On Wednesday, September 8, the GECO2 project will be presented at Macfrut, the international Fruit&Veg Professional exhibition to be held in Rimini (Italy). The event will be hosted at the Apofruit stand and will be attended by the Emilia-Romagna Regional Councillor for Agriculture, Alessio Mammi. The event will be an important opportunity to meet producers and professionals operating nationally and internationally in the fruit and vegetable sector and illustrate the voluntary carbon credit market that the project is testing.
The president of Apofruit, Mirco Zanotti will give the opening address at 3 pm. Thereafter, GECO2 pm, Antonio Cinti, will present the general framework of the project. Alberto Aldini, agronomic technician at Apofruit Italia, will show the first results of the pilot phase. A round table will follow, entitled "Agriculture in the front line against climate change, the role of agri-food cooperation". The panelists will be Ernesto Fornari, General Manager of Apofruit Italia; Cristian Maretti, President of Legacoop Agroalimentare Italy; Vincenzo Verrastro, Scientific Administrator at CIHEAM Mediterranean Agronomic Institute in Bari, Matteo Marchi, Agri-food Manager of Legacoop Romagna, and Antonio Volta, Data Scientist of Arpae Emilia-Romagna. Councillor Mammi will give the closing keynote speech. The event will be moderated by journalist Emilio Gelosi.
The conference can also be attended remotely by registering on the Zoom platform. For login details, please write to: c.smecca@legacoopromagna.it
The event will be an important opportunity to meet producers and professionals operating nationally and internationally in the fruit and vegetable sector and illustrate the voluntary carbon credit market that the project is testing.
Zadar County Rural Development Agency has held a workshop for farmers on the topic of green economy and carbon dioxide marketing in the city of Benkovac
Zadar County Rural Development Agency is currently implementing the project "Green Economy and CO2 - GECO2". It is a project with a total value of about 2.5 million Euros, and is financed from the cross-border cooperation program Interreg Italy-Croatia.
GECO2 has joined in the battle against climate change by developing new agricultural and industrial models. The aim of the project is to establish regional centers for climate change monitoring as well as to present Croatian and Italian companies with a new voluntary carbon market through the economic valorization of agricultural practices. Potential customers are, for example, industrial or service companies that want to enter the market with a sustainable product that will carry the "CO2 free" brand, which would give their products added value. The project would enable the creation of a network of local centers for climate change monitoring in the Adriatic region and thus help local communities to adapt and reduce the negative effects of climate change, says Project Manager Ivana Dević from the Zadar County Rural Development Agency AGRRA.
As part of the GECO2 project, a workshop for farmers was held in Benkovac, where the principles and examples of the green economy were presented, with an emphasis on carbon dioxide marketing. Through this workshop, farmers had the opportunity to learn what their role is and what are the ways to reduce and maintain carbon dioxide emissions. They also had the opportunity to find out what these problems are and possible scenarios that could happen related to extreme climate change. Farmers are also familiar with the future development of the carbon market, market models, but also with the results and great economic benefits of such marketing.
The Project Manager paid special attention to the basic requirements of the new Rural Development Program for the period of 2021-2027, especially to those related to climate, the environment and green economies such as the CO2 market.
Through the workshop, farmers were introduced to the European Green Plan for a new, sustainable and inclusive strategy for economic growth and development, improving human health and quality of life, caring for the environment and equal opportunities for all.
The Coronavirus crisis has shown how vulnerable we are and how important it is to re-establish a balance between human activities and nature. At the heart of the Green Agenda are biodiversity and Field-to-Fork strategies, which point to a new and better balance between nature, food systems and biodiversity to protect the health and well-being of our citizens while increasing the European Union's competitiveness and resilience. These strategies are a key part of the great transition that is just beginning. Also, the new situation caused by the Coronavirus pandemic makes such projects even more important because it is inevitable that the world, including Croatia, will soon have to turn to its own agricultural production with special emphasis on organic production. It must become the main driver and holder of the economy in the future, the Project Manager Ivana Dević points out.
