Focus area: E

Local development and identity

Local development and identity are the indicators of the territorial organization of production processes. The relevance of the anthropic changes determines the landscape recognition, the irreversible soil loss, the community relationship.
The identity of agricultural production is also local identity; the correct planning and design of production sites helps to promote the transmission of value that an identity territory can reveal.

Goal 8
Encouraging lasting, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

Target 8.9
Design and implement policies by 2030 to promote sustainable tourism that creates work and promotes local culture and products

Goal 11
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, durable and sustainable

Target 11.3
Strengthen inclusive and sustainable urbanization and the ability to plan and manage a participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement in all countries
Target 11.4
Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage
Target 11.a
Support the positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning

Goal 15
Protect, restore and promote a sustainable use of the terrestrial ecosystem

Target 15.1
Guaranteeing the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of land and inland freshwater ecosystems as well as their services, particularly forests, swamps, mountains and arid areas, in line with the obligations arising from the agreements International
Target 15.2
Promote sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests and significantly increase reforestation and reforestation everywhere

Action 5

Planning and planning of identity landscapes

The places of production represent the environments where food is born; although, specifically, it is the farms that have the task of supplying the food necessary for the global population.

The concept of agricultural identity systems that are important at global level (GIAHS, Globally important Heritage Systems) is the tool that allows us to catalog the different territorial experiences of the landscape and production quality of a protected area / landscape. A GIAHS is a living and evolving system of human communities in a complex relationship with their territory, cultural or agricultural landscape or biophysical social environment.

The resilience of many GIAHS sites has been developed and adapted to cope with variability and climate change, ie natural hazards, new technologies and changing social and political situations, in order to ensure food security and livelihood and alleviate risks.

The design of production sites is based on the knowledge of the territory which is a fundamental starting point to harmoniously and functionally weld every intervention with the pre-existing context while respecting environmental sustainability. To this end, it is necessary to identify the pedoclimatic, physical and environmental values, to respect the local and cultural traditions that give identity to the territory of production.

There are 570 million farms present in 161 countries in the world divided into five continents, of which 7% in Europe and Central Asia, 35% in China, 23% in India, 9% in sub-Saharan Africa, 9% in East Asia (excluding China), 6% South Asia (excluding India), 4% Latin America and Central America, 4% “industrialized” countries (including North America, Europe and Oceania), 3% in the North Africa and the Middle East.

Each farm is designed and managed in relation to the productive vocation of the territorial context to which it belongs and the professional who has the task of promoting development projects must be able to interconnect local peculiarities and places of production.

The enhancement and promotion of typical landscapes thus becomes the central element of an overall local development strategy which also provides for the cultural preservation of productive traditions.

The typical products are in fact the result of small-scale agricultural activities, which present particular characteristics due to the combination of local raw materials and traditional production techniques handed down over time. Firms, especially those of smaller size and / or located in territories that are sometimes disadvantaged and marginal, see in the typical products a chance to find new competitive space in the face of increasingly competitive markets in terms of price, recovering the added value that modern industry and distribution have in limited time. On the other hand, local public administrations see this perspective with interest to strengthen the identity and cohesion of the local community, stimulating synergies and links with other economic activities in the area (crafts, tourism, etc.) and promoting local development endogenous.

The intimate link between typical local productions and the territory must be taken into consideration by addressing the theme of strategies for the enhancement of typical local products, such as important communication tools and the “brand” of a territory.

Activable Pilot Projects

Pilot Projects can concern one or more targets of the objectives identified as well as one or more general indicators. For the purposes of verification and measurability and related accounting in the definition of the executive design, specific indicators will be identified among those defined in the Global Indicator Framework 2019 of the SDG.

The pilot projects that can be activated in Action E.5 are the following:

• Identification and cataloging of identity sites

• Conservation of identity sites

• Design of new identity sites

• Enhancement of identity sites.