al-Farabi Kazakh National University
International Relations Department
Chukubaev E., Alipkyzy R.
The environmental policy of the Italian Republic
Giving an assessment to the ecological situation of Italy, the author considered a set of parameters. These included: air pollution, traffic jams, quality of the built environment. According to the results of research the most ecological area is the north-east of the country. Lack of proper organization of environmental protection leads to further deforestation, irrational use of lands for the construction, reduction of areas of national parks, destruction of forest fauna. As the result of depopulation of mountain villages, soil erosion, the risk of landslides and floods amplifies on abandoned lands, located mostly on abrupt slopes. But in recent years the situation has been changing for the better. Italy is the only country of the G8, which refused to build nuclear power plants. The government, concerned about the ecological situation of the country, has taken drastic measures for her improvement.
Keywords: Italy, ecology, government, Big Eight, north-east of the country.
With the growth of the environmental problems that took the character of the climate crisis, more and more requirements about the need of conducting environmental policy began to be heard.
That is needed for direct human activity in accordance with nature with the help and with the assistance of the state and political parties to provide in order to ensure the preservation of nature in ecological balance.
The author examined environmental problems of the Republic of Italy and methods of fighting against them.
The problem of drinking water in Italy. In a number of regions of Italy in tap water the level of toxic substances by 5 times exceeds admissible norm on the European standards, creating thereby danger to children and especially for newborns. The Scientific Committee raised the alarm, which was authorized by the European Commission, to determine the state of Italian drinking water.
Italy, one of the European countries, which is more all violated directives fixing the limits of admissibility of toxins in drinking water. Thirteen regions for the past nine years have failed to comply with the limits of admissibility of toxins set by Brussels. Among these regions are Lombardy, Lazio, Tuscany, Piedmont, Apulia, Umbria, Campaign and Trentino-Alto-Adige. The European commission has also established that by 2012 the Italian system of water supply has to lead indicators to the European norms, but the Italian government has again asked to postpone the implementation of the directive [1].
The Italian Ministry of Health found that tap water is not dangerous for healthy adults. But for children under the age of 18 and newborn, especially those who use artificial milk and therefore drink more water, the risk is quite high [1].
Federutility is the Federation, which unites local service enterprises providing the population by water, calms the citizens, claiming that the presence of arsenic, boron and fluoride in the water at the moment is not a serious problem: “The danger exists only when toxic agents are in high concentration. Anyway, municipalities in which excess of admissible limits is revealed, have already taken all necessary measures to address this problem”, said Renato Druziani, Director of the hydro-ecological zones of Federutility.
Experts from Brussels recommended additional tests for populations most at risk, in order to evaluate the level of influence of toxic substances, which varies depending on the type of food they eat and the environment in which people live [2].
The greenhouse effect is the cause of the flooding of the cities and a drought, which take place not only in Italy but all over the world. Because of the thawing glaciers, water level in the seas gradually rises that leads to progressive flooding of some parts of Italy, such as its Adriatic coast and to the reduction of the territory of Sardinia and Sicily. Raising the water level by one centimeter will cause Italy to lose 24 thousand square kilometers of soil - they simply will go under water. On the other hand – the drought grows stronger. Risk areas in Italy have already carried 27% of its territory. Each year, the deterioration of lands, turns to the loss of 28 billion tons of agricultural crops [3].
The main actions in celebration of the World day of the fight against desertification and a drought of 2015 have taken place in the framework of the world exhibition "EXPO 2015" in Milan [4].
The Problem Of Venice. In 1501, when the Doge Agostino Barbarigo ruled the city, the Council of Ten decided that anyone who “dares damage the public dam, lay underground pipe to withdraw water or contrary to the plan to deepen and widen the channels… their right hand should be chopped out, pulled out the left eye and all their property should be confiscated”. Perhaps, it is worth regretting that this Decree doesn't remain in force until today. The main reason of subsidence of Venice is not rising in level of the waters of the Adriatic Sea, but intensive pumping out of groundwater for industrial needs.
In November 1996, the hurricane came from the gulf and the waves fell upon the defenseless city. The electricity, telephone network, gas supply went out of order. The waves swept away coastal defenses and water rushed into the first floors of buildings, into shops and stores, into the doors of the Cathedral of St. Mark. More than one and a half centuries ago Lord Byron has predicted a possibility of death of Venice as a result of a catastrophic flood. In fact, in November 1966 the city miraculously escaped that. Floods of smaller scales happen almost every year, and sometimes more often. The Piazza San Marco was covered by water two hundred and four times in 1981 [5].
