The Aeolian Islands Preservation Fund (AIPF) helps preserve the exceptional beauty and natural value of the Aeolian Islands. The AIPF raises money from people from all around the world who care about the future of the Aeolian Islands. We support environmental, artisanal, and sustainable initiatives, carried out by local, Italian or international organisations. The AIPF is an initiative started by friends of the islands, who want to give this fragile ecosystem the protection it deserves.

NEWSLETTER SUMMARY

JULY/AUGUST - Event held in Aeolian Islands in collaboration with the Italian Minister of the Environment for the Land and the Sea, GianLuca Galletti; the Director for Nature Protection, MariaCarmela Giarratano, ISPRA - Franco Andaloro, UNESCO Sicily - Aurelio Angelini, Superintendents of the Sea - Sebastiano Tusa and La Rocca, The Command of the Coast Guard, The Mayors of the municipalities of Lipari, Santa Marina, Leni and Malfa, the Chairman of the AIPF, Luca Del Bono, and most of the leaders of the AIPF.

- We achieved the political support we were looking for; in fact the Minister of the Environment and the Protection of Land and Sea Gian Luca Galletti declared himself available to start the process for the launch of a marine protected area, thereby activating the team identified by AIPF.   There will also be an evaluation of new models of collaboration between public and private sectors, starting from the island communities. A meeting has been called at the Ministry this October with the AIPF and BLUE team.

-The conference was pleased to have in attendance singer Natalie Imbruglia, whose father comes from Lipari, as she has decided to join the Committee of the Aeolian Islands Preservation Fund and to promote both the Fund and the Aeolian Islands. In recent days Natalie has participated in the program organized by AIFP and joined other supporters in visiting strategic sea areas under the guidance of experts (thanks to the collaboration of Alexanna Ambrosetti of RomeXLove) to discover the enchanted islands of the sea, from Basiluzzo to Stromboli.

- We are happy to announce that the BLUE project for the education of fishermen and to do the first researches projects to create a Marine Protected Area in Aeolian Islands has been in part granted from M&S and the AIPF and that the Cycle race London-Monaco helped to raise lot of money for our Marine Protected Area Project in Aeolians.

- The AIPF agreed to make a donation to the Municipality of Lipari in order to implement the service of rubbish collection on the island of Panarea in the month of August, extremely affected by day-trippers and the nightlife. An extra operator worked on the island, with specific duties related to the area of the port.

-Our supporter, the singer Noa sang in Salina and in Panarea to support culture and environment in Aeolian Islands

Luca Del Bono, Mariasole Bianco, Federica Tesoriero Adrian Grenier, actor and environmentalist
During the Think-Tank,  other participants attended, included Allison Perry of Oceana Ngo, expert on Habitat Mapping of the Mediterranean and Oceans; Andrea Morello president of Sea Shepherd Ngo in Italy, Mariasole Bianco of IUCN and Worldrise Ngo, just returning from the World Conference of Marine Protected Areas in Hawaii, Rory Moore of BLUE Marine Foundation and the Italian biologists Monica Blasi, director of Filicudi Wildlife Conservation and Giulia Bernardi who is finishing her PHD on the underwater survey of fish species in Salina.

We compared functional models around the world, from Mexico to El Hierro, marine protected areas that work and bring important economic benefits to local communities. Especially the model of El Hierro is important: the fishermen zoned specific fishing reserves and organise themselves to protect their fishery resources.

The important experience of Sea Shepherd, through the extraordinary stories of Andrea Morello, showed us why our sea is now a fragile ecosystem that we have to protect and document how illegal fishing in Sicily is moving very fast toward our waters. It has been enphatised how crucial is to create now an international network to give voice to the sea: we want this meeting of world experts in marine environment to become a regular appointment in the Aeolian, with the involvement of important stakeholders who can really raise internationally awearness of our Aeolian archipelago.

Along with Adrian Grenier, who just founded his Lonely Whale Ngo and other experts involved, we launch a worldwide appeal: We want to preserve the Aeolian Islands through the virtuous cooperation between local communities, fishermen, tourism operators and municipalities to let our beautiful islands to be defended and to preserve natural resources, allowing future generations to be able to fully enjoy the richness of this unique sea in the Mediterranean.

Adrian Grenier, Luca Del Bono and Sea Shepherd
 

NEXT STEPS
 

-The debate around the Marine Protected Area in Aeolians is officially open and we are now in the Aeolians for a scoping mission  in Lipari to meet the fishermen and other stakeholders to create awareness and inform the population of what a MPA is and what benefits they will get.
-The fishermen requested to meet us to have a much clearer idea of what will happen in the Aeolians once the areas will be mapped.
-We organized to meet all the categories involved in the establishment of the MPA in the Aeolians.
-We have a meeting with the Ministry already organized to discuss strategies
-We will attend the meeting in Palermo with the Sicily District for the establishement of the MPA
 

FUNDRAISING
 

We are happy to announce you that our summer campaign "One pizza for Aeolian Islands" has been very successful: we araised 19,000£ in only 3 months! We want to thank once again our friends of Franco Manca and we hope we can collaborate again with them for a Christmas campaign.
 

-We have many new supporters since last summer and we are becoming more and more popular!
-We want to thankall our great leaders to participate to our summer events in Panarea. It has been beautiful spend the summer with you all.
Have a look to our Summer Event Video !
 

PRESS

 

Thanks to great Journalist and AIPF Supporter Maria Shollenbarger How To Spend It? talk about our mission of preserving Aeolian Islands: Revived cultural gems from Jodhpur to Shanghai".
Read the article online.

 

 

Help us to spread the words and to raise funds to support these great projects.
Invite your friends to join the AIPF.

Membership
Investing in the Environment is investing in the future, and this year you can make a donation to the AIPF wich will help us to preserve the beauty of these Islands.

• Posidonia - donation of €100 per year
• Sea Urchin - donation of €300 per year
• Star Fish -  donation of €500 per year
• Lobster -  donation of €1.000 per year
• Loggerhead Turtle - donation of €3.000 per year
• Bottlenose Dolphin - donation of €5.000  per year
• Sperm Whale or “Leader”  - €10.000 per year

Membership is available for individuals and companies.

Fundraisers
If you organise a party, you can help support the Aeolian Islands Preservation Fund’s work by raising funds at the door. This is a very effective way of raising awareness amongst friends and peers. So remember about us, next party!
Thank you!

Donate now and Spread the words!
Please donate to:
Account Name: Aeolian Islands Preservation Foundation
TRIODOS BANK, Deanery Road, Bristol, BS1 5AS
Account Number 20641257
Sort Code 16-58-10
 
From Europe and from all around the world:
Account Name: Triodos Bank
Bank Name and Address:
Royal Bank of Scotland 10 Whitechapel High Street London E1 8DX
Sort Code: 16-00-34
Swift/BIC: RBOSGB2LXXX
IBAN: GB11RBOS16003410000856
Reference AEOLIAN ISLANDS PRESERVATION FOUNDATION
Account Number 20641257
Sort Code 16-58-10