Set up of a GIS of the Uses and the Potential Conflicting Situations of the Italian Coast

Enrico Ferretti (1), Leda Pecci (1), Paola Salmona (2)

(1) ENEA - National Agency for the Environment and the New Technologies,- Centro Ricerche Ambiente Marino (Centre for the Research on the Marine Environment), La Spezia, (IT)
(2) ICCOPS - International Centre for Coastal and OceanPolicy Studies, Genova, (IT)

The paper aims to present the work carried out by the Centre for the Research on the Marine Environment of the ENEA in collaboration with the Department Polis of the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Genova, for the elaboration of a general framework of the Italian Coastal uses in view of the key issues and the strategic goals of the Integrated Coastal Area Management. The work, started in July 2001 and now in course of conclusion, is one of the outputs of a comprehensive agreement between the ENEA and the Italian Ministry of the Environment, for the elaboration of a general management plan for the Italian coast.

According with Agenda 21, Chapter 17, the Integrated Coastal Area Management is expected to harmonise natural and human features of the coastal system, including the ecological aspects, the uses of coastal resources, the economic and administrative organisation, the management of the cultural heritage, to achieve its sustainable development.

On these premises, the work aimed to:

• Set up a GIS of the human activities located along the Italian coast, mapping the main coastal resources uses, the administrative and jurisdictional boundaries, and including the most relevant demographic data
• Cross analyse, when feasible, the data above with the information available about the natural features of the Italian coast, to point out the relationships between these two thematic groups
• Supply a tool to support coastal planners and decision makers

The agreement does not foresees the direct survey of data, but the use of existing databanks. During the preparatory phases of the work, it emerged that the most of the data about coastal uses presently available on the Italian national scales are heterogeneous, often not updated and presenting mistakes and inaccuracies. As a consequence, the GIS supplies above all qualitative information and a little quantitative data, to allow some basic statistical elaboration.

The value of this experimental work is above all methodological. As a matter of fact, it present a sample of Integrated Coastal Area Management practice, capable to be applied to different coastal areas, through the integration of local and more specific data.
Another essential feature of the GIS is the capability to visualise the potential conflicts or hazards between two coastal uses, either on the national or on the local scale. It is an alert that has the main task to give decision makers and planners the hint for a more specific survey.