Events and News

The 6th Report on the State of Natural Capital has been approved

The sixth Report on the State of Natural Capital has been definitively approved and submitted to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Economy. The Report contains useful information for the sustainable management and conservation of natural resources, providing an integrated annual report, both physical and monetary, on Natural Capital and promoting environmental accounting at the national level.

The purpose of the report is to highlight the role of Italian Natural Capital in the country's socioeconomic system, developing conceptual frameworks, improving knowledge, and refining models for measuring Natural Capital and the impacts of policies on it.

European toolkit for nature protection

The European Commission has developed practical support for teachers to guide students in their discovery of nature: biodiversity, species, habitats, ecosystems, and Europe's natural heritage.

The European Toolkit for Nature Protection is aimed at students aged 13 to 16 throughout the European Union and can be used in schools and non-formal educational settings, such as history museums or environmental education centers.

ISPRA joins the LIFE MAPPER Project

Guidelines for MAPping, ProtEcting, and Restoring Marine Ecosystems

LIFE MAPPER initiative seeks to consolidate current knowledge and best practices in marine habitat mapping and restoration

For the first time in Sicily, a Golden Eagle chick from a natural nest has been “tagged” for scientific purposes

The study of the interactions between the Bonelli’s Eagle and the Golden Eagle becomes a reality in Sicily and Sardinia thanks to satellite GPS transmitters placed on the raptors. A webcam, installed near the nest in the Nebrodi Park and constantly monitored by researchers, provides live streaming of the chick’s extraordinary life, publicly accessible online.

ISPRA is conducting research on the ecological interaction between the Golden Eagle and the Bonelli’s Eagle in the Mediterranean, within the framework of the LIFE Abilas project on the reintroduction of the Bonelli’s Eagle in Sardinia. The results of this study will make it possible to highlight possible differences in dispersal strategies and spatial distribution, as well as the potential areas of overlap between the two species, in order to develop the best conservation strategies.

Observe and report the flora and fauna around you even on holiday!

Participate in the "Biodiversity in Pose" initiative of the ISPRA National Biodiversity Network, dedicated to collecting and sharing observations of fauna, flora, and the natural environment made by citizens.

"Biodiversity in Posa" offers anyone interested the opportunity, through its connection to the iNaturalist app, to share reports of nature images taken by both professionals and amateurs with the Network at any time, thus providing a data entry channel.

Monk seal: good practices to recognize her

Best practices to follow if you spot a seal

If you spot a monk seal, it's important to immediately reduce any potential disturbance caused by human proximity.
If you're on a boat, reduce speed to a minimum and maintain a distance of 50 meters, without obstructing the animal's path and avoiding loud noises and shouting that could cause significant stress.
It's essential to immediately alert the Port Authority (call 1530).

To support scientific research, reporting and describing the sighting will be extremely helpful to ISPRA researchers by emailing focamonaca@isprambiente.it and/or sending a message to the Ispra Monk Seal Facebook page. Please also contact the Marine Protected Area closest to the sighting location to expedite the reporting process.

COP 15 on the RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands

Four Italian wetlands have been recognized as being of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.

The Conference of the Parties (COP15 Ramsar) is currently underway at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, to develop a new strategy for the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

The theme chosen for COP15 is "Protecting Wetlands for Our Common Future." The conference highlights the essential role that wetlands play in sustaining biodiversity, supporting climate resilience and water security, and thus supporting economic development and human well-being.

European pond turtle - Monitoring an endangered species

ISPRA monitors the European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) at the Presidential Estate of Castelporziano (Rome), a protected area of great value for its biodiversity. The European pond turtle is a native species classified as "critically endangered" in the IUCN Red List of Italian vertebrates (2022). Its population has drastically declined in Italy due to the degradation and disappearance of suitable aquatic habitats and competition with invasive alien species, such as the red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans).

The monk seal in the seas of Campania

What to do in case of sighting?
The event is organized as part of the Life Sea.Net Project coordinated by Legambiente. The ISPRA researchers together with the staff of the Marine Protected Area Regno di Nettuno and Punta Campanella will share curiosities about the monk seal and illustrate the best practices to follow in case of sighting of specimens in our seas.

