Context

The agricultural sector is an important contributor to GHG emissions and also particularly sensitive to the impacts of climate change. Thus, since 2014, the new common agricultural policy main objectives are to organize an economically viable food production, and, at the same time, to ensure the sustainable management of natural resources and the implementation of climate actions, maintaining the territorial balance and ensuring the diversity of rural areas. In order to reduce the sector’s vulnerability to climate change, a territorial adaptation strategy must be set up in association with farmers. Furthermore, a good quality of life depends on the quality of our environment. In the region of Lombardy it is even more evident since land consumption and the process of conurbation have been particularly intense.

The initiative

The design of a Regional Ecological Network is the main objective of the initiative. Then, it aims to give farmers the keys to assume the decisive and delicate role of implementation of natural re-balancing policies through two guide books [1], one for technicians who work in different economic sector and design in favour of the implementation of the REN, the other is specific for farmers.
The latter guide book presents to the world of agriculture the Regional Ecological Network (RER) of Lombardy and its potential for development. Agriculture will play a role of primary importance to achieve concrete results in this direction. In particular, there are two objectives pursued with the RER:

1) Helping farmers to integrate the environmental dimension in production processes
2) To provide new employment and income opportunities through the implementation of the RER.

Therefore, it should be increasingly recognized to the agricultural world the task of providing a diverse set of ecosystem services.
The way to pursue these objectives will be founded first on direct payments and market measures and also on rural development projects.

Regional Ecological Network is not only a project, but a priority Green Infrastructure for spatial planning in Lombardia.

Results, limits and enable factors

The Regional Ecological Network is recognised as a priority infrastructure of the Regional Territorial Plan and is an effective guidance tool for regional and local planning. It was recognised in 2009 by regional law and is still today the main instrument of biodiversity conservation, together with Natura 2000 Network.

The RER provides all necessary elements on the ecosystem to evaluate strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It helps the Regional Territorial Plan to ensure a coordination function of regional plans and programs, to identify priority sensitivities and to set specific objectives in order to take into consideration the needs of ecological re-balancing including adaptation to climate change. It can provide a naturalistic and ecosystem-based guidance framework, and opportunities to identify compatible action plans.