Role of Leader in promoting Rural Identity Giovanni Alessandri LAG FAR Maremma

1. Role of Leader in promoting Rural Identity Giovanni Alessandri LAG FAR Maremma MEETING WITH F.A.O. DELEGATION Province Palace “Sala Pegaso” Piazza Dante – Grosseto 11 OTTOBRE 2006

3. Tuscany Region The Province of Grosseto LAG Territory: Total inhabitants: 117.117 Area: 441.848 h

4. LOCAL ACTION PLAN Axis 1: total investment: €11.717.679 Measure 1: € 4.838.290Measure 2: € 5.836.629 Measure 3: €1.042.760 TOTALINVESTMENTS: € 12.760.917 Axis 2: total investment: € 1.043.238

5. COMPANY CONSTITUTION PUBLIC BODIES N. 20 ASSEMBLY OF THE SHAREHOLDERS: PRIVATE BODIES N. 26 CONSORTIA OF COMMUNES IN A MOUNTAIN AREA N. 3 PUBLIC BODIES: MUNICIPALITIES: N 3. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE N.1 BOARD OF DIRECTORS:: Private companies, associations N.5 PRIVATE BODIES: SYNDICATES N. 4 BANKS N. 1

6. Idea / strategic discernment of territorial governance “The Tuscan Maremma Rural District” A new model of economic development with awareness of rural identity Tuscan Regional Law dated june 2002 The objective is the consolidation and the quality development of the territory

7. An essential and determining stage towards improving and consolidating rural economic systems and, above all, in giving local production units additional value to become more competitive. The idea of the district is one of integration between the various sectors of production within areas featuring a strong rural vocation. Integration in this sense is much more than simply a label; it is the institutional and productive integration based on subsidiarity and cooperation.

8. This experimental model of integration can be achieved through: • Participation • Identification of priorities • Assumption of responsibility, both political and economic, by all bodies involved

9. The Rural District lends substance and connection to abstract concepts, such as: integrated development, sustainable and compatible development, territorial balance, subsidiarity, cooperation, the multi functionality of agriculture, quality of products and resources of the territory.

10. The affirmation of rurality involves going beyond the existing sector system through processes of integrated development, which facilitate the diversification of production; it means aiming at the equalization of the territory, while ensuring the sustainability of development; it means giving concrete recognition to the multi-functionality of both agriculture and rural areas; it means, in conclusion, channelling public and private resources towards shared aims and actions

11. The socio economic system of the province of Grosseto has distanced itself from a past fraught with marginalization, and is proceeding towards a process of development peculiar to the territory itself as compared to the rest of the region, reaching the following aims:

12. 1 to direct agriculture towards those production sectors and processes in which the territory’s vocation finds its highest expression and which can lead to greater income and market potential for producers and businesses

13. 2 to facilitate and promote the differentiation of the economic activities which are part of the rural environment itself so as to reinforce the connections between the businesses of each single compartment, the different production sectors and the various areas of the district

14. 3 to define a unifying project, approved by the local community, thus assuring in its achievementthe participation of all the components of local society and production network

15. 4 to coordinate the public-private powers to be compatible with a differentiated productive system, in which the environmental component takes on a significant role

16. For this purpose, agriculture shows its own importance and essential role, becoming one of the elements of development and income of rural areas; together with agriculture, other activities, such as tourism, fishing, craftmanship, the environment, small industry, and leisure will become more and more important

17. The positive value of all these activities and local products is, therefore, not only directed towards the “external” consumer(i.e. people outside the region, tourists and weekend visitors), but also to the local population itself, both from the rural and the neighbouring urban areas. The importance of the local population itself must not be underestimated or ignored, preferring the elitist consumers.

18. The central key to the new policy of “quality rural development” is the transfer of attention from the sector to the territory In an attempt to facilitate and promote integration between agricultural products and the other economic and social activities of the district, compatibly with the protection and conservation of natural and social environment

19. All other economic development projects activated in the province’s territory are part of the “common project” of the Rural District. To start all these activities is necessary the real and exact knowledge of the territory’s potential to reinforce and strengthen the sense of identity and identification.