The spread of Caulerpa cylindracea in Calabria (Italy) and the effects of shipping activities

A survey to state the spread of Caulerpa cylindracea in the Calabrian Tyrrhenian coasts has been undertaken. The research aims to value the role of shipping activities in the ten-year’s study from 1999 to 2009, as a vector in the spreading of the species. The outcome of this study has shown that, during the last ten years, the species has colonized most of the regional coastline, on all kinds of substrata, in areas closed to harbours and subjected to high rate of sedimentation. The main effects of Caulerpa cylindracea colonization have resulted in a gradual decrease of crustose species while the turf ones have increased their abundance, altering the native structure of the macroalgal assemblages. These results confirm the extremely invasive behaviour of this strain in the Calabrian Tyrrhenian coasts and, more generally, in the Mediterranean Sea

Integrated coastal zone management in Italy: a gap between science and policy

This paper introduces the need, in Italian countries, of a real integration of scientific knowledge into coastal policy. Actually, in Italy, still exists a gap between Science and Policy, interfering the implementation of an Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) process, while there is no coordination between local, regional and national authorities. This lack of an overall strategy has induced some regions to adopt regional plans for the sustainable development of their coastal areas, to compensate the shortcomings of a national planning. Besides, along Italian coasts, there is a heavy landscape urbanization producing conditions of environmental decay and highlighting the risk of erosions in littoral areas. In this critical context, it is necessary to adopt an effective Integrated Coastal Zone Management policy, to connect ecosystem and environmental approaches with the social and economic development of coastal areas. So, in Italian landscape, it is necessary to integrate the national cultural heritage into coastal management, joining scientific and cultural issues. In this framework, ICZM process could play an important role connecting scientists and policy makers towards an effective integration for the social and economic growth of local people

Marine and river environments: A pattern of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in Calabria (Southern Italy)

The integrated coastal zone management is a working and continuous process to promote a dynamic balance between economic growth, human use of natural resources and environmental protection of coastal systems. The integration between terrestrial and marine environments is the main purpose of this course through a new kind of landscape planning extended from coastlines to continental areas,along the ideal lines of regional catchments. So, coastal environments require an integrated management to establish mutual interactions between human, political and scientific elements to achieve a sustainable development of the coastal zone. In this study, it has been developed a specific methodological framework, named Function Analysis, applied to a littoral region located in a wilderness area. The results highlight the good environmental condition of this seaboard system exposed, however, to a definite human pressure. In fact, the ecological and human values, plotted in a diagram, point out a transition state, for the studied area, on the border between development and conservation plans. To solve this problem, it is hoped to improve the environmental value of the ecological and fluvial corridor of Verri stream basin connecting two terrestrial and marine Sites of Community Interest, as conservation is the higher priority for this coastal region. In conclusion, it has been suggested to manage marine and terrestrial resources through a coordinated strategy in which coastal and river environments could be, really, inserted in the same landscape unit to promote the social and economic development of local communities toward a sustainable development of coastal areas

Chapter Integrated Coastal Zone Management of Natura 2000 and cultural heritage sites in Calabrian coastal landscape (Southern Italy)

This study shows the link connecting natural and cultural goods in the coastal landscape of Calabria (Southern Italy), considering seaboard and human impact risk conditions. In fact, Calabria has 58 Natura 2000 sites located on seaboard areas within a length of 300 meters from coast and 63 cultural heritage sites of which 42.9% coincides with the Natura 2000 network. As a results of this paper, the increasing coastal erosion and a heavy human impact have been highlighted as the main hazards to which the natural and cultural goods are exposed, thus it’s necessary a broader approach for the integration of natural and cultural issues into an active Integrated Coastal Zone Management proces

A New Coastal Erosion Risk Assessment Indicator: Application to the Calabria Tyrrhenian Littoral (Southern Italy)

Littoral plains are exposed to natural phenomena such as sea-waves, tides, rainfalls and sea-level rise but also to human pressure, determining a growing exposure of the natural and man-made environments to hazard conditions. Through this work, a new kind of multiple approach is proposed to evaluate the coastal risk due to erosion processes, which was first tested on the Calabria Tyrrhenian coast. The resulting data show that 35% of the coastal stretches are classified into very high risk category, 30% into high risk, 28% into medium risk and only 7% into low risk. The coastal areas, characterized by high and very high levels of risk, are formed by sandy beaches and distributed mainly at the northern side of the regional coastline while the southern part, distinguished mainly by rocky outlines, shows lower risk levels. The comparison between the calculated risk values and the real conditions of the damage state shows a good correspondence, testifying the pertinence of the new methodology. The latter is based on indices with data easily available, making the procedure fast and simple to use and applicable mainly for large scale surveys. The achieved good results suggest that the new methodology used to evaluate the coastal risk condition may be also extended to other Mediterranean beaches

The Coastal Sustainability Standard method: a case study in Calabria (Southern Italy)

Coastal regions and river basins hold a great variety of geological, ecological, social and economic roles mutually dependent and interacting. So, a global approach of these sensitive and transitional areas should include their seaward and landward sides. By this way, the Organization of United Nations has suggested a new management pattern of littoral zones named Integrated Coastal Area and River basin Management, able to merge, into the same landscape unit, marine, coastal and riverine systems. However, in italian seaboard areas, there is a total lack of an overall strategy to carry out national and/or regional plans for a sustainable development of coastal regions. In this regard, also in the Calabria region (Southern Italy) the suggested new kind of holistic approach is totally neglected although its coastline shows a broad extent of 715 km and the hydrographic network is made up by 1003 catchments forming a complex drainage system. This new kind of coastal management was verified through the application of a Coastal Sustainability Standard method applied, for the first time in Italy, in a study area in the western seaside of Calabria. The results of the field survey highlight a total failure of an inclusive coastal management process capable to realize a comprehensive landscape planning of marine, coastal and riverine systems. Instead, Calabria could be the leader coastal region in Italy where landward and seaward sides could be connected along the ecological corridors of their river basins