Circolo Festambiente is one of the main national branches of Legambiente, the most active and widespread environmental NGO in Italy, with 20 regional branches, more than 1,000 local groups and 110,000 members.
Our organisation has carried out numberless national and international initiatives for the protection and conservation of the environment, the environmental public awareness and information and the environmental (against air and sea pollution, nuclear pollution, preservation of natural areas and urban environment) promotion of sustainable management of natural resources. Various publications support our actions. The development and improvement of rural areas and their sustainable development is another of our work priorities in recent years: by underlining the great importance of the typical and local products like wine, olive-oil, cheese, land produces (vegetables) and special organic meat by providing tools to discover their traditions and recover them for a sustainable economic development.
Youth are one of our top targets, because they represent the future and most of Legambiente’s co-workers and volunteers, including our own branch, are young people.
Our branch organises since nineteen years Festambiente, Legambiente’s International Environmental Festival, which last year totalled over 80,000 visitors.
Circolo Festambiente hosts the National Centre of Legambiente for promoting the Renewable Energies. The main objective of the Centre is to become a national referring point for promoting and developing the renewable energies. His main activity is an help-desk service for citizens, public bodies and companies about the concrete opportunities that renewable energies systems and energy saving offer. The Centre organizes public events, training courses and communication campaigns. Its main activities and tools:
• a web site www.fonti-rinnovabili.it
• drafting and dissemination of a questionnaire to find out the renewable energies use, all over the 9000 municipalities of Italy.
• creation of a prize “Renewable Municipality 2004”
• printing and dissemination of informative material (leaflets and brochures)
• a National Agreement between the Centre and four financing institutes for the creation of an ad hoc financing mechanism for the promotion of renewable energy technologies