Cairano (AV) – "Talk to defend
ourselves". With this title the Workshop was held within the itinerary
"Restart! Recover and Re-inhabit", organized by the active
Environmental Forum of the Apennines, which is increasingly
taking hold among civic committees, associations and citizens, especially of
the Apennine hinterland. The venue of the training laboratory was Cairano, a
country of just over 300 inhabitants that overlooks the Valley of the river
Ofanto, in Alta Irpinia.
The choice of Cairano is not a coincidence. In
fact, it falls into a cycle started in Volturara Irpina and Castelvetere sul
Calore in order to highlight the areas of the hinterland, surrounded by nature
and breathtaking scenery but at the same time increasingly mistreated,
isolated, forgotten, abandoned to their fate and subject to a growing pollution
that undermines the quality of life.
The aim of the Forum is without doubt worthy:
the protection, defense, safeguarding and enhancement of inland areas. How?
Starting to unite, forming working groups, driven by unity of purpose to find
solutions to environmental problems. And the following of associations, civic
committees and citizens greatly increases. Yesterday, between the bystanders
there were both curious citizens who wanted to learn, both members of committees
as "Protect Heat River", "United in the Valley" (Sele),
"No Incinerator", all agree to take action even more, to join and to
coping with common. Virginian Spiniello, President of "The Wanderer
Tramp", in the network of Environmental Forum, stresses so decided:
"The Forum is still an idea, we are launching proposals that must become
concretely events. The goal is to be set up by autumn a study centre to pursue
instances screened with the support of technical documentation. The aim is to
interact and make environmental communication with citizens and committees so
that they are the source and they are ready to transfer to citizenship
information for greater environmental awareness".
Eduard Natale, new computer engineer and
founder of the Committee "No oil in Upper Irpinia" which, after
presenting "communication strategies on the web" during the Workshop,
has repeated what Spiniello had just said: "It is important to create a
network of organizations communicating with each other and then they implement
an environmental communications plan". Oil exploration in seismic areas,
construction of power lines, the exploitation of water sources, landfill and
the indiscriminate dumping of waste in mountainous areas, pollution of
reservoirs, like that of the Plain of the Dragon which provides water supply
even to Puglia, are just some of the environmental problems in the territory.
If to all this we add also the closure of small hospitals, law courts, schools,
post offices, here is that depopulation grows out of proportion.
The internal areas of the Apennines, Irpinia
and Cilento in Campania, in short, according to a planning not too esoteric,
should be reused for new non-residential purposes. The path undertaken by the
Environmental Forum is certainly difficult, arduous and fraught with obstacles
but only by infusing, with patience and determination, an essential
environmental awareness, it is possible to share from natural resources and the
small villages of the Apennines.
Antonio D’Anna
