The Statute of Terredelsud 

The Terredelsud Association has been founded with the purpose to near the world of Research and Technology to the people and the neediest territories.  

 The criterion that will be pursued is that of Sustainable Development and therefore of precise assistance in line with social and territorial vocations.  

THE STATUTE OF TERREDELSUD  

Art. 1 - Founding, Aim and Head office  

An association of Scientific - Technological - Cultural and operative voluntary work called "TERREDELSUD” has been set up. It is a no-profit organisation which aims to promote the culture of Sustainable Development (as requested by the Brundtland report, 1987) and give support to every human being or territory which is in need of a balanced growth.  

The association, established to last for an unlimited amount of time, proposes:  

the creation of a culture aimed at safeguarding specific human and territorial aspects, biodiversity and, in general, the environmental patrimony of the world;  

raising every man's awareness of the need to promote Policies of support towards countries with serious socioeconomic and environmental difficulties;  

the creation of an observatory on government policies with regards to Sustainable Development, with particular attention given to maintaining the innate equilibrium between man and nature;  

the creation of a Centre for bringing together offers and requests of services, resources and themes related to people, places and territories which are suffering due to the application a cultural, socioeconomic and technological model which is no longer sustainable, as well as the reorganization and the satisfaction of the demands and the needs of the people, territories and institutions concerned;  

the promotion of research and its technological application in the various sectors of Sustainable Development, and of the thermodynamic and socio-economic systems compatible with these;  

the organization, the promotion and the sponsorship of congresses, conferences, seminars, lectures and meetings for those people who devote themselves to those activities addressed in the previous points, as well as the promotion of contacts among national and international Associations and Institutions working in similar sectors, with the aim of coordinating  activities towards common objectives;  

the publication and the diffusion of scientific works and procedural models in the disciplines of the preceding points;  

the formation, the diffusion and the divulgation of those disciplines addressed in the preceding points, in all  those places (schools, universities, cultural centres, etc.) where this is fundamental for the acquisition of a new conscience consistent with the statutory objectives of the association;  

the debate on the problems of training and teaching of a culture which is respectful of these principles;  

the collaboration with public and private bodies that operate for the promotion of a culture which is respectful of the principles listed in the preceding points;  

the development of every scientific, cultural and operational activity held to be useful for the attainment of the goals of the association;  

the promotion of every activity that is consistent with such ends;  

For all these purposes, the association can  use every kind of resource, be it technological, scientific, human, computer science, Web, etc. that it retains useful to the attainment of the goals of the association.  

For the attainment of its objectives, the association can open other centres on national or international territory. In this case, following a proposal by the Board of directors, the resolution is ratified only after a majority approval at the first appropriate meeting.  

The legal and administrative centre of the “TERREDELSUD" association is in Rome, at Via Po, 102 (C.A.P. 00198) near the National Council of Doctors of Agronomy and Doctors of Forestry, by which it is sponsored.

The association can found secondary centres, branches, agencies, and representations also in other Italian cities and in foreign countries.  

Art. 2 - members  

Those who participated in the constitution of this association are held to be founders.  

Ordinary members are considered to be those natural people and/or corporate bodies that dedicate their activities mainly or partially to the various branches of science, technology, culture and to those activities that generally include human, social and environmental disciplines afferent to Sustainable Development - the maintenance of the world’s biodiversity and the finalization of every effort made to better the growth of man.  

The applications for ordinary membership of natural people or corporate bodies are made through the presentation of a request accompanied by a curriculum vitae or (for the corporate bodies) by a charter or legislative deed; this proposal has to be approved by a majority of the board of directors.  

The request to be an ordinary member made by corporate bodies will be accepted only after a preliminary enquiry by a Committee nominated by the Board of directors. This will have the task of verifying whether the body has the necessary requisites, according to the criteria that it holds to be most opportune  

It is the president who nominates an ordinary member, and this nomination becomes effective after the payment of the membership fees that will have to be made within the solar year in which the admission occurred.  

The corporate bodies are represented in the Association by a delegated natural person.

Art. 3 - Organs of the Association.  

The organs of the association are the President, the Board of directors and the Assembly.  

Art. 4 – the Assembly  

It is constituted by all the members and under its competence falls:  

a) the election of members to the Board of directors when these have retired or are deceased;  

b) the approval of the budgets and the final balance;  

c) the approval of the association’s activity for the solar year;  

d) changes in the statute.  

The Assembly meets in ordinary session at least once a year, by June 30, and in special session whenever this is held to be opportune by the board of directors, or when at least a third of the members request it.  

The place of assembly is established each time by the Board of directors. The date of convocation of the ordinary session, with the indication of the matters to be addressed, must be notified at least fifteen days before the assembly; for the special session the term can be reduced to five days.  

The ordinary assemblies are valid at their first convocation if more than half of its members plus one are present, and at their second convocation whatever the number of members.  

In the ordinary meetings, a maximum of two proxies for each participating member is allowed.  

The special assemblies are valid if at least a third of the members are present; for such assemblies votes by proxies are not admitted.  

The resolutions of the meeting are valid whenever there is a majority of votes passed by the members present and by those voting, except in those special cases provided for by this statute.  

