Italy's once pristine coastline
has been "devoured" and "martyred" by floods of cement used to
build infrastructure, resorts and shopping centres, the World
Wildlife Fund (WWF) said in a report released Wednesday.
About 10% of the peninsula's 8,000-km coastline has been
permanently altered by ports, motorways, dams and barriers, the
report said.
No region has been immune from the building frenzy, but the
most "wounded" coastlines are in Sicily, Sardinia, and above
all, the Adriatic coast. Described as "the most urbanized in the
entire Mediterranean basin", it makes up 17% of the national
coastline and is 70% covered in construction.
Even so-called "protected areas" have not been spared. As
many as 312 "human macro activities" have eroded the natural
soil from Italy's "beloved shores", giving rise to "structures
that have altered the landscape, causing losses of biodiversity
and natural heritage", the WWF warned.
The report cited notorious examples such as the rapacious
development of Friuli's Sistiana Bay, a tourist resort built at
Basento in Basilicata, and construction at Castellamare di
Stabia in Campania.
The WWF denounced what it said is "a clear lack of
planning," adding that there is no national "custodian" of the
coastline to oversee development and prevent environmental
degradation.
Instead, this task is fragmented between different levels
of State, regional, and local governments.
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