The city has no industrial enterprises, there is no urban transport, except the “vaporetto” steamers. But in the city, there are neither gardens, nor parks as there is no land. On each piece of soil, in pots and boxes inhabitants grow up decorative bushes, grape vines and flowers. Each plant is on the account here. In the case of water lifting, immediately after people - with pets, along with money and valuables - the plants will be evacuated. Waves undermine the bases of houses and piles of embankments. The bottom of a lagoon rises, falls. The tides are inevitably rolled from the Adriatic Sea. Dampness perniciously affects works of art. In the eighties salty water almost chiseled the fragile base of the church of the Church of San Nicola dei Mendicoli, built in the XII century. The priests were forced to keep in the temple the boat in case of flooding – otherwise the clergy, and the congregation would suddenly find themselves in distress. Money was raised on a subscription to save this building, but there are hundreds of such marble palaces and cathedrals, whose basis for centuries thaws in opaque water of channels. However, it is impossible to build a dam that will block the tide the way into the city forever. The point is that systematic floods are not only disastrous, but also a benefit. Waves of Adriatic Sea purify water in channels. If water exchange is broken, water will begin to stagnate, blossom and decay [5].
It is a well-known fact that in Italy there are a large number of criminal groups. The territories of the main activities of such organizations are the southern regions of the country. Poverty and backwardness are the cornerstone of these criminal groups, but in recent years they have managed "to be modernized" and adapted to social and economic development of the state, having signed "the pact on coexistence" with some of his sectors (economy, finance, the political organizations etc.). Illegal construction in Italy and followed environment devastation are definitely connected with organized crime. After three years of continuous reduction the number of illegal buildings in Italy has exceeded a threshold in 30000, more precisely, it has made 30821 that is at 2544 more than in 2001, and corresponds to growth by 9%. This has led to illegal production of 4 204 380 sq.m of cement for the amount of 2102 million euros. The total area of new illegal structures has increased by 400000 sq.m compared to 2001, that can be compared with the more than 40 football pitches. The illegal trafficking of real estate also increased by 317 million euros. The figures for recent years by Cresme (the center of economic and social researches of the market of construction and real estate) on the basis of the data provided by the Institute of statistics and the Enel (Institute of production and distribution of electric energy) allow us to analyze a phenomenon of illegal construction in more detail. After the beginning of demolitions in 1999, we have witnessed fantastically positive result: cases of illegal construction have decreased by 2000 during the second semester of 1999 in comparison with 1998. In 2000, the reduction of illegal construction was 13.8% compared to 1999, that constitutes a "savings" in 4633 illegal buildings. But since 2001, as indicated by the "Report on ecomafia", the movement on decrease was halted in a decisive manner: only 2.3% less than in the previous year. At the moment, we are witnessing a real inversion of tendency. The reason of it it is obvious: it is about what Cresme very expressively calls effect of "release from obligations" in its report, or more precisely, a new amnesty act in the field of construction. To this is added the sense of impunity associated with the slowdown of demolition operations. The criminal organizations, as always, benefited by this new wave of illegal construction. There were concentrated 55% of illegal constructions in four regions with the traditional presence of the mafia, which are 16914 new illegal dwellings [5].
Italy is under the threat of massive illegal construction. The circulation of waste, in particular, of "special waste", that is industrial and medical by origin, plunges into the increasing chaos. It is proved by a number of the noticeable phenomena. Organized crime shows a great interest in moving waste to Campaigns, Calabria, Apulia and Sicily. The criminal organizations (not necessarily mafia) specializing in illicit waste trafficking are created throughout Italy, even in Lombardy and Umbria, despite the fact that these two areas aren't familiar with this phenomenon.
The circulation of waste in Italy is threatened by ecomafia; it was discovered as a result of the investigation conducted to this day on the basis of the Ronchi Decree which made evident the existence of these criminal organizations which illegally engaged in waste trafficking throughout the country. The data are impressive; on the basis of an aggregate analysis developed by Legambiente, which are made available to anyone who wants to have more detailed information about the Italian situation.
Legambiente has collected data presented in "The report on waste - 2002", published by the Office for Environmental Protection and Technical Services (APAT) and by the National Monitoring Committee for Waste (ONR) during the seminar held in October 2002. According to "The report on waste - 2002" the "special waste" produced in Italy in 1999, constitute 72,5 million tons from that 23 are wastes from construction and demolition, and 4 are hazardous wastes. According to "The annual report on recycling" the number of the "special waste" recycled in 1999 is 61,3 million tons. Simple arithmetic operation allows to conclude that 11,2 million tons of the dangerous and non-hazardous "special waste" in disappeared 1999 (in 1998 the quantity of the disappeared "special waste" represented 11,6 million tons) [6].
The Italian Government holds a proper ecological policy. In Italy the first environmental regulations were adopted due to the need to protect water quality, given its widespread use because as industrial wastewater discharges and contaminated water did not allow its reuse.
