An Environmental Participatory Governance (EPG) Model for the Ecological Transition: The Case of the Basilicata Region

Abstract

In the current poly-crisis scenario, in which we face the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and unstable geopolitical conditions, a just ecological transition increasingly plays a pivotal role in determining our visions for the future. Communities must be adequately prepared and made protagonists in order to ethically orient and support this transition. This article shows an experience from the Basilicata region (southern Italy) that is intended to engage the community in the just ecological transition process. To that end, an Environmental Participatory Governance model was implemented, exploiting both the synod of the churches for existing community networks and scientific expertise to support multi-actor knowledge integration and learning. The developed model allowed us to obtain an in-depth knowledge of the main players who carry out environmental education, the strengths and weaknesses of their environmental strategies, and the synergy among them. Bottom–up outcomes, in terms of perceived environmental risks and suggested priority actions, represent a challenge for stakeholders, but confronting these has led to significant alignment of visions for the implementation of a shared action plan. The most significant result of this work is the learnings concerning the implementation of a participatory experience, which should be replicable at different scales and for any environmental problem. Such an experience allows for the possibility of forming consolidated networks, which make environmental governance more effective at the regional level.