How to manage conflicts between resources and identitarian values. The Agri Valley amid oil supply and the Lucanian Apennines National Park in the Agri Valley. – Lagonegrese (Basilicata)

In the mid 90s the valley landscape of Basilicata found itself at a crossroads between two contrasting development models. One was based on the supply of hydrocarbons, with a view to starting up a heavily industrialised process, whilst the other drew its inspiration from local development policies, based on nature tourism, high-quality agriculture and promoting the typical territorial, cultural and social characteristics and assets of the area. Basilicata attempted to find a middle ground which could respect the principles of ecological, economic and social sustainability and, at the same time, strike some sort of balance and promote these initiatives in agreement with oil-company activity. Twenty years later, the Agri Valley is a far cry from achieving the following two goals for the future: on the one hand putting itself forward as a model for a sustainable economy, on the other hand, following its dream of making its fortune by becoming a large-scale centre for energy production. The construction of the biggest onshore extraction plant in Europe in the heart of the Lucanian Apennines National Park is producing a serious environmental impact. Indeed, this work is compromising the ecological value of the area and plant safety checks, monitoring of pollution levels and safeguarding the health of local inhabitants are all urgently needed. If we consider the current political, economic and financial climate, the now well-established cultural concepts of smart growth and sustainable growth and the OECD Better life Index forecast, which considers the well-being industry and the green economy to be the main driving forces for the global economy over the next 20 years, does it still make sense to obsessively consider oil as the area's main driving force for growth? The aim of this study is to highlight and discuss the conflicts and paradoxes which stem both from different ways of interpreting the term resource and from the ambiguous nature of identitarian values in an area where resources imply deeply contrasting notions of landscapes.