Events and News

Women geology in ISPRA

The activities of scientific research and environmental protection see women as protagonists, even if the numbers tell us a different story. In the occasion of International Day of Women and Girls in Science, promoted by UN, which is celebrated on 11 February, a photographic exhibition guides the discovery of the many activities carried out by ISPRA women geologists.
The initiative, promoted within the panGEA group - Geosciences without borders, aims to highlight the role of women in Geosciences, one of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines where gender equality and inclusion have yet to find a space for attention and concrete intervention.
The building of a network for the development of awareness-raising activities represents the first step towards greater attention to this issue.

Safe reconstruction: ISPRA will support the Central Apennine Basin Authority by providing technical and scientific support

The Extraordinary Commissioner for Earthquake Reconstruction 2016 Giovanni Legnini and the General Secretary of the Central Apennine District Basin Authority Erasmo D'Angelis signed on February 9 the cooperation agreement for the monitoring studies of 295 landslide areas affected by hydrogeological instability that are block in the reconstruction of various urban centers in the 138 municipalities of the 2016 earthquake crater.

Agreement signed between MIBACT and ISPRA for the enhancement of the Geological Collections

The 170 thousand finds in the “Quintino Sella” Museum of Italian Geopaleontology are once again available to the scientific community.
The agreement for the museum enhancement of the geological and historical collections of the Geological Survey of Italy was signed by the General Director of Museums of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, Massimo Osanna, and the  ISPRA DG, Alessandro Bratti.

The sustainability of the remediation

The control room and the extraordinary commissioner for remediation have signed a cooperation framework agreement to promote sustainability in the remediation of illegal landfills on the national territory and improving good remediation practices, with particular regard to the  well-being following the reclamation and safety work of landfills and contaminated sites.

Prevention systems and models of responsibility in the management of natural risks

The webinar, organized by the Law Department of Ferrara University and the Forense Chamber aims to analyze the scientific aspects of the natural risks and their regulations.

Soil4Life: training course for the soil protection

A training course with the professions for the sharing of voluntary guidelines
From Tuesday 9 February will be held a cycle of free training sessions will start, promoted by the Network of Technical Professions (RPT) in cooperation with the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU) of the Politecnico di Milano, ISPRA and Legambiente, to promote the sustainable use of soil as a strategic, limited and non-renewable resource.

Presentation of the volume "The sites of geological memory in the territory of Lazio", Descriptive Memories of the Geological Map of Italy, volume 106

At the conclusion of the cooperation agreement between ISPRA, the Lazio Region and the Metropolitan City of Roma Capitale, a monographic volume of the Descriptive Memories of the Geological Map of Italy was published and made available free online, that focus on: "The sites of geological memory in the territory of Lazio". The following volume aims to help keep alive the "geological memory" linked to the sites in the Lazio region. This objective was achieved through the census, the deepening and dissemination of knowledge of the "sites of geological memory" through a series of scientific articles that collect the description of the places, the geological events identified and the characters who contributed to spread interest in that place.

XI ReMi network meeting

The XI  ReMi meeting reserved for the members of the Network coordination committee will be held online next 21 December.

European rivers are fragmented by more than one million barriers

ISPRA has participated in a study on barriers on European rivers published in the magazine Nature
Europe's rivers are fragmented due to more than a million barriers (e.g. dams), according to an overall assessment published in Nature this week. The study includes the monitoring of more than 2,700 km of waterways, from which it can be assumed that the number of reefs in Europe is underestimated by 61%.

Hearing on the environmental impacts of mining

On Wednesday 16 December, in work of  the Ecomafia Commission there will be an hearing on the environmental impacts of mining that which also attended by the general director of ISPRA, Alessandro Bratti and an expert from the Institute.

World Soil Day 2020

Soil4Life - the essential is invisible to the eyes
World Soil Day is celebrated on 5 December, an anniversary that focuses on the important role of sustainable soil management and its state of health.
According to ISPRA data, in only seven years in Italy the degraded soil increased  by more than 70 sq km and land consumption growth at a rate of 2 sq m per second. In order to spread more awareness, ISPRA, within the Soil4life project, has produced a video to understand the importance of this fundamental resource, named "Soil matters!".

The Hydrogeological Map of Rome adopted among the geological management documents of the General Zoning Plan of the city

The administration of Roma Capitale has adopted the geological and hydrogeological maps, also produced by ISPRA in cooperation with other Bodies, which update the "Geolithological Map" and the "Hydrogeological Map" of the geological management documents G9 of the General Zoning Plan of Rome.

Presentation of the book: "Italy loses land. Land consumption and territory degradation"

On 4th December at 3.00 pm ISPRA presents the Volume "Italy loses Italy loses land. Land consumption and territory degradation" which shows the consequences of decades of land exploitation to the detriment of agricultural and natural areas.
Every year, in recent decades, ten thousand hectares of agricultural land are lost due to the pervasive invasion of cements, with the consequence of the devastation of millenary balances, the suppression of biodiversity, natural hydrological disasters and the increase of environmental pollution.
ISPRA, on the occasion of the presentation of the 2019 land consumption annual report, has invited Angelo Antolino to show the consequences of this myopia, trough with his exemplary project "Italian souvenir": a comparison between satellite images and photographs, an emblematic sampling of 'before' and 'after' in terms of artificial coverings on the national territory which plastically translates the urgency to change course. The volume aims to enclose the memory of the exhibition, offering a complete overview of images.

