Natura 2000 Areas between Conservation and Opportunities of Local Development. The Case of Friuli Venezia Giulia Region (Italy) (original) (raw)
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Protected Areas, Natura 2000 Sites and Landscape: Divergent Policies on Converging Values
The identification of Natura 2000 sites in Italy has led to a significant change in the geography of environmental protection, by profoundly strengthening the role of ecological and naturalistic values in a country where the collective culture is traditionally more prepared to understand cultural values. In general, the identification of Natura 2000 Sites, carried out according to the guidelines established by Directive 92/43/EEC, was based on a more scientific and less politically “negotiated” process compared to the one followed for the determination of protected areas, by selecting habitats of community interest and not landscape or historical and cultural values. It seems very clear that these are two different types of areas with partially overlapping values that require forms of territorial planning and governance that optimize multiple conservation goals: while Nature 2000 sites protect habitats, protected areas extend their function to cultural landscapes, historical heritage and traditions. The Ecological Network should be a decisive model to classify values and integrate rules, avoiding excessively specialized approaches and applying instead the typical techniques of preservation biology and connectivity conservation, together with routine urban and infrastructure planning techniques.
Geography, Environment, Sustainability, 2020
As the world's largest coordinated network of protected areas, the Natura 2000 network (N2k) encompasses the most valuable and threatened species and habitats in Europe. However, N2k sites have been often criticized due to their rigid management system that focuses only on conservation practice without a strategic vision for linking with the regional plans. This study aims to develop a novel approach for sustainable management of N2k sites in Italy by identifying existing gaps and developing conservation policies. For this purpose, a panorama of the current challenges in the European sites was provided at the first step. Then, the management status of the natural protected sites in Italy was studied by selecting the Umbria Region as the case study. Finally, we develop a strategic approach for boosting the conservation policies and sustainable management of the N2k sites in Italy. The findings highlight that the sustainability of N2k sites requires an inclusive effort in the social, economic, and policymaking fields to meet its conservation objectives. Such an effort encompasses a sophisticated management approach that consists of a network of tools for monitoring the state of conservation, land uses, and socioeconomic activities at the regional scale. Furthermore, the integration of environmental policies with regional plans is essential for the sustainable management of the N2k sites.
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This article focuses on the role that the provisions of the Natura 2000 Network play in affecting land-taking processes by looking at the Italian region of Sardinia, where strict rules on land development have been enforced since 1993 through regional landscape plans and where an extensive Natura 2000 Network, covering nearly 19% of the regional land mass, was established in compliance with Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora and Directive 2009/147/EC on the conservation of wild birds. The results and inferences of our study could be easily generalized to other European Union regions, provided that similar geographic datasets are available. By shedding some light on the relation between land take on the one hand, and nature conservation and landscape protection on the other, it is possible to enhance regional planning policies to prevent or hinder land-taking processes, and, by doing so, to help implementing the European Commission recommendation on no net land take by 2050 into the EU regional policies.
CONSERVATION THROUGH DEVELOPMENT: PATHS OF INNOVATION FOR PROTECTED AREAS
This paper explores the idea that protected areas, with particular reference to the national parks of Italy, could become the focus of an alternative way of perceiving and implementing development. Previous research has highlighted the fact that protected areas are often coincident with territories left on the fringes of industrial development and that they share common problems (e.g., local economic decline, depopulation, and loss of traditional ways of territorial management). This paper analyses the role played by parks' particular administrative legislation in accentuating these issues. It illustrates how the consequent risk of loss of territorial heritage could result in a failure of the goals of the national parks themselves. It argues that innovations in the tools of territorial governance might lead to a more effective way of actively protecting landscapes that express coevolutionary relationships.
