When news broke of an imminent sale to private investors of the Diaccia Botrona Nature Reserve, a natural protected area of high environmental and community value in the Province of Grosseto, Fondazione Capellino intervened to avert a possible threat to its habitats and find a mutually viable solution that provides for a tangible increase in the area’s biodiversity.
Background
In a public auction held by the Province of Grosseto, 950 hectares of land located in the Padule Aperto (open marshlands) area in the Municipality of Grosseto, and falling partly within the Diaccia Botrona Nature Reserve, were sold to a private buyer.
What did we do?
Fondazione Capellino, in collaboration with local environmental groups WWF and GOM, ran a petition drive with the aim of keeping the Diaccia Botrona Nature Reserve public. In just a few weeks, the petition reached over 55,000 signatures.
Following this, Fondazione Capellino sent an open letter asking the parties to the sale to suspend it for 90 days so as to propose an alternative project geared toward protecting and increasing biodiversity in the area. The project was subsequently presented to the president of the Province.
However, upon learning that the Province could not revoke the notice of sale, the Foundation took an alternative approach, based on mediation between the parties, to nonetheless facilitate the original objective of habitat preservation and increased biodiversity.
What have we achieved?
Thanks to the Foundation's efforts, the 215 hectares inside the Diaccia Botrona Nature Reserve that were subject to sale were granted in concession back to the reserve by the buyer for 90 years. The Province of Grosseto has also since pledged to repurchase the area so that the land will ultimately remain public.
In addition, thanks to the intervention and resources provided by Fondazione Capellino, the buyer granted the Province an additional 150 hectares in concession for 50 years, which will be transformed into wetlands for the benefit of the reserve's biodiversity.
On the remaining part of the Padule Aperto (open marshlands), the private buyer - whose economic flexibility and environmental sensitivity merit recognition - has undertaken to initiate a transition to organic agriculture, while maintaining the cereal cultivation essential for the large migratory birds who rely on it.
For its part, the province has been working with the region to extend nature reserve protection regulations to the entire agricultural area of the Padule Aperto.