Nature protection policy (Matera)

Editor's note 6Jun14: Sources D342-3

The perspective of nature and environmental policies changed dramatically with Constitutional Law 3/2001 that reinforced the concept of ‘environment’, giving the State exclusive legislative power in matters related to the protection of the environment, ecosystems and cultural heritage. Several laws and regulations at the national, regional and local levels comprise Italian nature protection policy.

Nature protection policies directly empower regional governments for drafting and implementing the specific regional laws; at the municipality level, the local administrations are generally involved in the management of protected areas within their territory.

Nature protection policy regulation

Nature protection policy in Italy at the national level is mainly regulated by the legal framework of protected areas (National Law no. 34/1991), which regulates the national and regional parks as well as state nature reserves. Management of EU NATURA2000 sites is regulated by several decrees.

At the national level the Legal Framework of Protected Areas no. 394/1991 represents the national guidelines for the forest protection policy at the national and regional levels; its main objectives are:

• the conservation of animal and plant species, forest typologies, rare geological and paleontological formations, biological communities, biotopes, scenic and landscape peculiarities, natural processes of hydraulic and hydro-geological balances, ecological balances;
• application of management or environmental restoration strategies in order to integrate human activities and the natural environment, including the protection of anthropological, archaeological, historical, architectural and agro-forestry-pastoral traditions;
• promotion of educational activities and interdisciplinary scientific research activities;
• defence and reconstruction of hydro-geological balances;
• protection of habitats, plant associations and forest typologies, habitat and species of particular importance.

Other strategic laws relevant for nature and environmental protection are:

• National Law no. 120 of 1st June 2002 on the Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol;
• National Law no. 36/1994 “Provisions regarding water resources” (also known as the ‘Galli Law’) governs the use of water resources and establishes that water use must be directed towards saving and resource renewal in order to not harm available water resources, environmental quality, agriculture, aquatic wildlife and flora, geomorphological processes and hydro-geological balances.

At the regional level, the goals and objectives of the Legal Framework of Protected areas (Law no. 394/91) were incorporated into regional law with several decrees and deliberations.

The municipality level has no legislative powers in terms of nature protection, but acts in the management of the protected areas and in the identification of areas to be protected, promoting and implementing objectives and goals of national and regional policy.

Main actors involved in nature protection

At the national level, most of the policy actors are the same as those relevant for forest policies. For nature protection polices specifically, the Ministry for Environment, Territory and Sea is responsible for the establishment of the National Park Administrations (Enti Parco), while the Regional administration, provinces, municipalities and former mountain communities constitute the community of the park. The management and the monitoring of these protected areas is carried out by: a) park rangers employed by the National Park Administration, b) State Forest Corps through a specific agreement and protocols with the National Park Administration, and c) special park rangers dedicated to specific activities.

National parks are established over large areas based around a given strategic interest, sometimes covering more than one region and including several municipalities; their administration depends on the Ministry for Environment, Territory and Sea. Regional parks cover smaller areas within a single region and are established to conserve natural resources within a social framework.

At the regional level, most of the policy actors also are the same as those listed in the forest policies article. For nature protection polices, the Regional Administration plays a key role in the establishment of the areas within the Natura 2000 network (SCIs, SACs and SPAs) in agreement with the Ministry for Environment, Territory and Sea and the European Commission. The Regional Administration - through the Department of Environment and with advice from highly qualified external institutions such as universities - identifies the relevant areas (including the specific habitats listed in the EU Directives) and proposes the creation of a protected area to the Ministry for Environment and to the European Commission, who are then responsible for the final establishment of the SCIs, SACs and SPAs areas. After the European Commission recognizes the draft list of areas to be introduced in the Natura 2000 Network, the Ministry for Environment, Territory and Sea officially establishes the SCIs and SPAs via a specific Ministerial Decree. Finally, the Regional Administration assumes management responsibilities for the protected areas according to a specific Management Plan.

At the municipality level, the municipality administration representatives (Majors) are directly involved in the Park Administration (Ente Parco) as a permanent member of the park community as well as in the process of identifying new protected areas.

Other important actors who are directly involved in nature protection policy at the different levels are the representatives of local scientific institutions, such as the University of Basilicata.

Main policy instruments and procedures relating to the organization of the nature protection sector

The main instrument related to the management of the national and regional parks is the “Plan of the Park”, which is drawn up by the park administration in agreement with the park community (consisting of the president of the region, president of the province, president of the mountain community and majors of the municipalities within the park area). The Plan regulates the general organization of the territory through a zoning of the park area and more specifically it: defines acceptable land use; defines services and infrastructure necessary for the park; addresses general and particular approaches for the management of the park’s resources, including environmental, forest and agricultural resources.

SCIs, SACs and SPAs areas are regulated by specific conservation measures  and in some cases additional Management Plans. The Basilicata region Another also employs informal informal instruments such as recommendations and the guidelines provided by the Regional Forest Office to be considered during drawing up of Forest Management Plans.

Implementation, impacts, effectiveness of nature protection policy

At the regional level, the implementation of nature protection policy in the Basilicata region and in the Matera study site has been mainly developed following the Legal Framework of Protected Areas (National Law no. 394/1991) through the direct involvement of the regional administrative structures in the coordination, support and implementation of the protection measures in the regional territories. The Basilicata Region has been particularly active in the institution of protected areas, which now represent 24% of the regional territory and include two national parks, two regional parks, eight state reserves and six regional reserves. Moreover, the Natura 2000 Network in Basilicata is composed of 50 CSIs and 17 SPAs, covering 17% of the total regional extension. The Basilicata Region Administration also directly supports the Natura2000 network through forest management regulations (forest cutting methods; guidelines for reforestation and afforestation activities; definition of intervention methods for hydro-geological management infrastructures)

The establishment and management of protected areas and nature protection policies in the Matera study site produced several (environmental) impacts, namely:

• biodiversity increase in term of species and landscape diversity thanks to the laws and regulations that promote the conservation of animal and plant species included in the lists of protected flora and fauna of the relevant EU Directives (about 1000 species in Basilicata);
• reduction in forest and ecosystem fragmentation;
• general improvement in the structural condition of forest, with a consequent increase in ecophysiological and phytosanitary conditions. Silvicultural activities in protected areas are not oriented towards forest productivity, but also towards establishing a functional recovery of (overexploited) forests;
• Improvement in hydro-geological conditions.

The presence of protected areas has led to environmental improvements whose major effects are expected in the medium to long-term. The improvement of forest quality, efficiency and productivity has already been recognized via the positive effects on species biodiversity and landscape diversity. The effects on soil quality from a reduction of degradation processes and hydro-geological risks are expected in the long-term.

From a social perspective, the presence of protected areas and specific financial incentives has promoted the recovery of traditional agriculture and forest practices via the production of quality local products and the development of local farms. The establishment of protected areas has sometimes led to the founding of associations or cooperatives for the tourism sector.

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