ISPRA’s new oceanographic vessel: up to 4000 meters deep to overcome the challenge of climate change

On July 15, the ISPRA Major Oceanographic Vessel will be presented at the Chamber of Deputies: not just a new research infrastructure, but the concrete symbol of a collective commitment to the sea, to science, to future generations. The vessel represents one of the key interventions of the Marine Ecosystem Restoration Project (MER), the largest investment envisaged by the PNRR for the protection of the marine environment: 400 million euros intended to protect and restore fragile ecosystems, starting with those that are submerged, invisible and mostly unknown. A project of great national scope, with ISPRA as the implementing body and the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security as the titular administration.

Alien species in our seas

The Mediterranean Sea's biodiversity is constantly evolving, colonized by species expanding their ranges and arriving through natural corridors, such as the Strait of Gibraltar, and by non-native or alien species introduced by human activities or arriving through artificial corridors such as the Suez Canal. Some of these species can also pose a threat to human health, being toxic to eat or poisonous upon contact.

To help marine life recognize new species that can potentially be observed and fished in our seas, including those that pose a threat to human health, a brochure has been created, an updated version of the 2021 edition.

Any reports sent to researchers will also help monitor the distribution and spread of these species in our waters.

NbS Italy Hub Annual Meeting

The Annual Meeting of the NbS Italy Hub will be dedicated to territorial regeneration through Nature-based Solutions, with a special focus on the urban environment. The event will bring together different perspectives — from designers, entrepreneurs, researchers and public administrations — to explore how NbS can contribute to addressing major urban challenges, including climate change, air quality, economic and territorial regeneration, development of a production chain and a labor market linked to NbS, as well as the definition of specific regulations and standards.

Involving local communities in safeguarding ecosystems

Workshops and Citizen Science activities dedicated to local biodiversity

The National Biodiversity Network, in collaboration with the Castelli Romani Regional Park and the Naturalistic Civic Museum of Monti Prenestini, are promoting an event dedicated to the involvement of local communities in the protection of ecosystems. The initiative is divided into two days, the first includes a workshop in which the role of the Naturalistic Museum in the protection of biodiversity will be presented, the monitoring activities of species and habitats connected to the Natura 2000 Network and the initiative "Natural Path of the Parks" which also includes the area of ​​the Prenestini mountains. The results of some studies conducted at a local level on flora and fauna, the European Regulation on the restoration of Nature and the activities of the National Biodiversity Network will be presented. The second day includes a Citizen Science activity with a field trip.

The initiative represents an opportunity for scientific study and awareness, aimed at both local administrators and citizens, with the aim of promoting shared and responsible participation in the conservation of natural heritage.

Understanding and studying fauna: ISPRA meets local schools

As part of the 2024/25 Environmental Education and Sustainability Initiatives Program, more than 80 students from two schools in the province of Bologna were able to experience first-hand what it means to study fauna for the purposes of its management and conservation, participating in activities that simulate the monitoring and field recognition of terrestrial mammals, and exploring conservation genetics laboratories to discover how the study of DNA can contribute to understanding and safeguarding wild populations.

Conservation of Mediterranean Trout and its Habitat: Roadmap towards a National Action Plan

The Round Table includes a discussion with the bodies responsible for implementing the conservation measures for the Mediterranean Trout included in the Guidelines published in the ISPRA Manuals and Guidelines series (MLG 207/2024) in order to outline any critical issues in their implementation and define a road map for their implementation and a policy recommendation document to reach a National Plan for the management and conservation of the species and its habitat. In addition to the bodies responsible for implementing the guidelines, representatives of scientific, environmental and fishing associations, stakeholders and experts are invited to the meeting.

ISPRA and pollinators in "La Fuori Festival" - Science and Arts Festival

ISPRA is present with a stand on pollinators at La Fuori Festival, the Institute's researchers will explain how pollination works. It will be possible to watch videos and images to learn how to recognize bees, wasps and hornets and discover where they live.
It will be shown how a hive is made and how bees live inside the hive.

The good use of green and blue spaces for the promotion of health and well-being: the role of stakeholders

The territorial events for the dissemination of the PNRR-PNC project “The good use of Green and Blue spaces for the promotion of health and well-being”, funded by the Ministry of Health, continue. The next one will be held on June 19 in Rome, at the Forma Spazi Congress Center in via Cavour, where the activities concluded and those in progress will be presented, with the aim of continuing the dialogue with all the institutional actors involved and the interested stakeholders who have accompanied the activities since the first steps of the project.

