About the Living Lab
The Living Lab will look at how to improve the communication between local authorities, farmers and citizens in relation to rivers/water course ordinary maintenance, in order to prevent hydro-geological risk.
The area of the Living Lab is focus on the activity of the Consorzio Toscana Nord, which is the public authority responsible for the ordinary management of watercourses in an area of 360 000 ha including the mountainous areas of Garfagnana and Lunigiana and the plain of the downstream valleys. The Consortium (Consorzio 1 Toscana Nord) monitors and manages the catchment basins and hydraulic works present in the area.
The region is characterised by land abandonment and by agricultural activities in more marginal areas. Land abandonment has negative impacts in medium and long-term on the hydraulic and hydrogeological state of the area.
The administration has used several tools to get warning advices from citizens, including a Web-GIS tool and a WhatsApp channel. Starting from this, the idea would be to facilitate communication channels that citizens can use to report problems emerging in the territory and to connect such channels with the decision process of the Consortium. This would make it easier for the administration to intervene timely with maintenance works and to identify priorities.
Living Lab coordinator: Amigo
Domain: Agriculture and Rural
Focal question
Objectives
- Build up a group of relevant stakeholders for future debate about the use of digital technologies to improve land management in catchment basins in mountain areas.
- Identify needs, opportunities and challenges in the involvement of farmers and local population in the process of ordinary land management in mountain areas.
- Develop scenarios for addressing the challenges identified and develop possible technologies that can improve the communication between actors to improve ordinary land management.
Main stakeholders
Local public authorities: Consorzio Toscana Nord (more people employed by the consortium will represent important stakeholders for the Living Lab)
Farmers: Individual farmers, farmers’ organisations
Citizens: Citizens’ associations, individual citizens
Municipalities and Group of Municipalities in the Area
State authorities: Tuscany Region
SME working on digital technologies in the area
Researchers
Key documents
Policy brief: Digitalisation of ordinary land management in rural areas with mountain landscape
National Policy Analysis: Italy
Practice Abstract: Digital technologies to reduce hydrogeological risks in Italy