Cova Contro

In response to the urgent environmental and public health needs of local residents, the COVA Contro association was founded in 2013 to raise public awareness of the impacts of oil industry in Basilicata. First and foremost, we are an organization that conducts scientific and investigatory research to document, analyze, and monitor oil pollution. For years our work has been published in scientific articles, taken up by the national and foreign press, and we collaborate with the judiciary and with various other civic institutions, from municipalities to parliamentary committees of inquiry. Also, we have supported the work of several foreign researchers who have confirmed the general state of environmental degradation in Basilicata. Additionally, we offer legal and technical assistance to the victims of the oil pollution. As an association we are at the center of numerous legal disputes that have seen us winners up to now, however we receive numerous complaints for our information and reporting activities. We also initiated a pre-infringement procedure (EU PILOT) for the Tempa Rossa oil field in Basilicata. We also design innovative environmental monitoring systems, and we run public engagement campaigns through our published works and our involvement with local schools and universities. Our website serves as a repository of information for dozens of researchers, students, and residents. Since 2015 we have been doing year-round, crowdsource fundraising, using all our social media, internet, and tax channels (5 per 1000). We have over 300 micro-supporters. And we have been registered in the European Transparency Register since 2016. The problems that our beloved Basilicata faces are both old and new. While the oil industry is a new source, it drives many of the same challenges that Lucanians have faced for years—extreme disparities between rich and poor, corruption, and emigration. Through our research and public outreach activities, we have sought break this cycle by creating a new vision for the future of the oil industry in Basilicata—one that prioritizes public health, transparency, and public oversight. In order to take our next steps towards achieving this vision, in 2020 we invested in remote sensing technology. During the pandemic we understood the importance of investing in remote sensing, and we plan to found a start-up on the know-how developed both in the field of satellite re-mote sensing and citizen science. These tools would afford us the ability to make use of Basilica-ta's best scientific minds, many of whom have been forced to emigrate for a lack of jobs suitable to their knowledge and expertise. Through these projects, we aim to: 1) create an independent and participatory environmental monitoring and data system, 2) leverage the power of citizen science and the talents of our people as a force for civic action and environmental monitoring, 3) create a community (and a few jobs) for Basilicata's intellectual emigrants.