Italy

Marine Protected Areas in Italy

Italy’s approximately 7,600 km long coastline borders the Mediterranean Sea [1]. Italy’s Exclusive Economic Zone is approximately 541,915 sq km [2]. Marine protected areas are designated as Natural Marine Reserves, Natural Protected Areas, National Parks, State Nature Reserves, Regional/ Provincial Nature Reserves, State Nature Reserves, International Significance Natural Marine Areas, Site of Community Interest (Habitats Directive) and Protected Areas. Italy’s marine protected areas are also listed under World Heritage, UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve, Barcelona Convention and Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar). The management body for a protected area may be an independent public organization, at a national or regional level, a consortium, a municipal administration or an association. In addition, some of the management of marine parks is carried out by the Coastguard/Harbourmaster corps. National Nature Reserves are managed directly by the Forestry Corps, which comes under the Agriculture Ministry, but the law requires them to be transferred at a future date to the Parks [3].

The main challenges to the management of marine protected areas are a lack of a uniform management body and clear legislation; lack of meaningful relations with the land-based management bodies and a lack of pre-defined resources [3]. The World Database of Protected Areas currently lists 71 sites with marine protected area designations [4].

Sources

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_length_of_coastline

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_economic_zone

[3]Park.it: The Portal About Parks In Italy-- http://www.parks.it/indice/Efaq.aree.protette.html#D-1:

[4] WDPA

[5] MedPAN Italy