Italian Ministry of the Environment and the Protection of the Territory and the Sea - Department for the defense of the Territory and of the hydro resources
The Italian Ministry of Environment (Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare) is structured into several departments, which are then organized into smaller operational units called Directorates (Direzioni).
The Department for the Environmental Values of the Territory (Dipartimento per l'assetto dei valori ambientali del territorio), Directorate for the Territory Protection (Direzione per la Difesa del Suolo), is involved in the following activities that are relevant to the hydro-geological risks:
Support to the Ministry for the definition, planning of policy and enforcement regarding soil conservation.
Together with other authorities, they provide leadership and co-ordination regarding soil conservation;
On behalf of the Ministry they participate to technical committees of the regional and inter-regional watershed authorities. Similar activities are also carried out for the technical committee of the national watershed authorities (NAdB).
Together with the department of natural resources conservation (Dipartimento per la protezione ambientale), they draft guidelines and strategies for the good order of the Italian territory. This is done by putting in perspective the natural and environmental values, the soil conservation priorities, the impact of major infrastructures and of significant changes in land use.
Co-ordination for a standardised adoption of cartographic system.
Technical expertise regarding environmental matters in the Italian legal context.
Planning and financing of soil conservation actions.
Guidelines for the collection and conversion into digital format of official cartographic material.
Formulation of standards to regulate the operational aspects among different entities of the public sector, which deal with the environment.
Outcomes evaluation regarding the execution of plans, programs and projects at national level and regarding soil conservation.
Boundary delimitation of national and inter-regional hydro-graphic basins
Determination of the criteria, methods and standards to grant safety conditions for humans, and conservation of land and related goods
Most of these actions are still subject of full implementation. These actions represent the first step for the formulation of a national database in support of the definition of standards and guidelines to grant safety conditions.
