Public participation in the implementation of the Natura 2000 network in Italy: the stakeholders’ experiences

Abstract

Public participation in the implementation of the Natura 2000 network in Italy: the stakeholders’ experiences. Natura 2000 is an ecological network of protected areas identified by the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and the Birds Directive (79/409/EC) - recently replaced by the Directive 2009/147/EC - in order to ensure the long-term protection of endangered species in their natural habitats in European Union (EU) territory. EU Member States are responsible for developing and implementing the procedures defined by Habitats Directive, but there are no specific recommendations about participation of stakeholders and local community in the decision-making process. Consequently, each country has adopted a different participatory strategy taking into account the principles of integration approach. The integration approach is based on combining human activities and nature conservation purposes in the same area or, at least, in areas in close proximity. In Italy, the implementation of Natura 2000 network was developed at local level (Regions and Autonomous Provinces) using different approaches and procedures. Starting from these considerations, the aim of the study was to analyse the stakeholders’ involvement process during the implementation of Habitats Directive in Italy and the management of Natura 2000 sites. This study was realized using three main criteria with the respective indicators: (1) inclusiveness of participatory process; (2) democracy of participatory process; (3) cooperation and conflicts during the implementation process of Natura 2000 network. The data were collected through the administration by email of a semi-structured questionnaire to 56 stakeholders divided in four main groups of interest (public administrations, universities and research centres, environmental associations, private organizations). The results of the survey show that the participatory process was characterized by a low level of inclusiveness despite the existence of some best practices at local level. In many cases, the decisions were taken by a low number of stakeholders - mostly public administrations - while the individuals of local community were only informed. Conversely, the results highlights as positive aspect the increasing level of trust among stakeholders after the Natura 2000 network implementation process.

Keywords

• Habitats Directive
• Protected Areas
• Nature Conservation
• Participatory Process
• Conflicts
• Stakeholders