AIW, Italian Association for Wilderness, what it is, what it aims for and what it has achieved.
THEItalian Association for Wilderness, conceived in Abruzzo by Franco Zunino, was founded in Alberese (Grosseto) in 1985 with the aim of spreading the first knowledge of the Wilderness philosophy and its concept of conservation in Italy, as well as finding forms for its concrete application also in our Country. Originating in America in the early decades of the 1800s and spreading above all in the XNUMXth century, until it spread to the rest of the world, the "Wilderness" philosophy believes that nature should be preserved as a value in itself, and considers this value a spiritual heritage for the man for what it expresses on an interior and emotional level in those who frequent it; an environmental philosophy that has its roots in the thought of Henry David Thoreau (philosopher), Aldo Leopold (conservationist) and others, and which is opposed to the mass use of the environment, both for recreational purposes and for the extraction of natural resources renewable, although physical and spiritual recreation is one of the aims of its preservation, and the correct and rational use of renewable natural resources is reconcilable.
The primary purpose of the conservation movement that spreads this philosophy is the application of its Conservation Concept, which is the maintenance of vast natural wilderness areas, a maintenance which takes the form of the so-called "Wilderness Areas", areas that in the United States of America since 1964 are recognized by law on purely public land, both inside and outside the Parks and other similar protected areas. A Concept that therefore has a profound protectionist implication, meaning a lasting bond over time with the maximum guarantees that society can give, so that at least some places can remain wild forever, in the sense of their environmental protection as long as possible and which protects them from large anthropic works and above all from motorized and / or mechanized roads and penetration routes, while ensuring their balanced use by man.
The "Wilderness Areas" therefore represent a lasting safeguard of the wild aspect of places, in Italy also done in compliance with the rational and traditional use of resources, a safeguard that makes the prudent use of these spaces by man, such as an integral and active member of the life cycle, its raison d'etre. But the "Wilderness Areas" are also the concretization of what is considered the maximum territorial / environmental constraint "invented" by man, aimed at perpetual protection and of the highest democratic and liberal conception. The author of this environmental protection policy was Aldo Leopold, a character still considered the greatest environmentalist in the world, but also a convinced and passionate hunter (as well as professor of forestry and biological sciences), so much so that he advocated (back in 1924) the first of these areas also to ensure the possibility of being able to live days of hunting in the most genuine way possible.
The Italian Association for Wilderness, through contacts with Municipalities, Regional Forest Companies and private entities, works proactively so that also in our country forms of "Wilderness Areas" can be designated for the purposes described up to now, Areas obviously adapted to social and land situation of our country, and therefore protected by less severe constraints than the original ones and in which the withdrawals of renewable natural resources (including hunting) are possible or left to the free initiative of the land owners. To date these Areas total 65 (divided into 103 sectors), distributed in 10 Regions (Emilia Romagna, Campania, Liguria, Lazio, Veneto, Lombardy, Piedmont, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Abruzzo, Molise) and 20 Provinces. They cover a total of over 50.000 hectares, to which other particular protection initiatives (environments, natural phenomena) must be added for a total of over 18.000 hectares (the designation of the Naturalistic Reserve - today Regional Nature Reserve - of Adelasia is due to the AIW. , in Liguria and the establishment of the initial nucleus of the Val Grande National Park - Piedmont).
The Italian Wilderness Areas, not yet recognized by law although already included in the international classification of protected areas of the IUCN (a UN body that the Italian state also supports), can be divided into two situations: those designated and / or designated as inside areas already protected and closed to hunting by virtue of the laws in force, they remain closed to hunting; those designated and / or designated outside the protected areas remain open to hunting except for contrary provisions by the bodies responsible for the hunting management of the territory. They are included in the "Italian Wilderness Area System" established by the Wilderness Association in 2005, and classified there according to their binding and physical-environmental value.
This new form of environmental protection seen as a territorial fact, takes place in compliance with the highest rules of democracy, or as an expression of the popular will through the Municipal Councils (or on the initiative of the Boards of Directors of Regional Forest Companies, as well as for free choice of landowners), therefore with a decision to protect environmental assets by autonomous initiative above all of the local communities, which, brought to knowledge of the intrinsic and unique environmental values present in their municipal territories, become aware of it and make themselves guarantors of their protection. It is not for nothing that all the Wilderness Areas designated in Italy to date have been unanimously approved by the Municipal Councils, which is certainly not usual in local situations, a sign of how high and shared the aim of these initiatives is.
The Association is affiliated with the international The WILD Foundation, and has fought and is also fighting for the preservation of natural areas in general and for the protection of the landscape, as well as for a moral control on the management of protected areas and for the protection of the endangered fauna and flora, with a particular interest in the Marsican brown bear and the wolf as symbols of the same Association.
For some years now, through the creation of a special "Wilderness 2000" Fund, it has also launched a campaign for the acquisition of land in a natural environment for the purpose of its conservation as such, starting with a wild locality in the Ligurian Langhe, where Dozens of hectares of woods and gullies have been purchased.
"Wilderness is both a geographical condition and a state of mind", the "Wilderness Areas" are the concretization of its defense.
(June 12, 2015)
AIW, Italian Association for Wilderness