These include:
- Royal Decree of December 11, 1933, No. 1775 given in the Consolidated text of provisions of laws on water resources and the electric equipment.
- Royal Decree of July 27, 1934, No. 1265 included in the Consolidated text of sanitary laws.
- The Act No. 366 of March 20, 1941 included in Law number 366 of March 20, 1941, included in the Standards for the collection, transportation and processing of municipal waste [7].
- The Act of May 10, 1976, No. 319 (the so-called Merli Law) represents the first legislative intervention on environment protection against pollution of water resources. The value of this act is that the legislator introduces concept of control of dumping of the polluting substances into the Italian legal system and defines limits of concentration of these substances in water.
The new rules of water resources protection were imposed by the Decree of 11 may 1999, No. 152, which reflected provisions to protect water resources from pollution related to urban water reuse objects, and provisions to protect water resources against pollution caused by nitrates getting to the soil in the course of agricultural activity.
The adoption of these legislative measures was preceded by the decision of the decision of the European Court of Justice dated December 12, 1996, the case C-302/95, which criticized the Italian Republic for insufficient attention to the problems of water resources protection. Thus, with the adoption of the Decree 152/1999, Italy finally joined the implementation process of the European directives concerning the protection of water resources.
The Act of July 13, 1966, No. 615 was one of the first attempts of regulation in the field of protection of the atmosphere. (so-called Anti-Smog Act), which provides for measures against atmospheric pollution. This Act contains provisions on the use of the thermal, industrial and other equipment producing emissions of smoke, dust, gas and odors that can change normal quality of air and cause direct or indirect harm to health of citizens, and cause damage to public and private property.
According to this Act, air is a resource that requires to be protected. Under this Act the Ministry of Health created the Central commission against atmospheric pollution endowed with the rights:
a)to investigate any substance concerning atmospheric pollution;
b)to express their views on all issues relating to atmospheric pollution, introducing them to the public and private organizations;
c)To promote research and study of the air pollution problems.
Today the scope of this Act has been narrowed, it gets only consideration of the perspectives of atmospheric pollution and thermal equipment used in the production of heat for civil purposes.
One of the main normative acts regulating protection of the atmosphere is the Decree of the President of the Republic of May 24, 1988 No. 203. This Decree was issued in order to bring into effect the EEC directives 80/779, 82/884, 84/360 and 85/203 containing norms on air quality depending on the contaminants and concerning the pollution caused by the industrial equipment. The Decree also defines the core competence of State bodies, including local authorities.
In the early nineties due to serious problems connected with the processing of large volumes of waste produced in the territory of Italy, there was a need of modification of the legislation which then didn't meet the technical requirements of recovery and recycling of waste (e.g.; on the reuse of waste in subsequent production processes or in combustion processes for energy). Adoption of the Act No. 22 of February 5, 1997 became result of long work. This Act includes common European principles in the field of waste management and recycling.
The decree of the President of the Republic No. 915 "Implementation of directives of EEC No. 75/442, related to garbage, No. 76/403B relating to the processing of polychlorophenyls, and No. 78/319 relating to toxic and poisonous garbage" constitutes the first legislative attempt to regulate the subject of the waste recycling [7, P. 241].
Legislative regulation of waste resulted from the rapid industrial development of the Italian Republic and became an urgent measure for its time. This process also was influenced by the fact that Italy had repeatedly been condemned by the European Court because of the failed implementation of European directives into domestic law. The recycling efforts should be regulated through long-term programs of control from the state for avoidance of any damage and harm to both individuals and society as a whole. In addition, such activities should not affect the public interest.
References:
1.«The short story about Italy», http :// tuttaitalia.ru/paese/ storia, 10 November 2014.
2.Stepanenko V. S. Legal basis for the environmental policy of the European Union: the goals, principles and actions. M .: Publishing House of the NIA-Nature, REFIA, 2004. 123 pp.
3.Andrea Gentili « Italian Presidency: Priorities, Insights and Best Wishes » , 16 June 2014, 9 April 2015 | by Frank Markovic
4.Emiliano Alessandri, Nicole Koenig and Marco Siddi «Priorities and Challenges of the 2014 Italian EU Presidency». Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), Rome, Italy (2014), 34-38
5.The ecological problem of Italy,
6.Abrogato dal D. L.vo 4 agosto 1999 n. 351 (G.U. del 13.10.1999, n. 241).
7.Decreto Legislativo 7 marzo 2008, n. 50: Norme di attuazione dello Statuto speciale della regione autonoma Valle d'Aosta/Vallee d'Aoste in materia di dighe. (GUn. 81 del 5-4-2008)