News

Sinkhole in Rome in the Quadraro area

The Quadraro neighborhood is an area with numerous underground tunnels built in ancient Rome to extract building materials. Stefania Nisio ISPRA said: "Rome is among the cities most at risk of land sinking with 100 sinkholes every year; in 2018 alone there were more than 170 sinkholes in the capital".

Citizen science in the Aniene Valley Nature Reserve

As part of the City Nature Challenge, the international Citizen Science initiative which since 2016 allows citizens from all over the world to compete with each other to report the greatest number of data on biodiversity, the National Biodiversity Network is promoting a day of meeting between ISPRA experts and citizens at the Aniene Valley Nature Reserve.

Interpretation of subsurface investigations for seismic microzonation purposes

The Institute of Environmental Geology and Geoengineering of the CNR (CNR-IGAG) and ISPRA have stipulated a collaboration agreement aimed at the interpretation of the subsoil data collected by ISPRA within the framework of the Law of 4 August 1984 n. 464, to be able to classify them according to the Guidelines and Standards of computer representation and archiving (latest version 4.2) for Seismic Microzonation studies.

ISPRA’s participation in the activities of the EU projects MARINE SABRES and MARBEFES

From March 19 to 20 ISPRA was invited as a stakeholder to the workshop organized as part of 2 European projects funded by the research and innovation programme Horizon Europe: MARINE SABRES and MARBEFES concerning regulation and governance measures for the protection of the marine ecosystem.

The Birds of the Countryside

Birds, especially the common nesting species, represent excellent ecological indicators, thanks to some of their peculiar characteristics: they are animals sensitive to environmental changes, they are easily contactable especially during the reproductive period (when they show evident territorial behaviours, including singing), they allow the monitoring of habitats on a large scale and, occupying high levels of the food chain, reflect the changes also undergone by other taxa that occupy lower trophic levels.

Initial seminar of the A.M.MI.R.ARE project

The launch of the project focused on the resilience of beaches in the western Mediterranean area, will be held in Pisa on Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 March at the Headquarters of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, with the active involvement of the National Center for Characterization and Protection of the coast, marine climatology and operational oceanography of ISPRA.
The event aims to organize the project activities that have obtained funding from the INTERREG Italy-France Maritime programme.

Sea robot - The challenges of marine exploration

The documentary in English "Sea robot - The challenges of marine exploration" is now also available on the website of EuroGOOS, an association of national government agencies, research bodies and private companies involved in oceanography within the intergovernmental Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), of which ISPRA is part. The documentary recounts the technological progress of recent decades applied to marine research. New technologies have revealed the splendor and richness of deep ecosystems, allowing researchers to acquire valuable data and information for the study of these environments. In addition to the extreme richness and beauty of nature, the images also show the signs of human activities: mysterious wrecks, archaeological finds and, unfortunately, waste and abandoned fishing gear

World Water Day. In Italy in 2023 the availability of water will be reduced by 18% compared to the annual average calculated since 1951

Drought, record rainfall and floods. Better situation than in 2022

ISPRA analyzes on the availability of national water resources
The availability of water resources in the year 2023 confirms the negative trend recorded for several years in Italy, although as shown by the BIGBANG estimates (the national hydrological model created by ISPRA) it can be considered a year of recovery compared to 2022.

In Italy, the availability of water resources for the year 2023 is estimated at 112.4 billion cubic meters, compared to a total precipitation value of 279.1 billion cubic meters. However, during the year there was a certain recovery compared to 2022, the year in which the availability of water resources reached 67 billion cubic metres, the historic minimum since 1951 and corresponding to approximately 50% of the average annual availability (137 .8 billion cubic meters), calculated over the period 1951–2023.

The year 2023 recorded a nationwide reduction of approximately 18% in availability compared to the annual average of the same long period 1951–2023, the result of the combined effect of a rainfall deficit - especially in the months of February, March, September and December - and an increase in direct evaporation water volumes from bodies of water and from the ground.

ISPRA's IdroGEO platform awarded at the European Public Sector Award

The EPSA - European Public Sector Award 2023-2024 awards ceremony was held today in Maastricht. IdroGEO, ISPRA's national platform for consulting, sharing and downloading maps and data on hydrogeological instability, has received the "Good practice certificate" in the "Innovation in public administrations" category. EPSA is a European-wide awards program for public sector bodies, organized by the European Institute of Public Administration - EIPA.

IdroGeo

The European Environment Agency towards 2030

The President of ISPRA and SNPA Stefano Laporta participated today in the Management Board of the European Environment Agency - EEA, the European environmental agency.
Among the topics of the meeting are the objectives between the Management Board, Eionet National Focal Point and the Scientific Committee scheduled for Copenhagen on 12 June 2024.
The June meeting will represent the beginning of the process of reviewing the 2030 strategy of the European Environment Agency and EIONET, the European environmental information and observation network.
It will also be an opportunity to implement the involvement of different groups of stakeholders, as highlighted by President Laporta during his speech.