Frutti per la Biosfera – Fruits for the Biosphere

The project is completed. The project addressed the important role of food in climate change. It promoted vegetarian, seasonal, regional and organic foods through environmental education in schools, and also supported farmers in selling their products locally.
The project focussed on educating children through hands-on activities such as gardening projects and visits to farms. It also supported the direct sale of crops by organising local farmers’ markets and farm-gate sales. To ensure quality and promote environmentally friendly and diverse agriculture, criteria were developed to establish a partnership system, where identified farms and restaurants undergo a check in order to become a partner-company, a “Partner della Biosfera”.
The project involved young volunteers from (Eastern) European countries in all the activities, with the aim of them passing their new developed skills on to their home countries.
Orange tasting in Maletto, Sicily. Foto: S.Hermsen
At present, very little environmental education is provided in Sicily, and there is limited awareness of the link between food and climate change. However, the Etna region is already suffering from effects of climate change, such as extreme weather and desertification.
Etna’s agriculture, which is highly diverse, provides the population with a good variety of fresh products. Unfortunately, more and more people are buying non-regional and processed foods. The project aimed to counteract this development and strengthen traditional organic and smallholder farming.
“Frutti per la Bioshere” was also able to have a positive impact on the planning activities for the establishment of a nature conservation area at Etna.
Updated: February 2023
Countries: Germany, Italy
Project duration: 09/18 - 04/19
Funding: 164,573 €
Target groups: Cities, towns and municipalities, Civil Society, Educational institutions, Regional governments
Implementing organisation:
Manfred-Hermsen-Stiftung (MHS)
Project Partners:
Giacche Verdi Bronte
Project Website:
terrebiosfera.org/
Herr Andrea Aidala
Organisation: Giacche Verdi Bronte
Email: gvbronte∂gmail.com
Tel: +39 095 77108
The European Climate Initiative (EUKI):
This project is part of the European Climate Initiative (EUKI). EUKI is a project financing instrument by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). The EUKI competition for project ideas is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. It is the overarching goal of the EUKI to foster climate cooperation within the European Union (EU) in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
For more information on the EUKI: www.euki.de