Can You Faint With Your Eyes Open?

cuts funds for Parks and Reserves in Sicily Towns in

Save protected natural areas in Sicily, as custodians of biodiversity!

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2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity, yet could to be remembered in Sicily for the abolition of de facto protected areas.

In 2010 regional budget was drastically cut funds to the Parks and Nature Reserves in Sicily, and further more substantial cuts are planned by the Finance Act 2011, until reduced by over 70% of the resources for the conservation of nature and for the management of protected natural areas.

The consequences are likely to be serious: for the conservation of species and habitats, often protected even at national and European level to increase knowledge of nature, for the enhancement and promotion of the territories which fall under the parks and reserves ; for awareness and cultural growth of local communities for the creation and strengthening of sustainable economic development, based on the protection and enjoyment of cultural and environmental heritage. The cut in funding for the ongoing management of protected areas and no activation of community resources are likely to hand over entire territories abandonment, deterioration and speculation.

In particular, the nature reserves managed by the environmental groups are already at the brink of closing for lack of funds, yet in recent years have provided important results in several areas, and are often the fundamental principals of law in difficult contexts.

Parks and Nature Reserves in our region play an indispensable role of scientific laboratories and kept open up a wealth of biodiversity that needs attention and protection, and that may pose a unique chance for sustainable development. Furthermore, the majority of protected areas falls in Sicily Special Protection Areas and Sites of Community Importance took two European Union directives, for which management plans have been committed large intellectual resources, technical and economic.

Maintaining biodiversity is not only a commitment to the facade, but must become concrete actions consistent with that objective to have a positive impact on natural resources. We therefore ask the Government to Parliament and regional International Year of Biodiversity, Protected Areas to ensure the necessary resources to manage them, and to work for a total revitalization of nature conservation policies.