Collaboration between public administrations at various levels, methods of implementing levies, reporting on the activities carried out from each subject and above all a regional fund of 500.000 euros for the 2021 and, if confirmed in the year-end budget by the regional council, by 1 million per year for 2022 and 2023. These are the contents of the 2021-2023 Regional Plan of eradication, control and containment of nutria in Lombardy, approved by the Regional Council on the proposal of the Councilor for Agriculture, Food and Green Systems, Fabio Rolfi.
“The damage caused by nutria to Lombard agriculture - said Rolfi - is now incalculable. We have been asking for a fund for years. The damage of nutria to Lombard agriculture - said Rolfi - is now incalculable. While we are waiting for something to move from Rome, we intervene autonomously to coordinate the actions of the Provinces, Municipalities and Bodies managing protected areas and to provide us with real resources ”. “The National Plan - he explained - provides zero euro for the contrast to nutria. The Lombardy Region, on the other hand, takes 2,5 million for the three-year period. We increased the funds, shifted responsibility to the Agriculture department and approved the plan just five days after the budget settlement.
We want to run and make an impact to give concrete answers to the agricultural world ". "The work is long, in England for example - added the commissioner - the species was eradicated after an 11-year removal campaign, but with this Plan Lombardy also wants to promote innovative methods starting from the involvement of specialized firms that can integrate the work of volunteers ". “The increase in resources - he continued - will allow us to start these experiments”. "The excavation of tunnels that weaken the banks of the waterways and the roads above, with the risk of collapse.
The significant presence of the nutria on the Lombard territory is determining a real ecological and environmental emergency ". The approved Plan provides that the Region, with the technical support of the interdirectional working group and making use of the scientific expertise of the IZSLER and of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of the University of Pavia, promote the most effective actions, evaluate the compliance of local plans and contribute economically to cost coverage.