Habitat conservation in Italy: the state of the art in the light of the first European Red List of Terrestrial and Freshwater Habitats

The importance of taking into account ecosystems, plant communitiesand habitatsfor the development of biodiversity conservation strategies is increasingly acknowledged. Recently, the first ever European Red List of Habitatswas produced, which provided an evaluation of the extinction risk of EUNIS-based natural and semi-natural habitatsin Europe. As assessment unit, it used the habitatintended as a plant community, thus representing a landmark for the role of vegetation science in nature conservation. In the present paper, the results of the European Red List of Habitatsare analyzed at the national scale with specific reference to the terrestrial and freshwater habitattypes occurring in Italy. More than three-quarters of the assessed European habitattypes were recognized for the Italian territory. The distribution of the threat categories reflects approximately the situation at the EU28 level. About 35% of the assessed habitattypes are referred to a threat category; no critically endangered habitatis present in Italy. The most frequently used criteria are those related to a reduction in quantity. Some critical issues arising from the analyses are discussed. In particular, the presence of knowledge gaps is pointed out, with remarkable reference to the poor availability of spatial and quantitative data, severely affecting the application of the criteria adopted for the assessment. Descriptions of habitattypes from Italy are reported, some of which are representative, emblematic or even exclusive to the Italian territory. The outcomes of the analysis represent the starting point for the future development of a national-scale Red List of Habitats. Results also emphasized how habitattypes with a too broad definition pose a limit to a proper evaluation of the regional biogeographic variability, often very high in Italy, with local floristic and phytocoenotic peculiarities which do not find room in the adopted European typology. This is the reason why the development of national subtypes stands as a necessary step for the development of a realistic and effective assessment at the national scale.