S Italy Is a Contracting Party to All of the International Conventions a Threat to Some Wetland Ibas (Figure 3)
Important Bird Areas in Europe – Italy ■ ITALY FABIO CASALE, UMBERTO GALLO-ORSI AND VINCENZO RIZZI Gargano National Park (IBA 129), a mountainous promontory along the Adriatic coast important for breeding raptors and some open- country species. (PHOTO: ALBERTO NARDI/NHPA) GENERAL INTRODUCTION abandonment in marginal areas in recent years (ISTAT 1991). In the lowlands, agriculture is very intensive and devoted mainly to Italy covers a land area of 301,302 km² (including the large islands arable monoculture (maize, wheat and rice being the three major of Sicily and Sardinia), and in 1991 had a population of 56.7 million, crops), while in the hills and mountains traditional, and less resulting in an average density of c.188 persons per km² (ISTAT intensive agriculture is still practised although land abandonment 1991). Plains cover 23% of the country and are mainly concentrated is spreading. in the north (Po valley), along the coasts, and in the Puglia region, A total of 192 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) are listed in the while mountains and hilly areas cover 35% and 41% of the land present inventory (Table 1, Map 1), covering a total area of respectively. 46,270 km², equivalent to c.15% of the national land area. This The climate varies considerably with latitude. In the south it is compares with 140 IBAs identified in Italy in the previous pan- warm temperate, with almost no rain in summer, but the north is European IBA inventory (Grimmett and Jones 1989; LIPU 1992), cool temperate, often experiencing snow and freezing temperatures covering some 35,100 km².
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