The Veneto Po Delta – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – is a vast natural area in northern Italy where the Po River meets the Adriatic Sea near Venice. Spanning 18,000 hectares, it supports a community of about 73,000 people. Human settlements have had to adapt to the ever-changing morphology of a landscape shaped by the interaction of river, land, and sea, constantly threatened by floods and subsidence. The local population has passively suffered exploitation—from Venetian aristocrats to methane extraction and the unfulfilled promises of a 1950s thermoelectric power plant. Today, the community seeks redemption through the sustainable redevelopment of the former plant into an eco-friendly tourism model. However, climate change poses severe threats, including the uncontrolled spread of blue crabs, saltwater intrusion, and drought emergencies affecting rice crops, with the looming risk of submersion by 2050—underscoring the urgent need to protect both the environment and the community.

Three generations of female agricultural entrepreneurs - mother, daughters, granddaughters - are developing an innovative and sustainable agribusiness in their farmer’s co-op inherited from their father at Grattacoppa, RA. Currently 98% of the hops (Humulus lupulus L.) used in Italy are imported from Germany and the United States, the world's largest producers. Since 2018, this female company has introduced the cultivation of hops in 5 hectares of their lands, becoming the leader of a research project on Italian hops with the scientific advice of the University of Parma and funded by the Emilia-Romagna Region. This has allowed them to develop transversal projects in the transformation of hops with the aim of enhancing the local territory also from a social point of view by creating the first beer with fresh hops made in Italy in addition to the essential oil of Italian hops for tasting and herbal use.

According to the recent COP26 and Global Youth Development Index, young people are deeply concerned about the world they will inherited and want to be more engaged in meeting the development needs of their communities. 15-year-old Michelle is one of the youngest Mayors in Italy and a newly elected Italian first Regional Councilors. In 1997 a Parliament law allowed for the participation of children in political bodies through Children’s Municipal Councils which are organized in the same way as any senior Council. Young councilors have unique perspectives on local issues and they can be an inexhaustible source of energy for social change. Michelle was elected as Deputy Mayor at the age of 10 and as Mayor in 2019 in Castel San PietroTerme BO. On 2021, Michelle became member of the Regional Youth Assembly from Emilia-Romagna, the first in Italy.Local young change makers are a new generation of innovative young citizens who champion democratic values for a more peaceful world