Local Communities and the Management of Rural and Natural Resources in the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park

Abstract

To contribute to the overall environmental and socio-economic rebalancing of Italy, the paper proposes to identify policies, strategies and tools useful to local communities that intend to pursue the valorisation of Campania's inland protected areas. Starting from an in-depth analysis of the territories using the territorial method, from listening to the positions of the local communities that inhabit them, from the use of the SWOT tool adapted to the particular needs of the areas analysed and from the examination of good practices, the paper intends to contribute to the definition of plan scenarios capable of supporting the bodies in charge of planning and managing protected natural areas. The final objective is to contribute to the preparation of scenarios able to enhance the regions' considerable potential, both material and immaterial, and to pursue sustainable development. Particular attention has been paid to the relationship between local communities and the territory in small towns, where important sustainable development processes are being launched to reconcile the reconstitution of “natural capital” with the conservation of rural landscapes. Protected natural areas were considered the territorial laboratories where, through the promotion of the “Mediterranean Diet”, local communities, protecting biodiversity, improving the quality of raw materials, agro-livestock, fish and forestry supply chains and the environment, by establishing Bio-Districts.