AIMS Geoscience, 2023
This work traces the main stages of environmental and landscape protection of the Portofino Promontory, located in Riviera Ligure di Levante (N-W Italy), with particular regard on the recent establishment of Portofino National Park. From 2017, when the institution law was enacted, to date, the park has not yet been established due to the socio-political conflicts that have arisen between some stakeholders and institutions of the territory. These conflicts include not only environmentalists against hunters and constructors but also disagreement between municipalities and region (Regione Liguria) and between region and the Ministry of Environment. Today the situation is still stalled, and funds for a park larger than the current one (Portofino Regional Park) have not been allocated. In spite of this, the tug-of-war continues through legal actions. The aim of the article is to analyze the perception of the enlargement of the park by the community and local governance and how this is communicated by the press. The research was conducted through the analysis of the results of a questionnaire aimed at understanding the level of knowledge of the main functions of a national park and the position of the people with respect to it. Second, an analysis of the press was carried out to understand the narratives on this environmental measure. The results of the questionnaire showed a positive consensus toward the park, while press analysis showed little involvement of experts on the subject to foster a political debate without concrete arguments, which damaged the park's image.
Managing protected areas as cultural landscapes: The case of the Alta Murgia National Park in Italy
Land Use Policy, 2018
This paper proposes a managerial and policy view of land use based on the systems perspective. The focus is on protected areas as a significant example of a management approach to land use that suffers from a dominant reductionist view objectively focused on conservation and protection activities. Conversely, the need for a more holistic and open view has emerged over time, requiring a paradigm change in the approach to natural resource management. Starting from identifying the key values of protected areas to leverage in a wider enhancement policy, our findings suggest that, through the adoption of a systems view and an integrated management approach, the cultural value of protected areas as models for promoting sustainable development in the surrounding territory can provide leverage in an effective valorisation policy. The key elements of a systems-based management approach are highlighted through the analysis of Alta Murgia National Park in Italy, an example case in which the naturalistic value of the site is enhanced through its cultural dimensions.
2016
This article focuses on the role that the provisions of the Natura 2000 Network play in affecting land-taking processes by looking at the Italian region of Sardinia, where strict rules on land development have been enforced since 1993 through regional landscape plans and where an extensive Natura 2000 Network, covering nearly 19% of the regional land mass, was established in compliance with Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora and Directive 2009/147/EC on the conservation of wild birds. The results and inferences of our study could be easily generalized to other European Union regions, provided that similar geographic datasets are available. By shedding some light on the relation between land take on the one hand, and nature conservation and landscape protection on the other, it is possible to enhance regional planning policies to prevent or hinder land-taking processes, and, by doing so, to help implementing the European Commission recommendation on no net land take by 2050 into the EU regional policies.
Managing the landscape as a common good? Evidence from the case of “Mutonia” (Italy)
Land Use Policy, 2019
This paper aims to verify from an interdisciplinary perspective the possible relationship between and the convergence of the categories of landscape and common goods. First, the international economic and managerial literature on the landscape as a common good is reviewed, with a focus on some recent innovations. Then, the Italian legal framework on cultural heritage and the landscape is discussed. In the second part of the paper, a case study is provided which analyses the regeneration of a disused quarry in the town of Santarcangelo di Romagna (Italy), where the artists' association "Mutoid Waste Company" has created a theme park with works of art made from recycled materials. The field research investigated the administrative process carried out since the end of the 1990s, the current perception of the area's value and its possible future development. The results are summarised in a SWOT analysis. The case study highlights the benefits of a bottom-up approach involving different stakeholders through a site-specific urban planning tool in terms of landscape protection, urban regeneration, community well-being and tangible and intangible externalities. The conclusions also point out how the case study could be a model for the sustainable management and use of the landscape.
Conflicts and visions in the woods of Diana : cultural landscape management in Ariccia, Italy
Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science, 2014
This research is an investigation in landscape policies to counter cultural landscape degradation in the Castelli Romani, a region of central Italy change. In the municipality of Ariccia, well-known in the region for its policies for sustainability, two contemporaneous projects aim to restore a degraded landscape long associated with historical, natural, and cultural meaning. The first, initiated by the municipality, seeks to recreate a wetland in the crater of Vallericcia as a response to hydrogeological instability. The second project, initiated by a citizen movement, succeeded in rescuing a historical park on the top of a hill overlooking Vallericcia from privatisation and is currently planning its management for public use. This research, with the European Landscape Convention as its guiding princi ple, is an investigation in the local dimensions of landscape management and planning, the different perceptions of landscape among local stakeholders and authorities and the driving forces behind the decisions. In the context of the many debates on landscape in Italy, this case study will show that participation is an important level of landscape governance and that planning must take into account the views and knowledge of the local communities.