ASSOCIATIONS: 21 PRACTICES
MedINA is an environmental organization that works with local communities
to protect their natural & cultural heritage and foster their prosperity.
Our vision is a world where societies prosper in harmony with nature.
The Terra Lemnia project aims to support traditional primary sector practices that contribute to the conservation of biodiversity and the shaping of the unique landscape of Lemnos, through an integrated framework of research and field actions, in collaboration with local institutions and producers of the island.
The reference point of the project are the mandres of Lemnos, a mixed crop and livestock land-use system where pastures and arable land exist around the traditional mandra construction that serve the needs of the kechayades (farmers and herdsmen), which we call the mandra system'. This system is characterised by the coexistence of agriculture and livestock farming, is accompanied by specific management practices and has enabled the inhabitants of Lemnos to survive for centuries, ensuring self-sufficiency. This system, which is preserved and evolving today, is studied and tried to support Terra Lemnia in many ways.
The initiative is addressed to all people involved in the primary sector of Lemnos, but also to the local community of the island, with emphasis on the youth. At the same time, a know-how transfer action is taking place in Kythera, through which the activation of another local island network is achieved. On a broader level, the results of the project are promoted to the international scientific community as well as to national and regional decision-makers, through scientific publications and the drafting and promotion of appropriate policy proposals.
Five (5) years: 2017-2022
First phase: 2017-2020
Second phase: 2020-2022
The project has a duration of 5 years and is implemented in two phases. In the first phase (2017-2020), extensive interdisciplinary field research was carried out in collaboration with local producers and other local stakeholders to record the agricultural practices currently applied in Lemnos, to assess the state of biodiversity, soils and landscape, to record the traditional mandres of Lemnos, to highlight local products and the intangible heritage of the island. In cooperation with more than 30 producers, pilot actions were carried out for the on-site conservation of local varieties and the enrichment of pastures, together with the implementation of measures to protect crops from wild rabbits. At the same time, important steps were taken towards the design of a biodiversity monitoring system based on selected species (biomarkers) and a pilot study was carried out to assess changes in the rural landscape in the area of Fakos. Furthermore, educational seminars and excursions for the island's producers were organised, open workshops on participatory planning and public awareness events were held, as well as educational activities in cooperation with schools on the island. Through these actions, solid foundations were laid for building trust and activating a wide network of people and stakeholders at local level.
In phase B (2020-2022), our efforts are focused on the establishment, at the first level, of a voluntary local network of producers, who apply a set of good practices for biodiversity and the landscape, aiming at the production of certified quality products. The monitoring of practices and inputs/outputs is done through precision agriculture applications designed for the needs of Lemnos producers - the FarmGeoBalance geospatial database and connected mobile phone application (smartphone app). At the same time, we created the private certification scheme "Agricultural Tradition and Biodiversity" through which the implementation of pro-environmental agricultural practices is monitored in order to produce quality local products and we designed the Terra Vita quality label for the certified products of the network. The network includes 12 farmers and stockbreeders and 2 local agro-processing companies. An important innovation of the whole effort is the fact that the cooperating producers participate in the process of monitoring the state of biodiversity and soils in a "citizen science" logic.
On a second level, our team is working towards the establishment of a wider network, in the form of a local cooperation pact, in which all the productive sectors of the island (primary sector, processing and/or standardization of agricultural products, retail and/or wholesale trade shops, supermarkets, restaurants and hotels) as well as local institutions (chambers of commerce, associations, etc.) will participate, aiming at the promotion of certified local Terra Vita products and the general support of the local production culture.
On a broader level, the exploitation of the research work of the first phase is promoted in order to improve the institutional framework and the promotion of traditional practices and products of the primary sector of Lemnos. In this context, the Intangible Cultural Heritage of the place is highlighted (registration of the melipasto/melichloro cheese -2020- and the traditional mandres of Lemnos -2022- in the National Inventory of Intangible Traditional Heritage), the registration of local varieties (white-nosed bean, afkos, lafyri, barley of Panagia, sesame, gyptofasoulo, etc.) is supported. etc.) in the National Catalogue of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the file for the recognition of the melipasto/melichloro cheese as a PDO has been prepared and is to be submitted, an official request has been submitted for the recognition of the local Lemnos sheep breed as a 'rare breed' with the aim of subsidising its preservation by the island's farmers, and specifications are being drawn up for the construction of modern, model sheepfolds of ecological construction combined with the re-use of traditional pens as ancillary buildings or for agro-tourism use.
At the same time, with the support and co-financing of the Kytherian Foundation for Culture & Development, the Kythera Sustainable Agriculture Project has been implemented since September 2020. This is an action for the transfer of know-how from Lemnos, which aims to establish a local network of olive producers in Kythera and the production of quality olive oil that will be certified through the scheme "Agricultural Tradition and Biodiversity" with the Terra Vita quality label. This effort is supported by the two olive oil cooperatives of the island and the network has 30 producers in its first year of operation.
The islands of Lemnos and Kythera
A network of 30 producers cooperating in Lemnos and 30 in Kythera.
Participation of Lemnos school students in environmental education activities (planting of oak trees, student literary competition, basket weaving).
The benefits for the organisation are summarised below:
