Mistakes and delays in organizing the fight against the locust invasion? «Not ours: we have constantly guaranteed scientific support. And in February 2023 we were excluded from the program ». The Rector of the University of Sassari, Gavino Mariotti, doesn't agree. With a letter he replies to the accusations about alleged failures in the management of the phenomenon that is devastating the countryside of central Sardinia, formulated in a document by Laore.

A reconstruction that Mariotti does not accept. And it produces a scientific document referring to 2022 in which "monitoring", the one that has been missing according to the regional agency, is mentioned in several points.

Il Magnifico of Sassari also reconstructs the history of the relationship with Laore: he claims that it was his University, in 2019, that raised «the problem of acrid infestations in central Sardinia, with the risk of a resurgence of the phenomenon, then still limited to a few thousands of hectares. Only two years later, in 2021, "the table accepted the request, reiterated by the University, for an infestation containment plan". Which was drawn up by the University, with a three-year validity, and endorsed by the Regional Council "in December 2021, with an allocation of 800 thousand euros, a part of which (300 thousand) to be allocated to the scientific consultancy of the University", underlines Mariotti. Meanwhile, Laore has been identified as the implementing body, which should also have stipulated the agreement with the University. At this point, here is one of the critical points: that agreement «was only signed in May 2022 (when the infestation was well advanced)», accuses the Rector, and «an advance of the funds (40,000 euros) was only disbursed in July 2022". Extended times, then. "Despite this delay, the University has worked to ensure scientific support." And in February of this year she would be dropped from the program.

(Unioneonline/E.Fr.)

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