The PAM 2nd Standing Committee on Economic, Social and Environmental Cooperation, held a meeting dedicated to ‘Waste Management and Food Security’ in Milan, Italy, on 11-12 June 2015. The event was presided by Sen. Emma Fattorini (Italy), PAM Vice President and President of the 2nd PAM Standing Committee.
The two day event was hosted by “Acqua&Sole”, an organization established by Nobel Prize Prof. Giulio Natta, aimed at promoting economic activities originating from Cultural Innovation. The meeting was organized by PAM in cooperation with the Association of Engineers of Naples and with the School for Professional Training of the Italian Association of Engineers, both members of the PAM Economic Panel and of the PAM Academic Platform. The 40 participants included parliamentarians from the PAM National delegations, academics and professionals from a number of stakeholders involved in the issues addressed during the meeting.
During the first day, the conference analyzed the benefits from an adequate use of organic waste as nutrients in agriculture, and its positive impact on crucial sectors in the Mediterranean region, such as the protection of the environment and food security.
During the meeting a number of issues where highlighted, such as the use of organic nutrients which are better for the soil than chemical nutrients and such a model could be reproduced in other contexts. It was also underlined that current available technology is sufficient to put in place such a process, but it faces a number of obstacles since there is often a lack of political will and of implementation of the existing regulation. Furthermore EU legislation in this area needs to be drastically updated to reflect developments in recent years.
The second day was dedicated to a visit to EXPO 2015, the Universal Exposition in Milan, whose theme is “Feeding the Planet – Energy for life”, two critical issues for the Mediterranean region that PAM has been addressing since its establishment. The visit was hosted and organized by CNH Industrial and included a visit to the New Holland Agriculture’s ‘Sustainable Farm Pavilion’.
During the EXPO visit, a Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between PAM and the Inter-Academic Group for Development (GID), whereby the two organisations will step up their collaboration on regional development issues through joint initiatives and the exchange of academic experts and parliamentarians in order to create greater synergies among the stakeholders and the beneficiaries of better standards of living in the Mediterranean region.