Montagna, 101st CAI Congress:“We need concreteness and clear indications”

President Montani:"Attention to the environment and sustainability must be the essential elements of every economic and tourism development project in mountain areas"

Photo credits Emanuele Sanità /Paolo D'Intino

ROME - “Concreteness” and “clear indications” were the watchwords of the 101st CAI Congress, reiterated by the General President Antonio Montani, which saw politics, the scientific and association world and the Italian Alpine Club dialogue to identify shared strategies for the future of mountain territories.

“My hope is that the CAI can increasingly become the voice of the Italian mountains in the institutions. To achieve this objective, we must be even more capable of mediating between the different needs of the plain and mountain territories, whose inhabitants must be guaranteed the same services in terms of health, school, work and transport", he said in closing today. of the works the General President of the CAI Antonio Montani.“Attention to the environment and sustainability must be the essential elements of every economic and tourism development project in mountain areas.Internally we must start again from the younger generations, the most sensitive to environmental issues and capable, above all, of translating them into the behavior of daily life", he added.

The Congress opened yesterday with the reading of the Prime Minister's greeting message Giorgia Meloni.Immediately after, the president of the Cai Roma Section - which is celebrating 150 years of its foundation - Giampaolo Cavalieri, host, welcomed the congress participants.

This was then followed by video messages from the Minister of Tourism Daniela Santanchè and of the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, who focused on sthe bill for the recognition and promotion of mountain areas, on the importance of deseasonalizing mountain tourism and safeguarding the ecosystem services guaranteed by mountain territories.

The work of the Congress came to life under the leadership of Licia Colò, who invited the speakers of the three working groups onto the stage ("The CAI for natural capital", "The CAI, responsible use of the mountains, new behaviors aware” and “The CAI for mountain development – ​​Economy and territorial policies”), which were established at the beginning of the year.Roundtables that look at the preservation of the natural capital of mountain territories, focus on the conscious behaviors to follow when visiting them and finally offer an idea on the territorial and economic policies linked to the development of mountain territories that are capable of taking into consideration the daily life of the inhabitants.

The topic of policies for the mountains was also explored in depth during yesterday afternoon's panel, which saw the deputies Vanessa Cattoi of the League, Andrea Casu of the Democratic Party and senator Luigi Spagnolli of the Autonomy Group talking with the General President of the CAI Antonio Montani moderated by Sky TG24 journalist Valentina Bendicenti.Senator Monica Ciaburro instead intervened with a video message. The concepts highlighted were the particular needs of mountain inhabitants that politics must implement, through the application of paradigms different from those used for cities.

On the first day, Don Luigi Ciotti's speech was much appreciated, founder of Libera and Cai member, in which he focused on the concepts expressed in the apostolic exhortation 'Laudate Deum' by Pope Francis:«We cannot afford to separate ethics from beauty, and beauty is that of our mountains.Specifically, regarding the needs of mountain populations, it is necessary to ask ourselves "where are the essential services for communities, healthcare, schools, broadband?Their absence causes depopulation."

Numerous speakers including Raffaele Marini, president of the Central Commission for the protection of the mountain environment of the CAI And Riccardo Santolini, professor of Ecology and environmental teaching, coordinator and scientific coordinator of the congress respectively.In addition to theirs, there were also interventions by representatives of the three working groups, teachers, economists, territorial planners and scientists.

The Hon. also brought their greetings.Marco Perissa, Giammarco Palmieri of the Capitoline Assembly, Giuseppe Roma, vice president of the Touring Club Italiano, Adriana Giuliobello, president of Mountain Widerness Italia, Giulio Lo Iacono, general secretary of AsVis, Luca Santini, president of Federparchi and Valter Maggi, president of the Italian Glaciological Committee .

Today began with greetings from Roberto Cuneo, delegate of the president of Italia Nostra, and Filippo Lobina, director of the Ministry of Agriculture.Following the speech by Alessandro Panza (Adviser for the Mountains of the Minister for Regional Affairs Roberto Calderoli), which had as its theme the bill on the mountains, the process of which is underway.Soon the text will be definitively reported to the Council of Ministers, to then be discussed in the Chambers.

Today's morning was almost entirely dedicated to the interventions of CAI members (over 50), who with their reflections brought proactive stimuli and further themes on the future of mountain territories to the attention of the association.

The Roman event was also an opportunity to present the new 'Cai Bivouac'. The bivouac, designed by the CAI Alpine Refuges and Works Operational Structure, is a light, reversible and sustainable structure, created to be easily assembled and disassembled in the mountains.The Cai bivouac is made entirely with recycled and recyclable materials, such as wood and aluminum such as that coming from drink cans.

At the end of the proceedings, President Montani finally thanked the volunteers of the Rome Section and the employees of the CAI Headquarters for their efforts in organizing the 101st CAI Congress.The 101st CAI Congress is sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism and Roma Capitale.