Baldo Community Opposes Proposed Protected Area Amid Legislative Dispute
The project for the Parco del Baldo is once again shelved, awaiting better times and more convincing proposals. The Environment and Public Works Commission of the Chamber of Deputies has in fact accepted an amendment presented by the Veronese deputy Alberto Giorgetti that removes the establishment of the Parco del Monte Baldo as a protected natural area from the draft law, which had been approved by the Senate in July of last year.
“The Commission vote demonstrated,” reports the deputy from Alleanza Nazionale, “that the arguments of the Greens and Senator Bortolotto, in support of the park’s establishment, were actually unfounded in light of the considerations emerging from the fact-finding investigation on protected areas.” Conducted in 1997 by Parliament, the research highlighted how the inclusion of new protected natural areas is not supported by adequate funding allocated at the national level. Therefore, Giorgetti adds, “the proposed modifications and integrations proved to be a real imposition of restrictions on the territories and local communities involved in the perimeter of the Park.”
Giorgetti’s opinions and the stance of local communities
Giorgetti claims that what has been achieved is “a success of Alleanza Nazionale, beneficial to the entire Baldo community.” The Veronese parliamentarian also points out that if the community truly wanted to establish a Park, “it should express this demand from the bottom up, in a true respect for the prerogatives and adequate territorial claims.”
Thus, the curtain falls again on the project initiated in the early 1970s based on an idea of the Wwf di Verona, but which, after a quarter of a century, seems not to have gained the approval of the local administrations and the Baldo Community. The idea of the park re-entered the spotlight last year after years of neglect and disinterest shown by the public administrators of the involved entities, when the Baldense area was considered a priority for a national park.
Concerns and oppositions to the park project
An upheaval triggered by a legislative bill with environmental provisions passed by the Senate and forwarded to the Chamber of Deputies for approval. The news was met with attention mixed with concern by the mountain community, worried that the law was being approved without a thorough understanding of the residents’ needs. There was a fear that the plan was “imposed from above and without funding,” “negatively affecting the local economy,” and consequently pushing to depopulate the mountains further.
In summary, the establishment of a national park with all its protective restrictions and limited benefits for residents. Concerns that are not shared by environmentalists and, in particular, by Legambiente, which has always believed that creating a mountain park would “act as a brake on depopulation and as a driving force for a venture in which many hope but that struggles to take off.”
Averardo Amadio, national advisor of the Wwf, has always believed that a protected area opens new opportunities for employment, especially for residents, and reminds us “that since the park aims to preserve natural and cultural heritage first and foremost, it is precisely these goals that trigger a long series of opportunities for residents.”
This difference of opinion remains lively, even if now, after the rejection ruling in favor of those wishing for a “top-down” park, the topic will be silenced for the time being. This is certainly not advantageous for the Mountain Community of Baldo and the interested local administrations, in terms of the area’s overall economy.