Italy fragile coastlines, devoured by concrete at the rate of 8 km per year – ANSA.it

51% of the Italian coasts has been transformed from cement, buildings, hotels and villas in the last decades, at a rate of eight kilometers per year, 25 meters a day.

Not to mention that a third the beaches fighting against coastal erosion, currently expanding. And ‘This is the snapshot of the more than 7000 kilometers of coastline of our country taken by the new report’ Environment Italian ’2016 Legambiente (Edizioni Ambiente), presented today in Rome at the ANC headquarters, where we report’ ‘ without a change of ” political coastal erosion is ” to grow ”.

the evils of our sea, says the report, are primarily ” concrete, coastal erosion, bad treatment and beach litter ” (marine debris, floating plastic), in addition to the impacts of climate change that make it even ‘the coast’ ‘fragile’. Recent reports speak of more than 14,000 crimes against the sea and damage the Italian coast: 40 per day, 2 per kilometer; with the marine habitat from pollution put to the test, and with 25% of city wastes still not cleaned (with peaks of 40% in some places) and well 1,022 areas in European infringement proceedings, while only 19% of the costs (1235 km) is subject to restrictions of protection.

the analysis of Legambiente, including land use and erosion, considers 6500 km of coastline, from Ventimiglia to Trieste and the two major islands. Of these, 3,300 km have been irreversibly processed (720 km are occupied by industries, ports and infrastructure, 920 colonized by urban centers), and on almost 1700 kilometers there are villas and cottages (25% of the coastline).

The use of land due to changes of its use (for urban and industrial expansion) “is now considered the most important global threat to soil and environmental functions it provides (FAO & amp; ITPS, 2015) “he recalls Cnr noting that” today there seems no significant reversals in global, European and Italian (ISPRA, 2015). and ‘therefore necessary to do more. ” Now there is a new tool available. The research center CRISP (University of Naples Federico II and the National Research Council), with ISPRA data, the know-how of GeoSolutions and the National Institute of Urban Planning collaboration, achieved after three years of work, SOILMONITOR , for the assessment of land use on a national scale.

“It is a web application for decision support in the territories – says the CNR – a tool can to monitor and evaluate the use of land on the entire Italian territory. SOILMONITOR provides, for any area and real-time answers about: the assessment of the change of land use from several years; the dynamics of land use and fragmentation rural areas; a first quantification of environmental functions lost. ” SOILMONITOR can provide a picture of land use processes and the consequent degradation and wants to show that a new approach to planning and management of our territories is possible, says the National Research Council, one open to all tool, you just need an internet connection.