On 24th January 2020, the Municipality of Guardiaregia organized a press conference at the WWF Reserve Visitor Center located in the town centre to illustrate the work related to the LASPEH – “Low Adriatic Species and Habitat” Project.

The Municipality of Guardiaregia, thanks to the LASPEH project, was able to carry out the intervention that involves the reclamation of the Quirino Canyon from waste abandoned in the canyon in the last 50 years. The main purpose is to monitor the impact that this intervention has on the territory, which boasts a vast biodiversity, in order to draw up guidelines applicable in similar situations in all European countries.

In particular, a study was conducted on the Quirino Gorges to inspect the Canyon and identify the areas with the highest concentration of waste, establishing the subsequent remediation procedures. During the press conference, the Mayor Fabio Iuliano declared the end of these reclamation works and the related recovery of large bulky materials, which will be collected thanks to the use of a helicopter. In addition, he stated that, thanks to the project resources, they managed to install cameras to monitor the possible abandonment of waste in order to intervene immediately and useful systems to prevent fires.

He concluded by saying that, by participating in the INTERREG Project, they felt concretely European citizens and hoped to be awarded further European funding.

The LASPEH project, funded by the Interreg IPA CBC Italy-Albania-Montenegro program under priority axis 3 (environmental protection, risk management and low carbon strategy), aims to implement a network organizations that cooperate for a better management of priority species in Natura 2000 sites. Through the establishment of this network, the organizations included will have the opportunity to share and exchange their best practices, developing a common transnational strategy to preserve common habitats and species.