Although the Natura 2000 network has laid the foundations for nature protection, the biggest challenges still lie in effective implementation on the ground. The importance of quality monitoring and cooperation – especially in coastal and marine areas, where management is complicated by shared responsibilities among institutions – was discussed at the final conference of the EFFICIENTN2K project, held on Tuesday, November 26, 2024, at the Visitor Centre of the Ugento Regional Nature Park in Torre San Giovanni. This event was organised by the Municipality of Ugento and the Ugento Regional Nature Park, with the support of the lead partner, the Sunce association.
In addition to marking the end of the project activities, the conference highlighted how important this project has been for advancing innovative strategies and fostering cross-border cooperation in the sustainable management of marine and coastal areas within the Natura 2000 network.
– Natura 2000 marine and coastal areas are under great pressure – both in Croatia and in Italy. They are most threatened by human activities, such as unsustainable fishing, free anchoring of ships, wastewater discharges, and so on. Sunce and the Municipality of Ugento recognized the importance of addressing these pressures and last year designed the EFFICIENTN2K project, whose task was to improve surveillance and enforcement in protected coastal and marine areas of the Natura 2000 network in Italy and Croatia, while ensuring the preservation of biodiversity and the protection of key natural resources. – explains Matea Špika, project manager.
Strengthening cooperation among stakeholders
The conference started with an opening speech by Salvatore Chige, mayor of Ugento and coordinator of FEDERPARCHI Apulia, who emphasized the importance of long-term cooperation between institutions and local stakeholders:
– The conference represents an excellent opportunity for dialogue and strengthening of long-term cooperation between various institutional bodies and organizations involved in the management and surveillance of protected areas of the Natura 2000 network. The common goal is to increase the efficiency of biodiversity conservation and protection.
Other speakers included Giuseppe Scordella, Director of the Ugento Regional Nature Park, and Serena Triggiani, Regional Councillor for the Environment in Apulia, who highlighted the coherence of the project activities with regional environmental strategies.
Rocky Malatesta, Vice President of FEDERPARCHI, stressed the importance of building international networks for Natura 2000 site managers, while Marin Miletić, Project Manager on behalf of the Interreg Italy – Croatia programme, presented upcoming funding opportunities.
Technical presentations gave a practical dimension to the discussions. The Fire Brigade from Lecce presented its fire prevention coordination mechanisms, while the Forestry Police from Tricase presented advanced technologies for the surveillance of illegal dumping and fire risks. The use of technologies has a truly great potential in surveillance and monitoring the state of the terrain, and this should be encouraged as much as possible in the future.
The local community is also important
The conference also discussed the topic of community involvement. Representatives of local authorities, such as the Regional Agency for Irrigation and Forestry Activities, and participants from Croatia, including the Kornati National Park and Sunce, shared their experiences.
– Active involvement of the local community is very important in the management of Natura 2000 areas. The persistence of the local community signals to the competent institutions that changes are necessary and that new practices are needed. This inevitably leads to an increase in institutional capacities and further influences the change in people’s awareness and behaviour. Throughout the entire implementation period, we have worked intensively on improving cooperation between competent authorities and building their capacities. Joint workshops, capacity-building training and surveillance actions in Natura 2000 areas were organized, which proved how cooperation can contribute to the surveillance and effectiveness of protection implementation on the ground. Although there is a lack of financial and human resources and a need to improve the legal framework in both countries, the project has shown that strengthening cooperation between competent authorities can help overcome the institutional and legal weaknesses of the system. – said Matea Špika from Sunce.
Additionally, the presence of students from the De Viti De Marco Technical Institute from Casarano is proof of how important it is to raise awareness among the younger generations about environmental and nature conservation.
Matea Špika from Sunce presented key recommendations resulting from the implementation of project activities, which we will write more about soon.
Biodiversity conservation at the heart of Sunce’s work
At the end of the conference, participants expressed their commitment to the EFFICIENTN2K mission, and the Municipality of Ugento and Sunce, together with the Ugento Regional Nature Park, reminded the audience of the importance of preserving biodiversity.
– The project recommendations will be used to develop new project ideas and as a basic document for a better understanding of what future advocacy actions should focus on, related to increasing the effectiveness of the protection of marine and coastal Natura 2000 areas. – said Ana Miletić Miloš from Sunce.
As a reminder, Natura 2000 is an ecological network composed of areas important for the conservation of endangered species and habitat types of the European Union. Its aim is to conserve or restore a favourable status of more than a thousand endangered and rare species and around 230 natural and semi-natural habitat types. So far, around 27,500 areas on almost 20% of the EU territory have been included in this ecological network, making it the largest system of protected areas in the world, writes the Ministry of environmental Protection and Green Transition.
One thing is clear, with a strong focus on innovation, cooperation and community involvement, the EFFICIENTN2K project has laid a solid foundation for future efforts towards more effective management of coastal and marine protected areas.
