Events and News

Monk Seal: sighting close the coast of Capri

On Sunday 7 May, some boaters sighted and videotaped a monk seal about 2.3 miles off the west coast of the island of Capri.
Thanks to the report from the researchers of the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station in Naples, ISPRA staff immediately contacted the spotters to validate the information and enter the data collected as part of the national monitoring program on this species.

Maremma, the osprey is back

The species has returned to nest in the Maremma Regional Park

The osprey (Pandion haliaetus) is a species of significant conservation interest which, in the Mediterranean basin, has suffered a sharp decline in population due to direct persecution and coastal exploitation.

The return of the Italian grey partridge

On 4 May in the Conference Room of the Museum of Zoology in Rome, ISPRA will present the first Workshop of the LIFE Perdix project. The project is co-financed by the European Union and has as its main objective the recovery and reintroduction into the wild of the Italian partridge (Perdix perdix italica Hilheimer, 1917), today considered formally extinct in the wild.

Geographically, the chosen reintroduction area is the SPA IT4060008 "Valle del Mezzano", in the province of Ferrara.

The project has a duration of 6 years and sees ISPRA as coordinator partner, and the collaboration of the Forestry, Environmental and Agri-Food Unit Command, the Italian Hunting Federation, the Fédération Nationale des Chasseurs, Legambiente and the Emilia-Romagna Po Delta Regional Park and the National body for Italian Cinofilia which supports the project as a co-financer.

The recovery of the Italian Partridge will take place thanks to the genetic selection activity carried out by ISPRA on a stock of Apennine origin, comparing it with historical museum samples, prior to the introduction of individuals from other countries for restocking purposes.

Program

Presentation "Atlas of Environmental Data "

As part of the Green Med Symposium, ISPRA presents a new publication which, thanks to maps, graphs and tables, will allow you to visualize the geographical distribution of the main environmental information.

Five thematic sections - geosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere and anthroposphere - to raise awareness of future challenges and contribute to the achievement of sustainable development goals, thanks to accurate and up-to-date scientific information.

The aim is to provide scientific information on soil, water, biodiversity, air, climate, waste, energy and the environmental impacts of human activities and, at the same time, to help raise awareness of environmental challenges.
The Atlas of environmental data integrates the EcoAtlante, the portal developed by ISPRA which offers a series of interactive cartographic paths useful for exploring the environmental data collected and cataloged in the National Environmental Information System, in line with the database of the Yearbook of environmental data, Yearbook of environmental data, which in line with the main national and international inter-thematic core sets, makes available over 300 statistical indicators on the state of the environment in Italy.

Further information

Atlas of environmental data

The flora and fauna of the Tor Marancia estate

City Nature Challenge 2023: a walk to discover the biodiversity of the Appia Antica Regional Park with the expert botanists and naturalists of ISPRA
The National Biodiversity Network (NNB) of ISPRA is among the partners of the National Academy of Sciences, an organization that this year has joined the international initiative City Nature Challenge (CNC), the great Citizen Science event on urban biodiversity that will take place from 28 April to 1 May.

City Nature Challenge 2023

The City Nature Challenge, the international biodiversity data collection event, is coming. From April 28th to May 1st everyone is ready to participate!!!
The citizens of the cities adhering to the CNC compete with each other to observe and record on an application, Inaturalist, the greatest number of naturalistic observations made in their own city.
The initiative was sponsored by various institutions including ISPRA/SNPA and the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security.

Diverse values of nature and people

On 21 April, in Rome, at the Italian headquarters of the European Parliament, a conference will be held for the presentation of the latest IPBES publication entitled "Assessment Report on the Different Value and Valuation of Nature".
IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) is an intergovernmental body established in 2012 under the auspices of the United Nations.

The IPBES aims to provide policymakers and society with scientifically based information on biodiversity and ecosystem services. The IPBES report “Assessment Report on the Different Values ​​and Valuation of Nature”, compiled by 82 experts in social sciences, economics and humanities, states that how nature is valued and accounted for in political and economic decisions is a key driver of the global biodiversity crisis.

