The Community Enterprises of the Appennino Tosco-Emiliano UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Italy: Biodiversity Guardians and Sustainable Development Innovators

Abstract

The UNESCO recently designated the Appennino Tosco-Emiliano as a biosphere reserve (BR) in 2015. On the reserve territory, it is possible to rediscover the constitutive elements of this environmental, socioeconomic and historical-cultural space. In particular, the existence of different stratifications of social entrepreneurship represents a valuable element that the biosphere is expected to enhance and spread to other territories. In addition to consolidated social economy experiences, some organisational innovations, such as community enterprises, are in fact developing. Originating from processes of social resilience, these enterprises contribute to redefining the supply of collective interest services, by basing themselves on the regeneration of economies and place-based resources and by challenging the territorial governance models in terms of greater inclusivity.