<< Background >>The Viridis Loci (VL) project aims at providing specialized VET training/transfer of skills (5 courses) in the correct management of green areas and parks in municipalities to public technicians and private subjects who are interested in dealing with an advanced professional management of urban nature (with special regards to those impacted by pandemic) and to graduates in three European islands: Sardinia, the Balearics and Madeira. The partnership will actively cooperate to reach this aim, and it is composed by public bodies, SMEs, and an international VET provider (ABA international). The contribution of ABA International will be essential to provide the ICT e-learning platform and transfer knowledge to make the best use of ICT tools; Fitoconsult will provide the contents for the realization of the outputs while ATM will provide contents for the preparation of outputs and will coordinate the methods of knowledge transfer. ABA International will also implement the training internationally and will share it among the 29 countries that are part of its network. Implementation will also be assured by the associated partners.The consortium presented this project for three main reasons: 1) Environmental sustainability and the fight against climate change: it emphasizes the role of well-managed green areas/parks within cities and municipalities in general as providers of ecosystem services (benefits that people obtain from nature, e.g.,, climate regulation, CO2 capture, air quality improvement, cultural values, public health and biodiversity conservation).2) Increase Inclusion: The training will address the need for updating to bridge the knowledge gap of those who operate in the public and private sectors or who intend to enter this job market. The project will operate in three island contexts in southern Europe, which due to their geography, tend to be isolated and at a permanent economic disadvantage compared to other regions of the continent. Islands tend to lag behind in economic terms and innovation processes negatively impact the communities residing on the islands. Unemployment rates in the three islands are high with dramatic peaks among young people and in all cases higher than the respective national averages: Sardinia (18% - youth unemployment around 45%), Balearic Islands (youth unemployment 17% - around 40%) and Madeira (10% - 50.5% youth unemployment). 3) Overcoming the knowledge gap with the use of ICT technologies to impart a highly technological and innovative working methodology. The project will be innovative, both for the contents and for the methods of conducting the courses (high-tech maintenance methods) and for the methods of carrying out the activities (use of the ICT platform for e-learning and as an innovation storage device) . The platform developed by ABA International will be used as a cutting-edge technology for e-learning at a distance and will alternate with practical workshops, will collect all the teaching material and will also constitute a repository of ideas, exchange of best practices as well as maintaining all deliverables. of the project.<< Objectives >>The main goal the VIRIDIS LOCI project wants to achieve corresponds to latest EU strategies (European Biodiversity Strategy, the European Green Deal) and goal 11 of the UN Sustainable development goals (SDGs): Sustainable Cities and Communities - Making cities safe, inclusive, resilient and sustainable.In particular, our project activities will aim to meet the requirements of several sub-targets within SDG 11:-11.3 INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE URBANIZATION-11.4 PROTECT THE WORLD’S CULTURAL AND NATURAL HERITAGE-11.5 REDUCE THE ADVERSE EFFECTS OF NATURAL DISASTERS-11.6 REDUCE THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF CITIES-11.7 PROVIDE ACCESS TO SAFE AND INCLUSIVE GREEN AND PUBLIC SPACES-11.B IMPLEMENT POLICIES FOR INCLUSION, RESOURCE EFFICIENCY AND DISASTER RISK REDUCTION-11.C SUSTAINABLE AND RESILIENT URBAN BUILDINGWe deem important to increase the knowledge/upgrade professional skills of public and private technicians as well as all those categories of people (vulnerable such as women, youth and migrants) as well as young graduates of relevant faculties It is important to transform and create public spaces into green areas safe, accessible and inclusive for all. This is a key issue for local population and for tourism that is main economic activity on the islands, having seasonal characteristics which increases green spaces demand in summer, especially in the hottest hours of the day, when beach is not recommended. The training programme intends to form and train personnel capable of managing urban greem areas to guarantee they are safe, accessible and inclusive for all, and to amplify their multifunction with benefits for climate regulation, CO2 capture, air quality, safety, social integration, public health and biodiversity conservation. In the scope of climate change mitigation and adaptation, VL wants to educate the learners to give them the tools to seize the public spaces potential to host large trees for shade, ensuring a medium- and long-term vision for the role of trees in urban areas. The course wants to create the skills among learners to ultimately develop a regional nursery for trees and raise awareness about this critical aspect of urban life among local and regional decision makers.<< Implementation >>VL project will last three years and foresees a fixed schedule of activities, to reach the fixed goals and the deliverable of tangible and intangible results.Activities will be put in place by each partner, in a solid and harmonious transnational cooperation.VL is divided in different work packages:*WP1-Project Management & Coordination *WP2-Project Promotion & Dissemination *WP3- Project Development & VET activities *WP4-Output Implementation & SustainabilityAnci, as project leader, will coordinate activities between partners, distributing tasks and duties.VL partnership has foreseen a number of activities to be implemented to assure VL's success:- Dissemination Plan- Quality Assurance Plan- Transnational Meetings (one every 6 months)- Multiplier Events organized by each partner- Monitoring plan and structure (e.g., Steering Committee, Team Leader)- Follow-up and sustainability plan to assure long-term impacts of the project.VL partnership has already began pre-project activities, to assure a quick and prompt start of the project.<< Results >>The project will produce several concrete outcomes and more outcomes of an intangible nature. Concrete outcomes: - guidelines for the technicians of the municipalities - guidelines for gardeners/maintenance in the green areas/landscaping sector - vademecum on sustainable urban planning - an ICT platform where the training courses will be held, with the relevant training materials, exchange of good practices, etc. - training courses - Green New Deal guidelines Regarding intangible results, the starting point has been the ENRoute project (Enhancing Resilience of Urban Ecosystems through Green Infrastructure) which was managed by the European Commission and funded by the European Parliament, looked at nearly 700 core cities and urban areas across the EU and it provided fundamental knowledge on how urban green infrastructure (UGI) can support several urban policy-objectives at a variety of spatial scales. Capitalizing all the findings of the En Route project, our VL partnership aims to introduce ‘the culture of well managed green areas in cities as providers ecosystem and social services for the whole community’ (as in Northern Europe) in three insular contexts – Sardinia, the Balearic islands and Madeira, all ofthem autonomous regions and by definition isolated realities which rank low in all the indicators above mentioned. The islands therefore constitute the perfect settings to initiate specialised training on the correct management of green areas,parks and monumental trees - which will consist of a theoretical module and of several practical demonstrations/laboratories hosted in a number of municipalities around these islands. The training will involve public and private technicians and young graduates/graduates, as well as women and immigrants, who may already possess foreign qualifications and intends to lay the first stone towards the founding of gardening schools within municipalities and upgrade the skills of all those who are already working in the maintenance of green areas with an amateur approach, to turn those skills into professional ones. The aim is therefore that of creating new green jobs of a professional level for all the municipalities involved in the partnership, with new VET offerings, that will be integrated into partners offers to assure long term impacts.