Art. 5 - Board of directors  

It is composed of the founding members who, at the moment of the constitution of the association through a notary deed, elect the statutory positions; its number, originally of five members, is brought:  

- to seven if there are between one hundred and one and five hundred members;  

- to nine if there are between five hundred and one and one thousand members

- to eleven if there are over one thousand and one members.

The President of the National Council of Doctors of Agronomy and Doctors of Forestry in office is a member of the Board of directors by right. He can not, however, hold administrative positions.  

In those cases when there is not a minimum of founding members to compose the Board of directors as established above, ordinary members can also be nominated as members of it; the President, however, must be elected among the founding members.  

The candidacies for the integration of the Board of directors, when this is necessary, must be introduced at least thirty days before the election.  

The criteria and methods of voting will be established by the Board of directors with procedures which are, however, in accordance with those foreseen by the civil code.  

In the first assembly the Board of directors elects the Vice President, the Treasurer and the Secretary from among the members of the Board;  

The position of Secretary and Treasurer can be given to the same person.  

The Board of directors is appointed for three social years.  

The Deputy President substitutes the President when he is temporarily unable to carry out his duties.  

The Board of directors is responsible for:  

a) the management and the administrative running of the association;  

b) the editing of the annual report which includes the program of activity;  

c) the compilation of the budget and final balance;  

d) the proposal of initiatives to be submitted to the approval of the assembly;  

e) the accomplishment of those activities outlined in art. 1;  

f) the nomination of Working parties or Commissions charged with specific assignments;  

g) the nomination of editorial and/or scientific Committees or of anything else held to be useful for the fulfilment of the association’s objectives;  

h) the proposal of the cost of membership fees.  

The Board of directors is summoned by the President or by request of at least three of its members; the place where the meeting is to be held is chosen by the President.  

Notification of the meeting must be made not less than seven days before the meeting and indicate the principal questions to be discussed;  

The meeting is not valid if the majority of its members are not present. The resolutions of the Board of directors are valid if they are approved by a majority. If a member of the Board of directors is not present at three consecutive meetings without any correct justification, he is removed from his office and is substituted by the member who, during the elections for the Board, was the first in the list of non-elected members. If this is not possible then an additional election will be held.

The new member remains appointed until the Board remains in office.  

Art. 6 – The President.  

The President is directly elected from within the Board of directors and stays in office for three years; he can be re-elected.  

The President represents the association; he summons and presides over the assembly and the Board of directors.  

Art. 7 – Duration of the position of founding or ordinary member.  

In addition to those cases outlined in art. 10, the founding or ordinary member who does an activity which contrasts with those in art. 1 will be subject to an evaluation by a special commission established by the Board of directors. This will draw up a detailed report on the matter; having seen this report, the Board of directors will decide on an eventual unappealable expulsion of the member,  

Art. 8 - Social Year and Budgets.  

The financial year coincides with the solar year.  

The budget and the final balance must be approved by the assembly by June 30 each year.  

Art. 9 - Assets  

The Assets of the association are constituted by the amount of membership fees, by any possession and by any other contribution, donation or inheritance given to it and can be used only for the attainment of the association’s goals.  

Art. 10 – membership fees 

The membership fees are established by the Assembly according to a sum proposed by the Board of directors and must be paid within three months from the beginning of every solar year to the Treasurer of the association.  

The membership fees paid by corporate bodies have to be not less than ten times greater than that paid by natural people.  

The quota is neither transferable, nor renegotiable, nor reimbursable.  

In case of default, after a year from the missed payment, the member is declared resigned.

Art. 11 – The Secretary  

He collaborates with the President in drawing up the resolutions of the social organs and in the relationships with members, with other scientific associations, and with public and private bodies.  

He has the task of writing out the minutes of the meetings of the Assembly and the Board of directors, as well as keeping all the records of the association.  

Art. 12 – The Treasurer  

He attends to the financial management and is responsible for this to the President and the Board; he furthermore has the job of preparing and supplying all the data and records needed for the budget and the final balance.

Art. 13 - changes in the statute  

The statute can be modified only by a resolution of the Assembly in a special session with the physical presence of at least 1/3 (a third) of the members and with the favourable vote of at least two thirds of the members present.  

The proposals of change can be introduced by the President, by the Board of directors or by at least two thirds of the members that undersign the motivated proposal.  

The opportunely illustrated proposals must be brought to the knowledge of the members at least thirty days before the convocation of the meeting.  

Art. 14 - Dissolution of the association  

The dissolution is proposed by a special meeting and subsequently ratified by referendum and a favourable vote of at least three quarters of all the members.  

In this case the meeting will nominate a Board of three liquidators and will establish the destination of the net assets established by the liquidation to other associations with analogous objectives or to useful public ends, after consultation with the controlling body established by law and if there are no different destinations imposed by law.  

For all those things not provided for by this statute, reference to existing laws will have to be made.  

Art. 15 - final indications   

The division of profits or money left over from management, funds, reserves or capital among members, even indirectly, is prohibited. These can only be assigned to initiatives connected to supporting social objectives - and never natural people – and to Bodies that are included in the voluntary programs of the association.