LIFE ASAP – INCREASING AWARENESS ON ALIEN SPECIES IN ITALY

In the EU alone, social and economic impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) are estimated at over 12 billion euros annually: of the 12,000 alien species reported today in Europe, more than 3,000 are present in Italy, of which over 15% are invasive. This is a growing phenomenon: at global level the annual rate of first records dramatically increased in the last 200 years, with 37% of all first records reported most recently (1), while in Europe, the number of alien species increased by 76 percent over the past 30 years. The project LIFE ASAP (Alien Species Awareness Program, LIFE15 GIE/IT/PROTECTED), co-funded by the European Commission, started in October 2016 and will end in March 2020. The coordinating beneficiary is ISPRA - Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale and beneficiaries partners are the University of Cagliari, Legambiente, Federparchi, Regione Lazio, Nemo s.r.l. and Unicity s.r.l. The general aim of the project is to reduce the rate of introduction of IAS and limit the impacts on the Italian territory through i) the increase of public awareness of the risks associated with biological invasions and by promoting their active participation and the adoption of responsible behaviours; ii) supporting the national implementation of the Regulation (EU) no. 1143/2014, which entered into force on the 1st January 2015, "on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species". The LIFE ASAP project envisages various and diverse education, information and communication campaigns addressing citizens and all major stakeholders and professionals directly or indirectly involved in the management of invasive alien species. ASAP target audiences range from public administration personnel, protected natural areas staffs, zoos, botanical gardens and scientific museums operators to professionals such as veterinarians, biologists, landscape planners, foresters, and agronomists; it also includes the hunting and sport fishing sector and the trader of pets, plants and seeds. Since Botanical Gardens, together with zoos, scientific museums and protected areas, interact with society as a whole, organizing dissemination activities for schoolchildren and the general public, hosting cultural events of social interest, they represent ideal venues where training and information coexist. In this framework, the Botanical Section of the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences of the University of Cagliari, in collaboration with the Botanical Garden Services Centre (HBK) of the University of Cagliari will be the “botanical heart” of a national network that will involve many supporting partners: the Italian Botanical Society, the Botanical Gardens of Catania, Rome and Siena, CREA (Consiglio per Ricerca in Agricoltura e l'analisi dell'Economia Agraria, Bagheria, Palermo), CIRBFEP (Centro di Ricerca “Biodiversità, Fitosociologia ed Ecologia del Paesaggio”, Rome), and the floriculture company “Sgaravattiland” (Capoterra, Cagliari). In the first year of activity, alongside the first training sessions for botanical gardens, scientific museum and zoo operators, an educational path on alien species will be established in the Botanical Garden of Cagliari. This path will guide visitors through the observation of a selection of invasive alien plants, and will be integrated with the description of the alien animal species associated with these plants. Short questionnaires will be distributed to visitors to evaluate the awareness acquired. During the life-span of this LIFE project, thematic days on particular categories of alien species and various activities dedicated to schools of every order and degree will be proposed, in order to raise awareness and involve different sectors of the general public and the future citizens. Hopefully, in the long period, the dissemination of information on good practices and the implementation of responsible behaviours by every sector of the society will lead to a more effective policy of contrasting biological invasions in Italy.