The heavy toll of fine particles
If almost half of the 50 most polluted cities in Europe are Italian, they are almost all in Northern Italy! Cremona, Padua and Venice are on the national podium, while Milan is not far behind, being the worst big city in the country in this respect. The two main culprits are cars, which are plentiful in this densely populated region, and industry, the bedrock of the northern Italian economy.
The European Union Court of Justice has gone so far as to condemn the country for its fine particle levels, which are systematically above the standards. Internally, the government is also beginning to look for the culprits, and even included environmental crimes in its criminal code in 2015.
It must be said that Italy is a country particularly vulnerable to global warming. Not only is its 7,500 km long coastline threatened by rising sea levels, but natural disasters, mainly floods, are more frequent than elsewhere. The famous "acqua alta " phenomena in Venice are becoming more and more frequent and are always pushing back their records. Italy even holds the sad European record (and sixth place in the world) for the highest number of deaths linked to extreme climatic events: 20,000 people killed since 1999.
The problem is so central that since 2020 Italian schoolchildren are the first in the world to have lessons on climate change. Indeed, the government is taking the problem seriously, and even pledged at COP 21 to reduce itsCO2 emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to its 1990 levels.
We are seeing the first results: all Italian pollutant emissions are on the downward curve.CO2 emissions have been almost halved since their peak in 2004, and fine particles, the peninsula's big black spot, have fallen by 15%.
A record drought
Northern Italy experienced its worst drought in 70 years in 2022, so much so that five regions had to declare a state of climate emergency. Under a record heat of 10 ° C at its peak, part of the glacier Marmolada, the highest peak of the Dolomites, collapsed, causing the death of 11 people.
The winter had given the impression of a formidable summer, with snowfall down 70% from its normal level, but no one expected a phenomenon of such magnitude. The emblematic Po River, the longest Italian river, which stretches from the Alps to the Adriatic, may be the one with the highest flow rate, but it has been dry at times. Piedmont, where it originates, has experienced 110 days in a row without a single drop of rain. With only one river missing, the country's entire food security is compromised, as the Po Valley alone provides 40% of Italy's food.
Beyond the extremes of the summer of 2022, the lack of water is a recurring problem for Italy, whose water tables are becoming dangerously thin. The causes: unsustainable agriculture, which pumps the vast majority of reserves, and antiquated and inefficient infrastructure.
For the remaining water, pollution is commonplace, as is the case of the water table located between Padua and Vicenza. As large as Lake Garda, it received since the 1960s the toxic discharges of the neighboring factory Miteni, until its closure in 2018. In the meantime, 350,000 people have been poisoned, so that the cancer rate is 30% higher than in the rest of the country.
Biodiversity between the sea and the mountains
Between the high peaks of the Dolomites and the Ligurian beaches lies an exceptional biological wealth, so much so that Italy is the European country with the highest number of plant species. Among them, there are some endemic species, such as the Campanula sabatia, which blooms with its delicate purple flowers only on the limestone cliffs of Liguria, on the aptly named Riviera of Flowers. Such is its richness that of the five Italian places classified as natural heritage by UNESCO, three are in northern Italy: the primary and ancient beech forests, the Dolomites and Monte San Giorgio.
One of the many natural treasures of northern Italy is the Tagliamento, nicknamed by the Italians il Re dei fiumi alpini: the king of the alpine rivers. This 170 km long river is the only Alpine river to have kept its original morphology, without ever having been modified by man. This may change, however, as a dam project is discussed to protect downstream towns from its torrential floods. If the dam, which would be located in Pinzano, has been discussed for two decades already, it is because environmentalists and Alpine cities upstream show the strongest opposition to this construction that would disturb what is the last preserved ecological river corridor of the Alps.
Unfortunately, this type of situation is not uncommon, and the ecosystems of northern Italy are constantly under pressure from urbanization, agriculture and industry. Many species have disappeared from Italian soil, such as the sturgeon, a European fish on the verge of extinction.
But not all is doom and gloom, and the alpine forests, in particular, are gradually being rebuilt as a result of the abandonment of mountain agriculture, which is no longer profitable enough. Future efforts could be even more intense, as in September 2022 Italy took the historic step of enshrining environmental and biodiversity conservation in its Constitution, to protect future generations.
The national parks of northern Italy
Northern Italy has 8 national parks and about 100 natural and regional parks. The first Italian national park is the Gran Paradiso National Park, in the Aosta Valley. It was initially created to protect the ibex(Capra ibex), which was then an endangered species. It was a successful mission, since a century later, not only is the bovid no longer listed, but the park has the largest population in Europe, with 3,000 specimens! They are accompanied by at least 8,000 chamois, and other mountain animals, such as marmots, lynxes, and even some wolves.
Like him, many national and regional parks or reserves protect the alpine regions, such as the natural park of the Dolomites Friuli, the natural park Sciliar-Catinaccio, the national park of Val Grande, or the national park of Stelvio. Together they cover a vast mountainous area to protect the fragile ecosystems of the Alps. Many of them, such as the Dolomites Bellunèses National Park(parco nazionale Dolomiti Bellunesi), cover the famous Dolomites massif, a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Unesco also recognizes the national park of the Tuscan archipelago as a biosphere reserve. It is home to many rare species among the seven islands that form its archipelago: Elba, the largest, Capraia, Pianosa, Montecristo, Giglio, Gorgon and Giannutri. Although the ecology of the park is subject to some pressures, such as the important tourism or a developed road network, it benefits from several conservation measures. The influx of visitors is limited in some places, such as constructions, and invasive alien species are eradicated. Some particularly vulnerable species, such as the Corsican gull(Ichthyaetus audouinii), are given special attention. Thus, the landing and anchoring of boats are prohibited near the colonies.
Finally, behind its great cultural wealth, we must not forget that the Cinque Terre National Park, the smallest Italian national park, is of great ecological interest. The creation of the park in 1999 was intended to seal the close relationship between man and nature that has been woven here for centuries. For this reason, the administration adopted in 2001 the label Marchio di Qualità Ambientale to limit the negative impact of tourism and encourage the practice of ecotourism. The label guarantees visitors to stay in a hotel that values the local heritage by offering typical products and that respects environmental standards, especially in terms of water and energy.
Progress on waste
If the North is not as bad a pupil as the South in terms of waste, it remains behind the European average. The finger is pointed at the management system: collection is often deficient, and waste ends up in dumps that are sometimes illegal and rarely meet European standards. This results in a significant pollution of freshwater reserves, but also of the Mediterranean Sea, the most polluted sea in the world, with 600,000 tons of plastic landing there each year.
But the plastic empire is in full collapse in Italy. In this country, which accounts for 60% of the European market for single-use plastics, EU Directive 904, imposing a ban on them, has not gone down well. Even if this waste represents 70% of the waste found on the beaches, part of the Italian political class has judged this law to be penalizing for the 280 Italian companies that produce them, and the 815 million euros they represent. Plastic seems to be firmly entrenched in Europe's largest consumer (and third largest in the world) of plastic water bottles.
Fortunately, Italy is being more cooperative in other areas, this time defying European measures. It is 15 years ahead of the European targets for recycling cardboard and paper packaging, with a recycling rate of almost 90%, compared with an EU average of just over 70%. It is thus the European champion in this field.