World Soil Day 2020, a Green Deal for the European soil

On the occasion of World Soil Day 2020 the partners of the European project Soil4life, co-financed by EU through the Life program, will organize an online webinar to debate on the soil consumption and conservation, considered one of the fundamental assets to contrast climate change.

New phase of CARG project

After almost 20 years, the project restarts with the aim to mapping the whole Italian territory. Thanks to the funding provided by the the Budget Law 160/2019, 15 million euros have been allocated for the period 2020-2022. A project started in 1989, which finally will continue to implement the geological cartography of Italy, now at 45% of the total coverage.

Imaginary and subsoil: communication and enhancement of mines

The soil: tools of knowledge and resource protection

Soil is an unlimited resource but can rapidly deteriorate. It must therefore be studied, managed and protected from unsustainable uses. The webinar aims to provide an insight into the state of this resource and the main potential threats, from consumption to climate change, as well as knowledge and management tools and initiatives.

REMBOOK - contaminated sites remediation, environmental recovery, contrast toland consumption, economic development

Presentation of the Report ReNDis 2020

Soil protection in 20 years of Ispra monitoring on the actions to mitigate the hydrological risks. 
The 23 November Ispra will present the Report Repertory of mitigation measures for National Soil Protection (Rendis) produced to illustrate the activities, the issues and the results achieved with the monitoring interventions that Ispra has been doing since 2000 on behalf of the Italian Minister of Environment, Land and Sea. 
The Workshop will also be an opportunity to compare opinions, experiences and proposals of the various institutional subjects who are involved in the planning, implementation and monitoring of interventions, and to analyze the future prospects and possible further areas to contrast, mitigate and prevent the hydrogeological risk.

Press release (ita)

Programme

Video

Rendis

Sixth day of Geology and History - Geological landscape and natural risks in the art history

The Department for the Geological Service of Italy - ISPRA, the SIGEA (Italian Society of Environmental Geology) and the Italian Geographic Society will organize a study day on "Geological landscapes and natural hazards in the art history". This event is the sixth of the "Study Days of Geology and History" cycle, appointments to analyze the state of knowledge concerning the importance of historical, artistic and cartographic sources for the study of geological phenomena and natural catastrophic events.

Soil protection: conservation and renaturalization

As part of the Biennale Tecnologia event, organized by the Politecnico di Torino, the online event "In the future will we eat cement? soil protection: conservation and renaturalization" will be held on 13 November. The ISPRA 2019 report places Turin among the cities where land consumption has stopped. This is the demonstration that it is possible to reverse the dynamics in Italy, one of the largest consumers of soil in the world and provides indications for starting good practices of renaturalization of the territories that seem compromised.

SiBaTer launches a mapping test on a sample of "pilot" Municipalities

Last 11 november the technical table promoted by SIBaTer (Institutional support to the bank for lands) to develop a mapping in progress for layers level of data concerning different territorial and environmental profiles of some pilot areas of 8 regions of South of Italy,

Geology and History Fifth day - The ancient cartographic representation of the territory and geomorphological processes

The Department for the Geological Service of Italy - ISPRA, the Italian Geographic Society and SIGEA (Italian Society of Environmental Geology) propose a day study on "The ancient cartographic representation of the territory and geomorphological processes". This day is the fifth of the cycle “Study Days of Geology and History”, events organized to present the current state of knowledge related to the importance of historical and cartographic sources for the study of geological phenomena and natural catastrophic events. 

panGea: geoscience without borders

Agreement signed between ISPRA and Union Energy for Mobility-unem

Ispra and Unem have signed an agreement of cooperation to promote environmental sustainability and technology innovation in the sector of remediation and ecosystem requalification. 
The collaborative activities will take place with the exchange of SNPA experiences and the oil sector for environmental sustainability, the joint experimentation in the field of new sampling or sustainable remediation technologies and common training activities on environmental protection.

Historical naturalistic walk in the Caffarella Valley

The scientific trekking of the NET Project and ScienzaInsieme will continue: waiting for the European Researchers' Night, ISPRA organizes a walk in the Caffarella Park, part of the Regional Park of Appia Antica. 
An example of Roman countryside within the city, where nature and ancient monuments coexist with agricultural activity and pastoralism

International Day for the risk reduction of Natural Disasters

Today is the International Day for the risk reduction of Natural Disasters, Ispra makes the  Idrogeo  App available for consultation and sharing of data and maps on hydrogeological damage.

Tor Caldara: an itinerary between geology, environment and history

Ispra, like the past years, will participate to the Planet Earth week, also promoting in the Natural Reserve or Tor Caldara (in the Anzio area), "an itinerary between geology, environment and history".

Ispra and land consumption, an online "Science Pill" at the National Geographic Festival of Sciences

What is land consumption and why it is urgent to combat to a phenomenon that, in the last year alone, has erased almost 60 km of natural and agricultural green areas inside and outside cities in Italy. An Ispra expert will explain this in a video produced for the “Science Pills” column of the National Geographic Festival of Sciences. In anticipation of the great event that will take place in Rome at the Auditorium Parco della Musica from 23 to 29 November, the Festival offers a series of web initiatives promoted by the main Italian research institutions. Ispra is a partner of the scientific network that collaborates in the organization of the Festival.

Bad weather in Northern Italy: Ispra data on hydrogeological instability

ISPRA certifies that over seven million Italians live in areas at risk of landslides and floods and almost 90% of the municipalities are involved. Even seven Italian regions have 100% of the municipal areas at risk of hydrogeological instability (Valle d'Aosta, Liguria, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Marche, Molise and Lucania), while the others reach the value 90%.