The historic signature of 1971
Sunday, February 2nd, is celebrated “World Wetlands Day”, which recalls the signature of the historic Ramsar Convention signed in 1971 and which is now shared by 172 countries. The global results are certainly good, having led to the designation of 2.400 sites and more than 250 million hectares worldwide. We recall that the Convention expressly provides for the conservation of wetlands to increase and conserve populations of aquatic birds, and extends the actions of the authorities of the signatory States to all wetlands in their territory, even if outside the designated Ramsar sites.
Unsatisfactory situation
Looking at our country, unfortunately the general situation is not satisfactory. Despite the designation of 66 sites, some of which are in the process of official approval, and about 80.000 hectares of wetlands classified as Ramsar, we must note that even today many wetlands are disappearing, are degraded or are not managed correctly. Unfortunately, in Italy, unlike other countries (for example Canada or the USA), there is no national law that expressly provides for the conservation and correct management of wetlands, but only the "protection" of them if included in protected areas.
Destruction or damage
Yet, even Directive 147/2009/EC, called “Birds”, expressly provides in Article 4, paragraph 3 that EU Member States specifically conserve wetlands and in paragraph 4 that national authorities monitor and intervene to avoid the deterioration of habitats in areas chosen for the protection of birds and also outside of these. Instead, we still witness today various examples of lack of management and in various cases of pollution or even destruction or damage to wetlands. Examples are not lacking: from the canalization and concreting of river mouths, to the construction of infrastructures especially on the coasts, to the reclamation of areas subject to periodic flooding, to the cultivation of dry rice fields, up to the failure to contain vegetation even in protected areas, resulting in an impoverishment of biodiversity and a decrease in the presence of aquatic birds, let us remember the specific objective of the Ramsar Convention.
The request to the Government
It seems quite evident that, as in many other cases in our country, the national authorities have designated the Ramsar sites and the SPAs, but have not concerned themselves with the rest of the wetlands and their correct general management. For this reason, Federcaccia, on the occasion of World Wetlands Day, asks the Italian Government for a legislative commitment for the environmental conservation of wetlands, for their maintenance and restoration, which sees hunters as active subjects in the management actions, since this is the category of stakeholders that - data in hand - more than any other today has restored and preserved wetlands in Italy and Europe.
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