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Legambiente is an Italian, non-profit association created in 1980 for the safeguard and the sound management of the environment and for the promotion of sustainable lifestyle, production systems and use of resources. Legambiente is the most widespread environmental organisation in Italy. Following the spirit of the tenet “Think globally, act locally”, the activity of Legambiente is based on the work of 1,000 local groups and co-ordinated through 20 regional committees and a national headquarter in Rome. Funding is mainly based on the contribution of its 110,000 members and the donations of patrons and sponsors. Legambiente represents the UNEP National Committee for Italy, it is one of the leading members of EEB (European Environmental Bureau) the Federation of European environmental organisations, and of IUCN - the World Conservation Union.
In addition to the local activities, Legambiente launched several well-known and appreciated national initiatives that raised the attention of media and citizens on the issues of environmental management and of quality of life. These activities include “Goletta Verde”(Green Schooner), the widest campaign of analysis and information on sea pollution ever realised by an environmental organisation: every summer since 1986 it has monitored the quality of Italian seas; “Treno Verde” (Green Train) is the railways version of “goletta verde”, that started in 1988 and that visited and monitored over 100 cities per year, collecting and publishing data on air and noise pollution; “Puliamo il mondo” (Clean up the World), the well-known day dedicated to the volunteer work for cleaning up the environment.
Legambiente invested several resources in understanding and forecasting the possible environmental impacts of new technologies, in educating and promoting the adoption of responsible behaviour, and in lobbying for environmentally correct political decisions. For these purposes Legambiente created several Environment Education Centres, to promote sustainable lifestyles through the education of children and teachers, the “Osservatorio Ambiente e Legalità” (Observatory for the Environment and Legality ) and the Legal Action Centres that contribute to sensitise local and central administrations to environmental issues.
The Lombardy regional office of Legambiente hosts the National Observatory on enterprises aimed at the cooperation with the enterprises that invest for a more sustainable production.
The role of Legambiente Lombardy in the NanoCap project is to participate actively to the working conferences in order to acquire the scientific basis to draft a position paper on nanotechnologies. The project will allow Legambiente to share its view with the environmental NGO project partners and to structure a consultative process inside and outside the organisation.
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