PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The Cesine site, near the town of Lecce in Puglia, is one of the last ecologically important wetlands left in southern Italy. This has been acknowledged by its successive designation as “Oasi di Protezione” in 1975, a Ramsar wetland site of international importance in 1977, and a state nature reserve and a special protection area – SPA (Birds Directive) in 1980.
The site shelters many bird species of European importance, including two species ranked as priority for LIFE action on account of their conservation status, the bittern (Botaurus stellaris) and the lesser kestrel (Falcus naumanni); as well as three priority habitat types: Mediterranean temporary ponds, calcareous fens with Cladium mariscus. Despite the site’s legal protection restrictions on paper, in practice increasing disturbance (indiscriminate human access, intense traffic, noise pollution) caused severe problems for the fauna and flora on site. The main threat is from the highway: This cuts right across the protected site, and allows people to enter the reserve at numerous points, thereby making surveillance and regulation of access almost impossible.
OBJECTIVES
The project’s principal objective was to re-route the Del Pesce highway outside the site. The project funds would be used to build a new road that would carry traffic away from the nature reserve. To reduce the damage to the environment, this new route had to follow existing minor roads. The acquisition of the land needed for the construction of this alternative route would be carried out in full consultation with the local residents in order to gain their support.
The site is jointly managed by a national ministry and an Italian NGO; and removal of the traffic would enable more effective surveillance of the reserve. The section of road within the reserve, once closed to traffic, would be only used for recreational purposes within the framework of controlled visitor access.
RESULTS
The beneficiary succeeded in closing the highway running through the Cesine SPA and re-routing traffic to a new road.
Specifically, shortly before the end of the project, in February 2000, a municipality act was established to close the old road to traffic and to re-route traffic to the new road. Barriers and signs were erected by the beneficiary to prevent access to the old road. Furthermore, the project succeeded in acquiring around 41 000 m2 of land needed for the construction of the alternative route. This was actually substantially more than the foreseen amount of around 27 000 m2. Work on the new road was completed in 1999, and traffic re-routed in 2000.
The closure of the old road resulted in a significant reduction of noise and air pollution connected to traffic in the study area. The normal number of cars that travelled on the old road prior to its closure was estimated to be more than 70 cars/ hour, with a peak of about 1 000 cars/ hour on public holidays and weekends. Noise studies were implemented by the beneficiary in 2000 at nine sites: These reported a “very significant" reduction in noise level after the closure of the road.
Although the beneficiary was successful in closing the old road and re-routing traffic to the new road, it was not able to carry out the planned removal of asphalt from the old stretch of highway. The municipality was unable to start this work because permission was not received from the responsible national authority, as required by Italian law. The project was also unsuccessful in preventing all traffic from using the old road; unfortunately some cars managed to manoeuvre around the blocks and gain access to the old road.
In May 2015 the LIFE external monitoring team carried out an ex-post follow up visit. This visit confirmed that the project’s main aim had been fulfilled: by closing the road the negative effects of pollution and traffic were significantly reduced resulting in a long-term positive effect on the area’s biodiversity. Furthermore, the project led to an increased awareness in the local population and businesses about the importance of the reserve and awareness-raising activities still continue today. The road’s asphalt, however, still has not been removed because of various political issues. It continues to interfere with some small fauna, is visually out of place with the rest of the landscape and, perhaps most importantly, its presence means that the road could be easily reopened in the future (something that almost occurred in 2008). Finally, project partners and stakeholders were unable to maintain a close relationship after the project and were thus unable to adopt a coherent course of action for the future protection and sustainable use of the reserve.