The market's prevailing attention to short-term profits and economic growth, according to the IPBES report, has privileged the intensive production of food and fibers and neglected the multiple values ​​and benefits of nature, from ecological ones (mitigation and adaptation to climate, regulation of the water cycle and reduction of risks associated with natural disasters) to relational ones (spiritual, cultural and emotional).

According to the report, the asymmetry of the market's attention with respect to the different categories of values ​​has led to wrong decisions that have reduced people's well-being and contributed to the crises of nature and the climate.

The IPBES report underlines how it is necessary to LIVE:

(from) Nature: provides the resources to support people's livelihoods, needs and wants, such as food and material goods;
(with) Nature: the inherent right of any plant or animal species to thrive independently of human needs;
(in) Nature: the importance of nature as an environment for people's sense of place and identity;
(as) Nature: sees the natural world as a physical, mental and spiritual part of oneself.

The morning session will be attended by the Ministers of the Environment and Energy Security (MASE) and of University and Research (MUR), the President and the Director General of ISPRA as well as numerous international experts. The RAI journalist Sonia Filippazzi will open the meeting and will interview the Executive Secretary of IPBES Anne Larigauderie.

The meeting will be closed by two round tables in which biodiversity conservation experts will discuss some key challenges for the future of biodiversity conservation.

Program

Live streaming

We are Nature

Living within the limits of only one planet. Relationship between man and nature in urban areas
The "We are Nature" conference organized by WWF Naples will be held in Napoli on April 19, with an ISPRA researcher taking part in the meeting.

Communicate the environment

As part of the Rome Science Festival (18-23 April 2023), at the Auditorium Parco della Musica it will be held the second preparatory event of the SNPA National Conference "Communicate the environment" (Wednesday 19 April from 9.30 to 14) with some protagonists of the world of information and environmental divulgation to analyze how we are reporting the environment through the media and how we will be called to do so in the future.

This event will be an opportunity to discuss how to make environmental information and think about current events, also in the light of the rediscovered space that science has had after the pandemic, in a context particularly suitable for talking about these issues which is the annual appointment with the Rome Science Festival.

Program

Photo gallery

Gofree project "Introduction of the striped humpback shrimp (Plesionika edwardsii, Brandt, 1851) fishing in Sardegna"

The Gofree Project "Introduction of the striped humpback shrimp (Plesionika edwardsii) fishing in Sardegna" started in April 2021, its primary objective was to create pots lined with prototypes of biodegradable and compostable materials to be used for fishing for striped hunchback, a deep-water crayfish.

ISPRA and SNPA at the Rome Science Festival

The 18th edition of the Rome Science Festival will be held from 18 to 23 April 2023 at the Auditorium Parco della Musica "Ennio Morricone".

IMMAGINARI is the theme of this edition dedicated to the imagination, one of the most powerful tools that allows us to conceive works of art, new technologies and allows us to find solutions to everyday problems.

ISPRA is scientific partner of the event and this year organizes the SNPA conference entitled "Communicate the environment" within the event: a morning of discussion (Wednesday 19 April 9.30-14) with some protagonists of the world information and environmental divulgation to analyze how we are reporting the environment through the media and how we will be called to do in the future.

Together with this appointment, ISPRA promotes a series of initiatives during the week of the Festival.

Crossing the trail of cetaceans

The sessions of the 34th conference of the ECS, the European Cetacean Society, begin on Monday 17 April in Galicia. The event, which will continue until 20 April, will attract many researchers specialized in marine mammals from all over Europe.

For the occasion, thanks to the collaboration between the LIFE CONCEPTU MARIS and IMPEL EU MTT (Europe Marine Transborder Transect) projects, a networking workshop will be held on monitoring cetaceans via ferries, one of the cornerstones of CONCEPTU MARIS activities. The workshop, entitled "Crossing the trail of cetaceans", will explore in detail all the phases of information collection, from the protocols on board the ferries to the cutting-edge technologies used, up to the most effective analytical approaches to organize all the information collected.

Course on the mending of P.oceanica meadows damaged by anchors

As part of the SEAFOREST LIFE project "Posidonia meadows as carbon sinks of the Mediterranean", approved and funded under the LIFE Programme, 'Climate Actions 2017' sub-programme, priority sector with themes in climate change mitigation is organized by ISPRA in collaboration with the University of Sassari, a training course concerning the collection of beached seeds and/or shoots and/or cuttings and mending demonstration activities dedicated to operators of parks and protected areas.

