Two provincial councilors ask the Province of Florence to make every effort to ensure that the next Wildlife Hunting Plan contains interventions for the expansion of the protected area of the Fucecchio Marsh.
Marshes of Fucecchio "at risk: poaching and a fire". For the provincial councilors of the Communist Refoundation Andrea Calò and Lorenzo Verdi, the control and protection measures "are clearly insufficient".
The councilors, with a topical question, ask that the Province of Florence intervene immediately to safeguard this enormous heritage and that the extension of the protected area is foreseen in the next Wildlife Hunting Plan". Below is the text of the document.
"On the occasion of the World Wetlands Day, the environmental associations of the territory (WWF and Legambiente in the front row) sound the alarm regarding the situation of the Fucecchio Marsh, the most important inland wetland area in Italy, a marshy area of international importance for migrations and the nesting and wintering of many species of water birds.
In underlining the importance and value of the area from a naturalistic and green tourism point of view the associations denounce how the protection status of the Padule is fully below the minimum conditions dictated by compliance with national and community regulations, and express their disappointment at the fact that the part truly protected by the two provinces (of Pistoia and Florence) is a negligible percentage.
According to what was declared by WWF Tuscany, the most important inland wetland area of Italy, a marshy area of international importance for migrations and nesting and wintering of many species of water birds, "continues to be left at the mercy of a hunt that often forgets every rule and lacks the minimum necessary controls for an environment of this value, being protected as a protected area only in a small part (about a tenth of its surface) ".
As a demonstration of what was reported, the WWF reported two events that occurred in recent days: the arson of part of the land and the night shooting of ducks. Two episodes that highlight the lack of safeguards and controls that put the entire ecosystem at risk.
Also in the light of these episodes, the environmental associations are once again strongly requesting the competent provincial administrations (Prato and Pistoia) rapid interventions for the expansion of the protected area respecting the guidelines and guidelines expressed in recent years by the two bodies and the Tuscany Region that, to date, he has not followed up his words and commitments with concrete and effective actions, allocating insufficient figures and carrying out a project that does not contemplate the declared enlargement.
In our opinion, the current situation requires clear and clear choices on the part of the Provincial Administration which, starting from the next Wildlife Hunting Plan (currently being drawn up on the process of the new Regional Rural Development Plan), will have to provide for an expansion of the protected area by concretely responding to the needs of protection and safeguarding of the Marshes and the heritage that it constitutes for our territory, for the environment and biodiversity.
Having said this, the writing provincial councilors, in underlining the extreme importance of the Fucecchio Marsh area from the environmental point of view, the protection of biodiversity, and on the tourist side, they ask the President of the Executive Committee and the competent Councilor to report: on the events of fire and poaching reported by WWF Tuscany; if they do not show any lack of protection and control over the Padule area; whether interventions are planned for the expansion of the protected area in the Padule; whether this expansion is contemplated in the guidelines of the new Wildlife Hunting Plan ".
Press Office of the Provincial Council of Florence