Biodiversity monitoring
14 February
The final document adopted by the participants at the 5th Workshop
of Biodiversity - organized by the Province of Siena, ISPRA and
Federparchi - requires to adopt rigorous monitoring programs,
making it possible to verify the effectiveness of the conservation
policies. The steady decline of biodiversity is threatening not
only the rarest species, but also the ecosystems we depend on,
because they provide us water, food, medicine and clean air. The
top Italian experts monitoring the biodiversity presented in Siena
the results of the most advanced programs of study of species and
natural communities realised in Italy in recent decades. The key
technical of the monitoring programs were also identified. In
particular, it was stressed the importance of long-term researches,
designed in order to allow the comparability of results. The
monitoring activity is formally required to Italy by European
Directives on nature protection. The Ministry of Environment is
working together with the Regions to write guidelines on this
specific topic. In addition, the National Biodiversity Strategy,
recently approved, explicitly provides for the activation of
different monitoring programs.