Drones used for controlling an checking climate changes with starting up in amoung other Barbera vineyards
Posted on: 23-01-2020 om 17:29:31
| Karina Imschoot
Chances are that the association that manages the Langhe, Roero and Monferrato site UNESCO will be able to finance the €200,000 project to study the effects of climate change on Piedmont's wine-growing hills through high-tech actions. As the director of the site, Roberto Cerrato of Alba, reports, the request has "passed all the evaluation steps". We are waiting for the official approval, which will come after the final approval by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities.
"The aim of this initiative is to increase knowledge of the effects determined by climate in order to carry out virtuous actions of active citizenship that make it possible to reduce the vulnerability of the territory", says Marco Devecchi of the University of Turin, partner of the project.
Indeed, climate variations can also be felt here: the data illustrated by Arpa during a recent training course in Asti show that over the past 61 years in Piedmont, the minimum temperatures have risen by 1.59 degrees and the maximum by 2.38 degrees. If no action is taken, as some scientific studies claim, the temperature in northwest Italy could rise by an average of as much as 8 degrees in 2100. The Unesco project will initially carry out a study on the impact of climate change on geographical conformation, agricultural activity and land use. Subsequently, activities will focus on training and awareness-raising for students, young people and citizens, with a particular focus on local authority officials and wine producers. Finally, exercises will be promoted to make the land safe in response to climate events and to combat degradation, and new models will be tested to reconsider production processes in a sustainable way.
The experiments, which will be carried out on two indigenous varieties of Moscato and Barbera, will make use of advanced technologies, such as those of drones. "What we want to achieve with this project - which will be developed in a year and a half - is to preserve the image of a unique cultural landscape, despite the climate change that needs to be tackled. We intend to contribute to the awareness of belonging to a UNESCO site at different levels, through actions of knowledge and awareness, both theoretical and practical", concludes the Marco Valle.
Back