Sardinia and Tunisia increasingly united: the project in Capoterra

Sardinia and Tunisia have never been so close : thanks to an international cooperation project, financed by the Region, the island and the North African country have undertaken a collaboration destined to produce important results .

In the splendid setting of Casa Melis, in Capoterra, the international cooperation project "Geo Med Gis 2 - The paths of the Geo park: walking towards UNESCO" was concluded, proposed by the Friends without borders Association of Capoterra. The initiative followed the first project “Geo Med Gis carried out in 2021.

The driving force behind this important initiative was the volunteer organization Amici Senza Confini , a reality that has been operating in this area for many years, carrying out projects in various countries including Senegal, Kenya, Morocco and Brazil, Nigeria and Peru. It has been operating in Tunisia for some time with a project created with the aim of supporting the establishment of the park in the south-east of Tunisia, in the Dahar region, and to obtain the inclusion of this protected area among the UNESCO sites of Africa .

Partners of the initiative were the Office National des Mines of the Tunisian government, the Cnr of Milan, the Geopark of Sardinia, the Cirem-Crenos of the University of Cagliari, the Tepilora Park, the Municipalities of Capoterra, Gadoni, Genoni and Masullas and the Friends of Sardinia association.

In approximately three years of activity, important results have been achieved, such as the training of 30 young people to find and manage geo-referenced information; the database was implemented to manage the web-app in a more functional way; the south-eastern Tunisian area has been included among the sites that will fall within the Parks classification; the granting of 5 micro credit funds was obtained for the opening of tourism businesses. Among the noteworthy results is also the intensification of relations between Sardinia and Tunisia, which have favored the birth of exchanges and collaboration agreements between universities and private companies .

During the final conference, the results achieved were illustrated and the future objectives were presented, with the hope of consolidating relationships between the actors of the respective territories in the hope that an operational network will be created that will allow us to overcome the particularisms that have penalized the implementation of sector policies and that Sardinia, through its Geopark, will soon return to being a UNESCO site.