Bears: The Minister of the Environment and Energy Security met the President of the Autonomous Province of Trento, possible a transfer plan

In the confrontation with the governor of Trentino Alto Adige, Minister Gilberto Pichetto asks for maximum sharing with ISPRA on the identification of dangerous subjects. Starts technical table on critical Alpine arc.

The Minister of the Environment and Energy Security has met this morning the President of the Autonomous Province of Trento, Maurizio Fugatti. The meeting, which took place in the headquarters of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, was also attended by the president of ISPRA, Stefano Laporta; the head of the Civil Protection department of the Autonomous Province of Trento, Raffaele De Col and, in web connection, the provincial councilor for agriculture, Giulia Zanotelli.

Final event of the Project LIFE SWIPE

From 12 to 14 April, the final event of the LIFE SWiPE project will be held in Rome, the aim of which is to reduce crimes against nature by improving compliance with EU environmental law. The Project was born to improve the fight against crime in nature, through direct collaboration with magistrates, representatives of law enforcement, and with all those who have a role in the investigation and prosecution of crimes against wildlife.

Citizen science school: building a WebApp for monitoring the species on the territory

As part of the activities of the Paths for Transversal Skills and Orientation (PCTO) of ISPRA, the Network National Network of Biodiversity(NNB) has promoted the training course "Costruiamo una WebApp per il monitoraggio delle specie sul territorio" to build a WebApp for monitoring species on the territory" aimed at students of secondary school.

Presented today the Rome Science Festival 2023

From 18 to 23 April 2023, the Rome Science Festival returns to the "Ennio Morricone" Auditorium Parco della Musica with its 18th edition.
Over 100 meetings, over 100 educational activities, over 10 weekend activities for families, 4 exhibits, 16 scientific and cultural partners.
IMMAGINARI is the theme of this edition dedicated to the imagination, one of the most powerful tools that allows us to conceive works of art, new technologies and allows us to find solutions to everyday problems

The fight against the illegal use of poison: everyone's commitment. Presentation of the results of the “LIFE Egyptian vulture” project

On April 1, the conference "The fight against the illegal use of poison: everyone's commitment" will take place in Matera, organized in collaboration with the Murgia Materana Park, during which the results of the LIFE EGYPTIAN VULTURE Project will be illustrated, of which ISPRA is a partner. The invitation to participate is addressed to operators and citizens.
Two ISPRA experts will participate in the conference.

Agroecology for the regeneration of agro-food systems within the strategies of the European Union

Agroecology is an important tool for the implementation of the European Union Green Deal, as outlined in the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies, proposed by the EU Commission and approved by the European Parliament. Agroecology is part of the new Common Agricultural Policy 2023-2027 to promote sustainable practices in agriculture and is an essential tool for research and innovation in the agri-food sectors, with particular reference to climate change adaptation and mitigation and protection of biodiversity.

Presentation of the PNRR MER Project on the GEO television show

In the March 28 episode of Geo, the Director General of ISPRA, Maria Siclari, presented the PNRR MER (Marine Ecosystem Restoration) Project, the largest project on the sea within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which sees ISPRA as the implementing body and the Ministry for the Environment and Energy Security as administration holder of the loan of 400 million Euros for 2022-2026. The MER includes interventions for the restoration and protection of the seabed and marine habitats, the strengthening of the national system for the observation of marine and coastal ecosystems and the mapping of coastal and marine habitats, the acquisition of a new oceanographic naval unit, equipped with highly technological equipment capable of probing the seabed up to 4000 m and very high resolution acoustic instrumentation.

Watch the episode (interview at the minute 0.25.00)

The proposal of the Carabinieri for the new National Forestry Inventory

Towards the National Forest Inventory 2025
On the International Day of Forests, the Carabinieri and the Italian Academy of Forestry Sciences, in collaboration with CREA, open the discussion on the proposal for the construction of a new national forest inventory which, in respect of the past, is able to understand the needs of the future.

