March 2024 Newsletter
“We are excited to have been accepted to participate in the Big Give’s Green Match Fund 2024! Every donation you will make through our campaign page from APRIL 18th – APRIL 25th, will be DOUBLED!!!
Join the fundraising campaign to support our projects! We have an exciting pipeline for 2024, addressing key environmental challenges including wildfires, marine ecosystem degradation, unsustainable practices in agriculture, biodiversity loss and plastic pollution.”
SEF Team
SAVE THE DATE
From APRIL 18th to APRIL 25th, through the Bive Give Green Match Fund campaign page, you can double your support and amplify the impact of our projects, helping us protecting and preserving nature in Sicily.
Our target is to raise £10,000 through online donations during this 1-week campaign, in order to access our full match fund pot of £10,000 – to raise a total of £20,000 for local nature restoration projects. We are very grateful for any support you can give.
Find out more on the projects supported in 2023.
SEF NEW PROJECTS AND PARTNERSHIPS
Sicily Environment Fund will support five new projects from Palermo to Catania, Milazzo and Salina island, involving new amazing local partners.
Common ground: territorial planning with and for the community to prevent wildfires
Wildfires, fire-prone landscapes, and loss of local knowledge on traditional land-use practices are three factors interacting in a vicious cycle in Sicily. Collettivo Rewild Sicily will involve the local community in the municipality of Altofonte, an area heavily impacted by fire in 2023, in the development of a land management tool to tackle wildfire through sustainable land-use and traditional agro-pastoral practices. Participatory approaches will be adopted for territorial planning and management measures identification, setting the foundations for policy tools. Specific measures to prevent wildfires will be implemented on private and public domain. This project will provide a pilot case to be replicated across the region.
Artisanal fishers in corals restoration
The project run by researchers from Anton Dohrn Zoological Station, in collaboration with Siculpesca cooperative and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, aims to involve artisanal fishers to restore coralligenous habitats in the Marine Protected Area(MPA) of Capo Gallo and Isola delle Femmine in Palermo. Local fishers will be trained in the assessment of damages and restoration procedures with a focus on sustainable fishing.
We will partner with Studio Forward to develop an awareness campaign to inform on the importance of the MPA and of coral-reefs populations, playing a pivotal role in marine ecosystems. We are happy to welcome Grimaldi Palermo Euro terminal, as partner and co-funder of the project. Officine Grafiche will continue to support us through their printing services.
City Nature Challenge 2024 Milazzo
The City Nature Challenge is an international Citizen Science event whereby cities around the world encourage participants to share observations of nature via a mobile app. Started and coordinated by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles and the California Academy of Sciences, in 2023 the competition involved 482 cities and 66,394 participants. MuMa, Museum of the Sea of Milazzo, has been participating since 2021, scoring Milazzo at the first place in Italy in consecutive years. The project will raise awareness on biodiversity and promote environmental education, creating a stronger connection between the local community and marine and terrestrial biodiversity.
The project is funded with our new partner Esplora Travel, a travel company specialising in escorted journeys in Sicily, Southern Italy and the Mediterranean, who has donated a percentage of their revenues to support this initiative.
Unpacked shopping
This pilot project led by Rifiuti Zero Sicilia, in collaboration with New Circular Solutions and the municipality of San Giovanni La Punta, aims to create a community of businesses and consumers that embraces “purchase without packaging,” leading to less single-use packaging. The goal is to reduce the use of single-use plastic by promoting the change of daily habits, like using reusable containers for groceries and takeout, adopting eco-friendly practices at home, and promoting sustainability at events.
The project will be supported thanks to funding received from Conservation Collective through their Depeche Mode and Hublot partnership.
Watch the video of the partnership.
Salina Blue Island
The project led by Nesos, Condotta Isole Slow Siciliane and Kurma, co-funded with Blue Marine Foundation, will set the basis to involve and empower the local community in preparation to the establishment of the Marine Protected Area of Salina (MPA), the first in the Aeolian Islands. An educational project with stakeholders’ workshops, will involve the tourism sector, restaurants, fishers and schools, with a strong focus on eco-tourism, sustainable consumption of sea-food and snorkel program with students.
The 3 mayors of Salina, the Salina Marine Protected Area Committee and local associations gathered to express their intention to proceed with the establishment process of the MPA. Together with Blue Marine, we will support local efforts towards marine conservation and sustainable development of the island.
LATEST EVENTS
Plastic free schools small islands awarding events
Students in the schools of Favignana, Ustica and Pantelleria, winners of the Plastic Free Schools Small Islands competition, have been awared with water purification systems and reusable water bottles!
330 students can now become real environmental heroes, saving about 57,000 plastic bottles per year to the environment and the sea of their islands.
Marevivo Sicilia‘s project has been supported thanks to funding received from Conservation Collective through their Depeche Mode and Hublot partnership.
SEF & Partners in Palazzo Butera
Palazzo Butera hosted our first event in Palermo to present, together with our local partners, the projects carried out in 2023 and celebrate results achieved. Cultural centers of the city of Palermo like Palazzo Butera, are perfect venues to discuss topics related to nature conservation! Mandrarossa Wines accompanied our evening with excellent wines.
ABTOI annual summit
The Association of British Travel Organisers to Italy (ABTOI) invited us, the Conservation Collective and Tuscany Environment Foundation, to present our work in occasion of the ABTOI annual Summit in Danesflied, Buckinghamshire. The day dedicated to sustainability in the travel industry, provided indications to travel companies on how to begin their journey towards responsible travel and local community support.
NEWS FROM OUR NETWORK
Support our projects to protect Sicily’s nature!
Donations can be made by bank transfer either to the Italian bank account or to the UK bank account hosted by the Conservation Collective. Get in touch with gaia@sicilyenvironment.org for bank details.