa, participated Senator Pamela Orrù of the Italian Senate Committee for Public Works and Senator Stefano Vaccari of the Committee for the Environment,  signatories of the Draft Law “Measures for the Growth of Small Islands. Island Lab”, Giannina Usai, Secretary General of the National Association of Small Islands Municipalities (ANCIM),  Ottavia Ricci, Sustainable Tourism Advisor of the Italian Minister for  Cultural Heritage and Tourism Dario Franceschini, Carlo Corazza, Head of the Tourism, Creative and Emerging Industries Unit, Directorate General Internal Market, Entrepreneurship and Industry (European Commission), Maria Carmela Giarratano, Director General for Nature and Sea Protection (Italian Ministry of the Environment, Land and Sea), Antonio Barreca, Director General Federturismo (Confindustria), Alberto Corti, Head of the Tourism Unit of Confcommercio Imprese per l’Italia, Mila Spicola of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR), Alberto Versace of the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion, the President of the WWF Italia Donatella Bianchi and the President of Marevivo Rosalba Giugni, Stefano Donati, Director of the Egadi Islands Protected Marine Area,  the Mayor of the  Favignana Island Giuseppe Pagoto and Roberto Morabito, Head of the ENEA Department for Sustainable Territorial and Production Processes.

In particular, the project made possible to create a composting plant for the transformation of the  organic fraction of separate collection waste into fertilizer; the treatment and reuse of waste water and the installment of a “house of water” fed by photovoltaic panels, to reduce the use of water bottles.

In 14 months 200 thousand liters of water have been delivered and 5 tons of plastic waste avoided, the equivalent in weight to almost 140 half- liters bottles. ENEA has also patented a procedure (which won the Green Coast Award) to transplant beach-cast Posidonia oceanica on the seabed instead of disposing of it as waste. As a result, Posidonia meadows have grown, a key element of a healthy marine ecosystem due to their capacity to absorb significant amounts of CO2 and ideal habitat for the reproduction of several marine species.

An environmental quality label, implemented by the Egadi Islands Protected Marine Area, has been created for local companies committed to reducing the environmental impact of their activities, also with the aim of promoting tourism.  60 companies have already obtained the label for having met the sustainability criteria set for each tourism category (restaurants, coffee-shops, bathing establishments, hotels, rental and mooring services, recreational fishing, diving centers and passenger transport services).

So visitors have increased by 7% in one year. Following seminars and meetings attended by all the operators involved, ENEA has published on progettoegadi.enea.it, several best practices and benchmarks to help operators evaluate and reduce their consumption. Besides information and training activities in schools, ENEA has developed 28 underwater routes for the islands of Favignana, Marettimo and Levanzo, collected in the two volumes “ Underwater itineraries of the Egadi islands”, (specific QR codes allow access via smartphone) and published on egadi.santateresa.enea.it

“The model we have developed is highly replicable and can be tailored to the different Italian tourism environments – said Roberto Morabito, Head of the ENEA Department of Sustainable Territorial and Production Processes, who developed the project. The actions implemented have contributed to protect the environment and the territory and to reduce the pressure on natural resources. We’ve also obtained an increase in the number of visitors and a prolonged tourist season from April to October, with consequent economic benefits.”

“Tourism is a key resource, being one of the few sectors that, despite the economic crisis, has maintained employment levels- said Giannina Usai, Secretary General of ANCIM- Transportation and territorial continuity are essential to the development of tourism in small islands. But there shouldn’t be discrimination against tourists, who should be provided the special conditions currently available only to residents, in accordance with the EU principle of free movement of people. A further important aspect is to standardize recycling rules in all the  small islands.”

“One of the main problems of sustainable tourism is the flow of visitors: in the summer in Favignana there are at least 60.000 people in addition to the 4 thousand residents, an impressive number of people to manage – said Ottavia Ricci, Sustainable Tourism Advisor of the Italian Minister for Cultural Heritage and Tourism. The project Egadi has also proven useful in attracting more respectful and environmentally savvy tourists. But sustainable tourism development will require an integrated approach and the MiBACT  has streamlined procedural arrangements and administrative procedures through the Art Bonus to create tourist districts and common development areas beyond regional boundaries.”

“The sector employs 35 million EU citizens, with an estimated turnover of over 2 thousand billion euro and the creation of 5 million new jobs by 2025. Italy may use the over 25 billion EU funding for sustainable tourism and environmental protection between now and 2020-said Carlo Corazza, Head of the Tourism, Creative and Emerging Industries Unit, Directorate General Internal Market, Entrepreneurship and Industry of the European Commission -Unfortunately, these resources are not always used efficiently, especially in some Italian southern regions. We should instead pursue tourism sustainability growth that, besides creating jobs, is also a path to increased awareness on natural resource conservation,  natural beauty and the ecosystem. When a territory becomes aware of the fact it can realize profits from its natural heritage assets, it will seek to ensure their protection and valorization”

“No throw - away bottles on the island, complete energy independence, a University of the Sea, a dolphins shelter and the conversion of the former factory Florio delle Tonnare into a marine knowledge hub :  I’d like to share these dreams with all committed to making the islands sustainable, as the ENEA project has demonstrated”, Rosalba Giugni, President of Marevivo, pointed out.

The project Egadi, developed by ENEA in collaboration with the
Favignana Municipality, which includes the islands of Marettimo and Levanzo and the Egadi Islands Protected Marine Area (AMP), was financed by the MIUR under the initiative “Eco-innovation in Sicily- Support to the development of production activities in Southern Italy: pilot measures for sustainability and competitiveness”. It has contributed to the protection of the environmental resources of the archipelago, home to the largest  marine reserve in Europe, hosting over 400.000 thousand visitors during the summer season.

ENEA dedicated a special issue of its bimonthly publication to sustainable tourism, on line at: http://www.enea.it/it/pubblicazioni/EAI/anno-2015/n-4-luglio-agosto-2015

The tourism sector accounts for about 10.3% of GDP, employing approximately 2.7 million workers, equal to about 11.7% of total domestic employment. Italy ranks fifth globally for number of international arrivals after France, USA, Spain and China but our global share declined from 5.6% in 1990 to 4.1% in 2010, with an estimated additional 3.7% decrease by 2020, in the absence of strategic and structural interventions to revitalize the sector.   
While it must be acknowledged that this is a common trend in many European countries, to the advantage of emerging countries and new tourist destinations, Italy is home to a great number of potential tourist attractions thanks to its natural, artistic, historical, cultural and architectural heritage.