International Day of Forests 2023

Tuesday 21 March is International Day of Forests 2023. Date established by the UN to raise awareness of the invaluable value of all types of forests and the dangers of deforestation.

The value of hunting in Italy

The research entrusted by Federcaccia to Nomisma on hunting in Italy will be presented on 14 March. The Head of the ISPRA Wildlife Activities Coordination Service will participate in the round table.

The European wildcat: a thousand-year history written in the DNA

Using one of the largest DNA biobanks of the species available in Europe, ISPRA geneticists have reconstructed the complex evolutionary history of wild cat populations in the recent article published in the prestigious scientific journal Animals. The study, in addition to clarifying the evolutionary dynamics of the predator, also offers an invaluable support for identifying the correct management units of wildcats present in Europe and for planning adequate conservation actions on a continental scale.

First Global Author's Meeting for the seventh edition of the Global Environment Outlook (GEO-7)

A week of meetings of scientists and experts from all over the world, called by the United Nations Environment Agency (UNEP) to draw up the seventh edition of the report on the state and prospects of the global environment ( Global Environment Outlook, GEO-7).

5th Coastal Ecology Seminar

The seminar is an opportunity to take stock of the situation on management and knowledge activities related to coastal ecosystems. The seminar is expected to be attended by public and private representatives involved in the study and management of the coastal territory: Municipalities, Park Authorities, regional and national structures, supervisory bodies, local stakeholders. Numerous topics will be addressed: update on the management activities of the Venetian Lagoon; analysis of the anthropic impact on the nesting of aquatic birds in the Po Delta; the situation of cetaceans in the Upper Adriatic; the Anguilla Rescue Project.

ISPRA is also among the big names in international research that have won European projects for the conservation of Biodiversity

The kick-off meeting was held in Rome from 20 to 22 February which brought together the 14 partners (from 7 countries) involved in the ambitious Wolfness project: La Sapienza University, ISPRA, the Institute of Applied Ecology, the Edmund Mach Foundation and the National Park of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines (Italy), the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia); the Universities of Lunds and Gothenburg (Sweden); the CIBIO/InBIO (Portugal), the University of Leipzig; and the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung Institute (Germany); the University of León, the Estacion Biologica de Donana (Spain); the University of Koc (Turkey).

World wildlife day 2023

Today 3 March, World Wildlife Day reminds us of the importance that wild fauna and flora have for the conservation of biodiversity

Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2013, the World Day of Wild Fauna and Flora celebrates the signing of the Washington Convention (CITES) which, since 3 March 1973, has the purpose of regulating, monitoring and prohibiting trade in plant species and endangered animals. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the convention, it was decided to give importance to the theme of the partnership for conservation: collaboration, exchange of scientific data, common objectives for nature conservation.

ISPRA, within the scope of its institutional mandate, carries out activities of technical evaluation, study and monitoring of the dynamics of wild populations including migrations, conservation genetics, with the aim of conserving wildlife intended as protection and wildlife heritage management.

On the occasion of the World Day of Wild Fauna and Flora, a thematic section entitled “Fauna, Enviroment and Man" was published on the ISPRA portal with a series of documents useful for further study.

Gofree project

On February 22nd and 23rd at the Porto Conte Ricerche headquarters in Alghero and at the Port Museum in Porto Torres the researchers involved in the project Gofree "Introduction of the striped humpback shrimp (Plesionika edwardsii) fishing in Sardinia" they met the fishermen of the Alghero, Porto Torres and Castelsardo fleets. The project aims aims to introduce and incentivize the fishing of bathyal shrimp, also called hunchbacks  in the Sardinian seas, introducing innovative measures both in the fishing process, in order to favor fishing also at bathymetry not yet exploited

Natural trajectories

Dynamic balances in ecosystems and their alterations
As part of Science Thursday - Science live week by week on February 23, an ISPRA researcher will participate in the "Natural trajectories" webinar. The protection of biodiversity should not be understood as a static conservation of an immutable environment, but as a safeguard of natural evolutionary trajectories. Ecosystems live in a dynamic equilibrium, in which disturbances and related adaptations are the norm. The effects of a storm or a forest fire are easily reabsorbed if the episodes occur with a frequency and intensity compatible with the characteristics of the ecosystem.