Italy’s protected areas undermined by draft law
Through an urgent legislative procedure, the Senate of the Republic of Italy is currently discussing draft law 119 on “New provisions relating to protected areas”. The urgency and a series of provisions included in the draft law have caused the reaction of environmental organisations and the Parks Federation (Fedeparchi).
The proposed law states that Italy’s protected areas system will no longer be funded by the state. Instead, it will operate as self-financed. According to Fedeparchi, this new policy treats biodiversity and Italy’s ecological treasures like a tradable commodity, which undermines its nature as common property. The draft law also introduces new methods of “fauna control”, which have been criticised as opening new doors for hunting methods that are currently illegal.
A coalition of eight environmental organisations calls the Senate to withdraw the draft law and launch a broad consultation process, founded upon the principle that protected areas need to be effectively conserved as Italy’s heritage from nature.
Sources: Senate of the Republic, Parks.it, WWF Italy