Identification of landscapes for drafting Natura 2000 network Management Plans: A case study in Sicily

Article 6 of the Habitats Directive provides appropriate Management Plans (MPs) for Natura 2000 network sites which comply with ecological requirements. In Sicily, between 2000 and 2006,58 Management Plans were drawn up involving 219/233 regional sites. These drafts had to refer to regional directives, drawing on European Union and national guidelines. They require knowledge and intervention not only with reference to aspects of site biology, but also to landscape components. Landscapes should be described 'considering them as the synthesis of physical, biological, historical and cultural characteristics'. This work presents the results of a method proposed by ECOVAST (European Council for the Village and Small Town), based on a visual cognitive analysis for identifying landscapes which was tested while drafting the Natura 2000 site MP 'Torre Manfria, Biviere of Gela and seafront area' on Sicily's southern coast. The work consists of: drafting thematic maps for preliminary territorial analysis; producing a layout of routes from which the landscape was observed: identifying Landscape Units and filling analysis and assessment charts; drafting final results. The results show that the adapted ECOVAST method for the cognitive phase of the MP provided a satisfactory level of information about the landscape as expressed in the European Landscape Convention, the main reference for European Union states. The defined landscape Units and their relative characteristics provided support for geographically referencing the 'management actions'. Adapting the ECOVAST method helped identify the landscape as having an explicit role in the ELC within a plan type which subordinates protecting the landscape. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.