Italy
There is no place in the world like Lampedusa for confronting the immensity of nature. On the one hand, its majestic landscapes; on the other, its location as a rock in the middle of the sea: a place where you feel both at the centre of the world and very small before nature’s grandeur.
And its upheavals. For almost thirty years, there has been a permanent climate observatory in Lampedusa, because the broader is better seen from the periphery.
The data from Lampedusa are very important for understanding climate mechanisms, particularly in the Mediterranean, which is a particularly sensitive region to climate change. Lampedusa is, in fact, a small island (with an area of about 20 km²), far from continental areas (the nearest continental region is Tunisia, more than 120 km away) and little influenced by the direct effects of vegetation and anthropogenic emissions. Thanks to these conditions, the regional effects of emissions linked to continental industrial activities, shipping traffic, fires and the activity of Mount Etna have been studied. At the same time, the fact that it is a small, essentially flat island, far from continents, and therefore on a uniform seabed, with very frequent clear skies, makes it an ideal site for verifying and validating observations from space. Research is also being conducted on these aspects, thanks to the availability of excellent characterisation of both the ocean and the atmosphere, which is essential for the so-called “atmospheric correction” of measurements from space.
This is why it was particularly important that, at the end of September 2025, the island hosted the International Youth Leaders Training Workshops on Youth-led Climate Actions, supported by the Sublime project. Training activities, debates, and moments of reflection and discussion brought together many young people from all over Europe, who shared their ideas and local actions, and then returned home carrying with them experiences and good practices. These would later feed into actions in their own territories, rooted in the relationships and needs of local communities, for action that is at once concrete, global and local.
Among them were local projects, in particular those of Lampedusa and Linosa. The young people also had the opportunity to learn about the culture of Lampedusa and Linosa, its history, and its role as a sentinel of climate change. Through the testimony of a fisherman, Piero Billeci, who passionately explains and passes on an ancient custom that tells of the community’s economy and how some things have changed with climate change.
On the one hand, there are those who fight to ensure the lesser-known sister island is not forgotten, or worse, misrepresented, as mainstream media has done for many years in the past. Today, the young people of Linosa tell their own story, just as in Lampedusa there is an ongoing struggle for projects that go beyond tourism and support, for example, local agriculture.
Their projects, and their smiles, did not remain confined to the rooms of the workshops and meetings organised in the Marine Protected Area of the local administration. On the one hand, they had the opportunity to organise a flash mob on one of the beautiful beaches – full of tourists – to raise awareness among citizens and visitors about the actions that each of us can and must take to bring about concrete change in response to the challenges that climate change poses to everyone’s lives. On the other hand, they were able to greet the audience at the Kamalé festival in the centre of Lampedusa.
The festival was organised by local young people, who wanted to tell their own story after many years during which Lampedusa has always been described by others. For the event, which showcases local arts, culture and traditions, with a particular focus on young people, they chose the title Kamalé, a word with roots in African and Arabic languages and even in some religious traditions. Its history is difficult to trace due to the lack of specific references, but it may have spread through migration and cultural exchanges, adapting to different regions over time. Shows, music, debates and Mediterranean flavours, but with sustainability and solidarity at the core: local food served with compostable materials and practical help for those in need.
The energy of change, of self-expression, of young people fighting alongside their communities, from within their territories, for the common good and the protection of the environment, does not move in a vacuum. Lampedusa has always been at the centre of all those processes which, linked to global changes, also drive migration and population movements. And as every year since 2013, it was impossible to ignore the day dedicated to commemorating the victims of the shipwreck on that terrible 3rd of October. The young people had the opportunity to participate in the ceremony, visit the cemetery in Lampedusa and listen to Vito Fiorino, who saved many lives that night. How? By taking action himself, putting himself on the line—as one must do to confront problems and fate, acting in one’s own communities and territories to bring about global change.