Communicating ecology with science: the Pescasseroli Charter journey at the Montefiascone Integral Ecology Festival

In view of the next edition of the European Night of Researchers, which will take place on September 26 and 27 in various Italian and foreign cities, NET - scieNcE together, in collaboration with Stampa Romana and the Rocca dei Papi Association, continues its commitment to training and dissemination on the crucial themes of Italian science and research. On June 19 and 20, as part of the Festival of Integral Ecology that will take place in Montefiascone (VT) from June 19 to 22, two training days dedicated to science will be held.

The new video of the JoNeF project – “Joint Network for wild Fungi”, promoted and coordinated by ISPRA, to be launched at the IMPEL Nature Protection Expert Team meeting

We are pleased to announce the upcoming launch of the new video dedicated to JoNeF – Joint Network for wild Fungi, a project promoted and coordinated by ISPRA within the European IMPEL network. The video will be officially launched on 20 June 2025 during the Nature Protection Expert Team meeting.

Through field footage, interviews, and testimonials, the video shares JoNeF’s vision, the collaboration among experts and institutions from 19 European countries, and the joint commitment to placing fungi at the heart of nature conservation policies. It highlights the essential role of fungi in ecosystem health and the need for their full integration into environmental legal frameworks.

Press tour of the Life SeaNet project on the island of Montecristo

ISPRA participated today in the Press Tour of the Life Sea.Net project, which took place at the Site of Community Interest of the Island of Montecristo. During the tour, journalists were able to visit the site, learn more about topics regarding the management of Natura 2000 Sites and some of the activities carried out within the project.

The project Life Sea.Net coordinated by Legambiente and which benefits from the participation of ISPRA as the main scientific partner, it aims to improve the management of the marine sites of the Natura 2000 Network and to increase knowledge of the Network and its role in the conservation of marine biodiversity. To provide concrete contributions to improving management, ISPRA has created some operational tools during the project that are part of a real "toolkit" : Handbooks for monitoring species and habitats of Community interest (EU Directives 92/43/EEC and 09/147/CE) in Italy: marine environment and Manual for the application of Appropriate Assessment procedures in marine sites

Restoration Nature between Sustainability and Economy

Is it enough to protect Nature or do we really need the Nature Restoration Law? Our species has caused enormous damage to Natural Capital, using it beyond its possibilities and significantly altering 75% of the land and 66% of the seas. According to the IUCN, in the next 30 years we could lose half a million to a million species, with catastrophic consequences at the ecosystem level. So how should we proceed?

Green&Blue Festival 2025

“Let’s start from scratch. Numbers for the future of the planet” is the theme of this fourth edition. There is, in fact, only one way to address the climate crisis: rely on science. Three days of discussions, conferences, live shows, workshops, exhibits and think tanks to discuss, numbers in hand, the future of the planet. Numbers are the key element to photograph the current state of health of the Earth and, at the same time, to set the objectives necessary to guarantee a future for the planet and especially for its inhabitants.

World Environment Day 2025

The World Environment Day 2025 has been celebrated since 1972 and is the United Nations’ main vehicle for encouraging global awareness and action for the environment.
This year’s theme for World Environment Day is plastic pollution, which permeates every corner of the planet, even in our bodies in the form of microplastics. World Environment Day 2025 calls for collective action to tackle plastic pollution.
Drawing inspiration from nature and presenting concrete solutions, the campaign will encourage individuals, organizations, industries and governments to adopt sustainable practices that drive systemic change.

This year’s World Environment Day falls exactly two months before countries reconvene to continue negotiating a global treaty to end plastic pollution.

Every year, approximately 100,000 mammals and one million seabirds die due to entrapment in abandoned fishing nets or after ingesting the fragments they release into the sea. 86% of marine waste found on the seabed is attributable to fishing activities, with a clear prevalence of abandoned, lost or disused fishing lines, ropes and nets (ISPRA data). Ghost nets are therefore one of the most insidious forms of marine pollution.

