On 27 November, the University of Padua hosted the first Veneto Living Lab regional meeting, with a distinctive focus on the Prosecco wine district. Organised by CNR-Istituto di Ricerca sulle Acque with AgriSat Iberia, the workshop brought together municipalities, water authorities, irrigation communities and farmers.
Through a Participatory System Dynamics Modelling exercise, stakeholders jointly mapped the region’s Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems Nexus components, their interactions, and current levels of innovation.
Responding to Water Scarcity Challenges in Italy’s most important vineyard region
The area’s main challenges are linked to water availability for irrigation and trade-offs between water efficiency and ecosystem services provision as current and projected water scarcity, due to a warming climate and irregular/changing precipitation regimes, are reducing the overall water resources availability and increasing the competition among different water users.
The PRIMA NexusLabs project is advancing its mission to improve the efficiency and sustainability of Mediterranean irrigated agriculture by turning proven innovations into practice in the Veneto Living Lab, a lowland area that represents Italy’s most important vineyard region. It will test smart irrigation technologies and Nature-based Solutions, including forest infiltration areas, to reduce water use and optimise fertiliser management. Parallel work will analyse the institutional framework and barriers to upscale agroecological practices, innovative irrigation techniques and skills and training initiatives.
Stakeholders in the Veneto Living Lab will play a key role in adopting Nexus principles, with regional authorities, land reclamation consortia, and farmers coming together to share knowledge, exchange best practices, and discuss practical solutions.
The Veneto Living Lab, has one of the most valuable and competitive agricultural productions in the country, with an average production of over 5 million tonnes of agricultural products per year. The Veneto lowlands are characterized by a complex network of 18.000 km of water canals managed by ten different Land Reclamation Consortia. The area is under increasing pressure from frequent summer droughts.
Veneto is one of nine Mediterranean Nexus Living Labs across six countries, where farmers and local actors work alongside researchers to co-develop and scale integrated solutions that balance productivity, resource efficiency and ecosystem protection.
Featured Photo credit (c): Parco Fiume Brenta
