ENI CBC Med Project | LIVINGAGRO: Cross Border Living laboratories for Agroforestry

Project summary: 

Agroforestry – a land use management system in which trees or shrubs are grown around or among crops or pastureland – has varied benefits, including increased biodiversity and reduced erosion. The combination of agriculture and forestry in the Mediterranean is deeply rooted in a culture of tradition and niche production but fails nowadays to structure its knowledge to achieve an integrated system of good practices for the sustainability of production, the protection of the biodiversity of distinct ecosystems, the transfer of innovation and the increase in profitability for the territories/actors involved. Therefore, LIVINGAGRO will tackle these issues using an Open Innovation approach, based on the setting-up of two Living Laboratories making possible the co-creation of the economic and social values and the interactions between supply and demand, eliminating geographical and cultural barriers. A specific focus will be on olive multifunctional system (Living Laboratory 1) and grazed woodlands (Living Laboratory 2). Olive cultivation is representative of many Mediterranean rural areas, and traditionally olive orchards were and are often still managed as agroforestry systems, in combination with cereals, fodder legumes and/or pasture. Grazed woodlands are major agroforestry systems in the Mediterranean that highly contribute to sustaining Mediterranean local economies supplying both vegetal and animal products.

• Duration: Start date 01 September 2019 – End date 31 August 2023
• Budget: € 3 000 000
• 6 partners – Countries: Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Greece
• Coordinated by Regional forest agency for the development of Sardinia’s territory and environment (Fo.Re.S.T.A.S.), Italy

Athena – Research & Innovation Information Technologies, ATHENA RC – GREECE, will participate and work on a pre-competitive analysis as well as the preparation of e-learning modules for business startup creation, plus face-to-face educational presentations of that material in Lebanon and Jordan through a subcontract from the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAICh)