Legambiente awards the Piedmont Region the Green Flag

If in 2022 Cuneo24 had given notice of the assignment of the Black flag from Legambiente to the Piedmont Regionbut this year the news is excellent: the Piedmont Region obtains the Legambiente Green Flag. The motivation: «The “Compensatory payment for Natura 2000 forest areas” operation of the 2014-2022 RDP. An important intervention, a useful contribution to the careful management of Natura 2000 sites.”
Let’s try to understand what it is about, even if the subject is specialized. To managers of forest areas falling within Sites of the Natura 2000 network an annual premium per hectare is paid by the Piedmont Region to compensate for additional costs and lost earnings due to the constraints deriving from the application of the Habitats and Birds directives.
Simply put: owners of land where animal protection restrictions are required are granted a cash reward.
According to Legambiente “In such a difficult moment for nature conservation where we are witnessing a possible collapse of a fundamental European law such as the Nature Restoration Law, this operation constitutes an unconventional, good and intelligent practice which we hope will be emulated by other regions ”.
Being an indemnity, the premium is paid without restrictions regarding its use; however, many companies have invested the funds received in forestry and environmental activities such as the Maritime Alps Management Body of Chiusa di Pesio which, again according to Legambiente, “has implemented active forest management projects in the relevant Natura 2000 Network Sites”.
The network of Natura 2000 sites was established in May 1992 by the European “Habitats” directive, which brought to light the Sites of Community Importance in the Special Conservation Areas and Special Protection Areas, with the aim of promoting the biodiversity of the Italian territory , conserving animal and plant species at risk: a European Directive of enormous significance for environmental protection policies. For the first time, protected areas of community interest have been established for the protection of species and habitats according to European standards.