On December 5, 2018, the Portofino Marine Protected Area was invited to attend an online seminar about the challenges related to the management of Natura 2000 sites in Italian protected marine areas, organized by Europarc, the organization was created to improve the management of Marine Protected Areas through cooperation, exchange of ideas and experiences and with the aim of influencing international policy. The prominent figure of the Webinar was Fotios Papoulias from the European Commission’s Environment DG, responsible for the implementation of the Habitat Directive in marine ecosystems, who gave an overview of the state of conservation of the marine environment at the European level, underlining an alarming situation.
In this context Valentina Cappanera of the Portofino Marine Protected Area, was charged by Federparchi, the association of Italian Parks and Protected Areas, to present the state of the art about the management of Natura 2000 sites in Italian marine protected areas.
The presentation was focused in particular on the situation in Portofino and what was being done under the RELIFE project was reported, highlighting the process undertaken with the Liguria Region for the inclusion of the P. ferruginea species in standard site forms Nature 2000.
The presentation was well received and the European Commission highlighted the need to focus more on LIFE funds for the management of Natura 2000 sites, appreciating the initiative undertaken by RELIFE
The Portofino AMP attends the webinar on the management of Natura 2000 sites in the Italian AMPs organized by Europarc
