As is known to the Chamber, a bill was presented by the deputy of the Democratic Party Gessica Rostellato in the summer that brings "amendments to article 842 of the civil code", the rule governing access to private funds by hunters. This bill joins others of similar content, presented by the 5-star Movement and the PDL always in Montecitorio, in analogy to what has also happened in other legislatures on this issue.
I state that I am not a hunter, but a man of the parks and the environment. In addition to now holding the role of group leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate Environment Commission, in the past I have, among other positions, led by president the regional park of Montemarcello-Magra in Liguria and I was councilor for territorial planning and agriculture of the Province of La Spezia . Thanks to this experience of mine, I believe that questioning or even repealing article 842 of the civil code, as someone proposes, compromises the implementation of law 157/92 on the protection of fauna and the regulation of hunting and the principle of heritage. wildlife as a common good and unavailable heritage of the state that this legislation shares with another fundamental law for our country: law 394/91 on protected areas.
Law 157 had the great advantage of closing a season of conflicts and social tensions in our country, involving farmers, hunters and environmentalists in the management of the territory. It is a rigorous legislation based on the close relationship between hunter and territory, which contains a system of rules for the protection of agricultural production, the sustainability of sampling, and the safety of citizens. Removing article 842 of the civil code would make our country take a step back in time (up to the Code of 1865), effectively freeing large landed property from public land use planning and bringing back the activity hunting to be a mere activity (for a fee) of capturing and killing of wildlife, moreover subject to the device power of the property.
Italy is the richest European country in fauna, with over fifty thousand animal species whose management is mainly dealt with by a thousand managing bodies including protected areas and committees of the Territorial Areas of Hunting and Alpine Districts. A great wealth of biodiversity that has been protected from speculation, also thanks to the laws I mentioned. Furthermore, the recent events of the summer have highlighted the need to improve the discipline of selective culling for some species, such as wild boars, which have proliferated in parks and now compromise the survival of other animals, agriculture and even, sometimes, human life.
Good politics, even in the face of issues that question consciences, must be able to offer shared and balanced solutions. In recent years, as Pd and as Democratic Ecologists we have worked, in Parliament and beyond, to subtract the choices on hunting and wildlife management from demagogy and exploitation, aiming instead to strengthen the hunting activity in terms of compatibility, in compliance with EU directives. Our point of reference has always been the great question of biodiversity conservation. I believe that it is necessary to continue on this path.
Rome, 28 September 2015