For this reason, ISPRA, the implementing body of the PNRR MER project, has entrusted the economic operators Fondazione Marevivo, Castalia Consorzio Stabile and CoNISMa, the National Inter-University Consortium for Marine Sciences, in the “GhostNets” operation, with the recovery of fishing nets and gear abandoned or accidentally lost at sea.

Abandoned nets represent one of the most dangerous threats to the ecosystem, because when they settle on the seabed they become deadly traps for many living species. Their deterioration into tiny fragments also generates the release of microplastics that are ingested by animals and end up, consequently, in the food chain.

The meeting of the Multidisciplinary Scientific Advisory Group of Experts (MESAG) of the seventh edition of the Global Earth Outlook is underway in the Republic of Korea

From 2 to 6 June, the Authors and Multidisciplinary Scientific Advisory Group of Experts (MESAG) meeting of the seventh edition of the Global Earth Outlook (GEO-7) will be held at the Halla University Convention Center, on the island of Jeju-do, Republic of Korea.

GEO is the flagship report of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and provides a comprehensive assessment of the state and prospects of the global environment. UNEP is entrusted with study and operational functions, to provide technical assistance to developing countries, including in the field of environmental legislation.

The last edition, GEO-6, published in 2019, focused on the theme "Healthy Planet, Healthy People" and aimed to provide policy makers and society with potential solutions to achieve the environmental dimension of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (known as SDGs) of the United Nations Agenda for 2030.

Comparison on the implementation of the National Guidelines for the conservation of Mediterranean trout and its habitat

On May 29, a meeting planned by the LIFE STREAMS Project will take place at the headquarters of the Casentinesi Forests, Monte Falterona and Campigna National Park at the Park Visitor Center in Premilcuore (FC), to verify the implementation of the Guidelines for the conservation of Mediterranean trout and its habitat (Action C.5 - ISPRA Manuals and Guidelines 207/2024), in person or online.

Launch of the new video of the Network for the study of mycological diversity

On the occasion of the XII Scientific Committee of the Umbrian Mycological Association A.MI. (Foligno, May 30-June 2), the new video of the Ndm network, promoted by ISPRA to support the national census of macromycetes, will be officially presented.

The video describes the census initiative, together with the objectives and tools created by ISPRA for the involvement of mycologists, experts and institutions in the study and protection of fungal diversity in Italy.

Bio-AT – Biodiversity and scientific research in the Tuscan Archipelago

On the occasion of the celebrations that in the month of May put the Parks, biodiversity and the environment at the centre of national and international attention, the Tuscan Archipelago National Park is promoting an important scientific and institutional event: "bioAT - Biodiversity and scientific research in the Tuscan Archipelago", scheduled for 27 and 28 May at the headquarters of the Park Authority, in the Enfola area of ​​Portoferraio.

Italicus second edition

The wolf in Italy, between conservation and coexistence

Two round tables dedicated to the most fascinating and controversial Italian predator, a day to get to know it, exploring together with experts, breeders, professionals and Associations the many aspects that involve conservation and coexistence.

European Parks Day, 24 May 2025. Citizen Science Initiative at Castelli Romani Regional Park

On the occasion of the European Parks Day, May 24, 2025, the National Biodiversity Network participates and supports the Citizen Science initiative promoted by the Castelli Romani Regional Park Authority. The initiative aims to raise awareness among participants of the role that protected areas play in the management of territories for the purpose of conserving biodiversity. The topic of the main European and national regulatory instruments will be addressed - National Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and the European Regulation on nature restoration - and how much they recognize the importance of the active involvement of citizens and local communities. Park rangers and ISPRA experts will also illustrate the important contribution made by protected natural areas to nature conservation and the dangers represented by the fragmentation and degradation of natural habitats.

Urbe, volcanoes and mammoths: the metamorphoses of the ancient Appian Way

The Appia Antica, one of the most fascinating archaeological parks in the world, will be the narrative center of a trek led by university professors and researchers from ISPRA. The change in the landscape will be investigated with the help of zoology, geology and urban planning to account for the multiple perspectives from which the history of the Regina Viarum can be read.

On July 21, 2024, after a process lasting about 3 years, the Regina Viarum will be included in the places protected by UNESCO as a world heritage site. It joins the other 67 places recognized in Italy.

To celebrate this important recognition, ISPRA, as part of the NET European Night of Researchers project, will organize three scientific excursions led by researchers.