Subject: serious problems relating to the implementation of the Regional plan for the containment of nutria 2018/2020 referred to in DGR 165/2018. Given that on February 4, 2020, the councilor Mazzali presented a question for written answer (n.2601) concerning the management of the control and eradication of coypu in Lombardy, with which the serious situation linked to the uncontrolled proliferation of nutria in the Lombard plain. Considering that in the aforementioned question various critical issues related to the implementation of the regional coypu containment plan (hereafter the plan) were described, which are summarized below:
- lack of tangible results on the territory of the effects of the regional plan 5 years after the application of the changed regulatory framework and persistence of an emergency situation in some areas;
- signs of a gradual expansion, even outside the lowland areas where traditionally the greatest criticalities are recorded;
- non-systematic and inhomogeneous control action on the territory due to the initiatives of the individual local authorities and in particular of the municipal administrations to which the implementation of the abatement plans is left;
- collection and abatement activities substantially carried out by the owners of agricultural land, by volunteer personnel and by hunters on their own initiative or through the involvement of public administrations;
- absence of a centralized and updated system for the damage caused by the species in order to continuously monitor the effects of the plan on the territory and on the production sectors;
- absence of a coordination table for actions at a supra-regional level;
- financial allocations not adequate for the size of the emergency.
Considering also that the approval of the DGR n. 3840/2020 "Fulfillments regarding the regional plan for the containment and eradication of coypu 2018/2020", referred to in DGR 165/2018 - (in agreement with Councilor Rolfi) showed and confirmed the existence of the numerous problems exposed. The data indicated in the deed show how in fact the annual animals collected (n.50.657), of which it is possible to certify the reporting, do not cover more than 12,77% of the withdrawals necessary to extinguish the populations of coypu in the provinces defined by the plan. regional (the plan defines this objective at 396.492 heads equal to the annual increase). This figure is even more worrying if we consider that 80% of the animals and the relative resources refer to a single province, that of Mantua, where 41.000 animals were taken. Noting that in October 2018 the Councilor for Agriculture in concert with the Councilor for Welfare promoted the signing of protocols of understanding on a provincial scale with the aim of coordinating initiatives, funds and activities on a regional scale to cope with the activities of containment of nutria; to date, these protocols have not produced any effects except in a single province (Mantua) where containment activities have been concentrated for over twenty years, regardless of the protocol, with catches that rotate around 50.000 head / year, in any case against estimates of consistency of over 180 thousand heads; the financial resources committed were completely inadequate. Considering also that, as amply demonstrated, the problem is of a supraregional and national nature and it is therefore necessary for each administration to carry out in a coordinated way organic and systemic initiatives aimed at controlling and eradicating the species, in order to contain the damage as much as possible provoked to the territory and the environment. It is therefore necessary to optimize and improve the interventions at least on a regional scale and in particular in the Padano basin where traditionally the greatest negative impacts are found and where the first reports of presence originated from the 80s. Considering that the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/114 of 13 July 2016, included the coypu in the list of invasive alien species of Union concern; the community law has introduced various obligations for Italy which must therefore adopt a national management plan for the nutria and activate, in a short time, effective measures for the eradication or containment of the species. Having acknowledged that from what emerges from the data inferable from DGR n. 3840/2020, the problems highlighted at the time and again listed above, are also confirmed for the current year, with a substantially worsened picture, given the continuous reports and complaints of administrators and associations.
It was also pointed out that in question no. 2601 various requests had been made to the competent commissioner to which, except for some data communicated, exhaustive answers were not given, confirming in fact the absence of concrete measures for the solution of all the critical issues exposed.
BINDING THE JUNTA AND THE COMPETENT COUNCILOR
1) to put in place adequate actions to the community, national and regional legislation also in light of the emergency situation and the serious shortcomings with continuous and alarming reports from the Lombard territories that denounce a situation "out of control" by farmers, associations, administrators with crops destroyed, very serious damage to road and hydraulic structures without concrete help from anyone;
2) to extend the control activity to all municipal administrations to make this activity homogeneous and systematic throughout the Lombardy region;
3) to assess whether the number of animals taken in 2019 is adequate for the eradication objectives set by the Regional Law 20/2002, considering the poor results obtained in these 5 years of programming of the regional plan;
4) to urgently implement a regional system of survey and census of the damage caused by the nutria in the Lombard territory, considering that a correct planning should include an effective system of survey of this data, also following the exclusion of the Nutria from the species protected by the L 157/92 and in implementation of what is indicated in chapter 7.7.1. Damage to agricultural activities and watercourse embankments of the National Nutria Management Plan:
.... It is therefore necessary that the Administration provides for the mandatory reporting of the damage by the stakeholders. This will allow to map the damaged plots in the areas of activation of the control plan, without necessarily an economic assessment of the damage. This can be done with the help of the farmers themselves, who will have to be encouraged to collaborate, taking into account that in this case the controls of the nutria would be made to reduce the damage, no longer eligible for compensation, to their agricultural activities. In this case, the effectiveness of the controls can be measured as a desirable reduction in damaged surfaces. The regions will therefore have to set up an annual monitoring system of the number and geographical location of agricultural damage and of those on the embankments of watercourses;
5) to find financial instruments to support damaged farmers, for example providing for contributions both for the purchase of prevention systems and for the restoration of damage caused by nutria in the agricultural, road and hydraulic fields, also making use of reclamation consortia and irrigation;
6) to increase the resources committed for the implementation of the regional plan;
7) to disclose the results obtained from the signing of the memoranda of understanding signed in October 2018 by the Councilor for Agriculture in concert with the Councilor for Welfare with the local administrations, protocols that to date have proved inadequate;
to promote an emergency and coordination table with the neighboring regions of the Po basin in order to standardize actions and control strategies on a supra-regional scale.
Journalist. Born in Rome in 1982. Many passions, including that of hunting, matured thanks to the holidays in the Umbrian-Marchigiano Apennines and the tales of local hunters. He dedicated part of his studies to agriculture, the environment and the territory.
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