Land use - National Responses (Italy)

Urban expansion has become a matter of concern for regional and local planning and the derived changes in land use/cover were recently considered when developing strategies of sustainable development specifically designed for urban areas. However, there is still a lack of a national legislation giving clear targets on limiting land take and consumption.

Moreover, the monitoring carried out by national and regional environmental agencies, through the integrated use of field surveys and remote sensing, is providing the first significant results. Nevertheless, monitoring activity must be empowered, because some parts of Italy do not yet provide all the environmental information needed and sought.

The recovery of contaminated sites is regulated by Ministerial Decree 471/99, and then by Legislative Decree 152/06 (Part IV, Chapter V) with the relative Corrective Decree 4/08. Legislative Decree 152/06 is also focussed on mitigating hydrogeological risk, combating desertification, water resources management and protecting soil from pollution. Regarding contamination of water by nitrates, the law establishes the regional identification of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZ) as well as zones vulnerable to plant protection products. The quality of sewage sludge in agriculture, defined in EU Directive 86/278/CEE, has been implemented by Legislative Decree 99/92.  

In Italy, conversion of mines to cultivation was introduced by Royal Decree no. 1443 of 29/07/1927. The administrative functions relating to mines were transferred to the regions with Legislative Decree 112/98.

In recent years, Legislative Decree 117/2008, implementing Directive 2006/21/EC on the management of waste from extractive industries, establishes measures, procedures and necessary actions to prevent or reduce, as much as possible, any eventual negative effects on the environment and human health risks caused by the management of waste from extractive industries.

Quarrying activities are regulated by regional laws as established by the Decree of the President of the Republic no. 616 of 24/7/1977, which transferred these responsibilities to the regions.

For a detailed treatment of topics addressed above, see key topics at

http://annuario.apat.it/capitoli/Ver_6/en/Soil%20and%20land.pd )

Authors:

Nico Bonora, Marco Di Leginio, Fiorenzo Fumanti, Alessandra Galosi, Ines Marinosci, Michele Munafò, Valter Sambucini, Luca Segazzi

References

ISPRA, Key Topics –Italian Environmental Data Yearbook 2008. Rome, 2009. http://annuario.apat.it/

ISPRA, Vademecum –Italian Environmental Data Yearbook 2008. Rome, 2009. http://annuario.apat.it/

ISPRA, VI RAPPORTO ANNUALE SULLA QUALITÀ DELL'AMBIENTE URBANO – Edizione 2009, Roma, 2010

APAT, III ANNUAL REPORT ON URBAN ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY - Edition 2006 – Summary. Rome, 2006

Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, Environmental Challenges – Summary of the State of the environment in Italy, Rome, 2009

http://www.mais.sinanet.isprambiente.it/ost/