Respire Project

RESPIRE – RESEARCH EDUCATIONAL AND STORYTELLING PROJECT IN ITALIAN REMOTE ECOSYSTEM

Meridian - Explorer Community Collaboration ~ NGS Grantee Community

The minor islands are often characterized by a unique environment context, with a strong tourist vocation due to their landscape and sea beauty. Despite an exciting but impactful summer season, during the rest of the year, the population lives in a remote social context, due to the weather conditions of the winter season and the distance from the mainland and major islands. These circumstances can affect the educational programs for local schools, especially by limiting their attendance to cultural and scientific meetings. A lack of career development opportunities has been recorded to impact Italian minor island native students. In this regard, the project aims to inspire the new generations towards potential careers they can undertake in STEM, education, and storytelling. This project will allow the students of Lampedusa and Pantelleria to explore their islands through multidisciplinary research activities, ranging from marine biology to botany, archaeology, and geology. In particular, the activities will contribute to assessing the impacts of anthropogenic pressures and climate change on different ecosystems (marine and terrestrial). The students will be inspired to raise their voices and communicate to a broad audience about the unique natural systems that characterize their islands.