23 September 2019

On September 16, at the Department of Environmental Biology of Sapienza University of Rome, a networking meeting was held between projects working in Italy for the conservation of species and habitats. The workshop was organized by Life Primed and brought together some Life projects that work to implement the Habitat Directive and to face biological invasion: For Open Forests, Gestire2020, Calliope, Themis. The PonDerat was present with two speeches. The first by Raffaella Frondoni (Sapienza botany) who illustrated the project, its objectives and the actions completed or underway. In particular it showed the excellent results obtained thanks to the removal by hand of Carpobrotus ss.pp. or fig of the Hottentots. The action was carried out in 2017 by all the public areas of Ventotene, with the exception of the cliffs (where in any case it is planned for 2020). In two years, in these same areas, both annual and perennial herbaceous species typical of the garrigue and the Mediterranean scrub have rapidly expanded. An excellent result that bodes well for the future. The second speeches was about also Life ASAP. Why did Ponderat and ASAP show up together? Because they share an original strength: the Park Team. Yes, because in both projects, which include the participation of the Lazio Region, there is a tight-knit group of rangers, naturalists and communicators, all coming from the protected areas of Lazio and from the Natural Capital Department, parks and protected areas. We thank the people of LifePrimed for the invitation and all the Life projects present. These meetings are important moments of exchange of useful experiences both for the activities in progress but especially looking at the future of environmental conservation in Europe.