Planet

Bio-districts, the happy island born in Cilento and replicated all over the world

October 15, 2024

The happy island, where everyone collaborates to live according to the principles of agroecology and to feed themselves with organic food, exists. It is called bio-district. Born in Italy, in Cilento, twenty years ago, this virtuous model has spread throughout the world, with 1300 organic territories (80 in Italy) active in the five continents. (1)

The experience was retraced at the seminar organized by INNER (the International Network of Bio-districts) in Scandriglia (Rieti) on October 10, 2024, with Salvatore Basile, ‘father’ of the Cilento bio-district, as well as director of INNER, and Cesare Zanasi, professor at the University of Bologna, expert connoisseur (and researcher) of bio-districts. (2)

Table of Contents

The ideal biodistrict

The definition of the bio-district is ‘a territory in which farmers, consumers, public administrators and other local economic operators have made a formal pact for the sustainable management of resources, according to the principles of organic farming and agroecology’.

The ultimate goal is to develop globally interconnected sustainable local organic food systems (SALS-bio). A ‘glocal’ dimension. Far from the insane principles that govern the globalization of food commodities managed by a few financial giants and forced productions based on chemicals, but also different from the small isolated circuits closed to exchange.

Twenty years with the wind in your sails

The resounding success of bio-districts emerges from a long journey, from local to global, marked by three significant stages

– 2004. The Cilento bio-district is born in Campania, and the first guidelines for the constitution of bio-districts are defined

– 2014. The International Network of Eco Regions (INNER) is established. International guidelines are defined and the Tool Kit for creating and managing bio-districts is implemented.

– 2020. The Global Alliance for Organic Districts, GAOD, is born – of which Salvatore Basile is co-president. The agreement, signed at the Italian Ministry of Agriculture in Rome, involves 1300 territories on five continents.

‘Now it’s time to coordinate all the experiences biodistricts already developed, in order to involve other governments, organizations, territories, to create the critical mass necessary for global change!’ (Salvatore Basile)

A living community

The range of movement is due to the active participation of each individual component of a bio-district. Teachers, commercial and tourism operators, journalists and communicators, citizens of any working environment are all necessary protagonists.

Farmers and breeders have a decisive role. They must commit themselves to the (re)discovery and diffusion of the enormous potential of organic production. The guidelines of the bio-district are not superimposable to the regulations. In the Cilento bio-district, for example, next to a thousand certified organic farms there are another 20 thousand organic farms that are not certified but considered of equal value – for the purposes of the bio-district – as they practice agroecology. (3)

Public administrators, in turn, have the responsibility to improve the population quality of life. By encouraging sustainable agricultural practices, with economic advantages in participating in local markets, for example, by introducing local organic foods into collective canteens (primarily school canteens) and by promoting care for the territory and the community also through good practices in waste management and public affairs.

Food production is central, is the first step to improve the surrounding environment. The short supply chain, the zero km, makes sense only in an organic way. The result is clean soil and water, without agrotoxic percolations, as evidenced by the collection of Blue Flags awarded every year to the sea of the Cilento bio-district.

Tourism in bio-districts

A bio-district attracts visitors. It is the destination of a form of sustainable, ethical, precision tourism. Every year thousands of people move between the bio-districts (170 in Europe) to share traditions and cultures, take courses, excursions, immerse themselves in the beauty of the various organic territories.

INNER, which provides concrete and operational support to bio-districts, even issues a Bio-district Passport on which to record (with an official stamp) visits to the territories, also valid as training credits for INNER technicians. Each bio-district is in fact characterized by a particular area. In France for renewable energy with wind turbines, in Portugal for sustainable architecture, for example.

So much vitality naturally translates into jobs, into wealth to be shared with young people, who usually abandon rural areas and small towns to move to the cities in search of fulfillment and earnings.

How a bio-district is born

The birth of a bio-district requires the presence of objectively favorable elements in the territory. Each territory can be distinguished by the prevalence of organic production, the presence of areas with a natural tourist vocation and so on. Starting from these values, with the help of INNER experts, the existing conditions, the potential and the development strategy are evaluated, explains Professor Cesari Zanasi of the University of Bologna.

The economic endowment is useful to launch the project and balance the books. In Italy, the State comes to the rescue, with a call for tenders that can grant a loan of 400 thousand euros/year to a bio-district. An important role is however played by the stakeholders. (4)

Specificities and anomalies

Each bio-district can distinguish itself for particular vocations. The Sabina bio-district is currently very focused on historical-tourist itineraries but still lacks connections with the flourishing agricultural production sector. The Etruscan-Roman one, on the other hand, is full of organic farms but less focused on tourism. And again, the regions of Sardinia and Marche – both declared entirely bio-districts – raise doubts.

In the case of Sardinia, however, the South Sardinia and Sulcis Archipelago bio-district stands out, which includes 50 companies producing, processing and marketing organic products, as well as associations consistent with agroecology.

The seminar hosted in Scadriglia offered an enlightening focus on bio-districts. Which deserve a useful in-depth analysis to enhance and support virtuous experiences and point out the less sincere ones.

Marta Strinati

Footnotes

(1) The map of the bio-districts on ecoregion.info

(2) Marta Strinati. Organic farming and biodistricts in Sabina, seminar. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 4.10.24

(3) Dario Dongo, Camilla Fincardi. Agroecology, SDGs, salvation. The FAO Decalogue. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).

(4) Dario Dongo, Donato Ferrucci, Nicolò Passeri. Biodistricts, or biological districts. The Ministry of Agriculture defines the requirements. The ABC. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).

Marta Strinati

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Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".