Conservation or development? An environmental function analysis assessment of the Volturno River coastal zone (central Tyrrhenian Sea - Italy)

This study allowed to identify several land-use conflicts in the Volturno River Coastal Zone area which extends for about 50 km2 on-land and seaward. The study area was analysed via Environmental Function Analysis involving assessment of specific environmental and socio-economic indicators. These were allocated scores from field surveys, interviews and extensive desktop studies, which included literature data and public territorial geo-databases. Normalised scores allowed production of a conservation/development matrix, enabling to evaluate the potential for conservation, development or conflict fields. The main conflicts were strictly related to urbanization, land reclamation and conservation of pristine areas with increasing anthropic pressure. The study site resulted to be in the conservation/development full conflict field of the matrix, signifying a tendency to high conflict rather than conservation as one might expect. This demonstrated that despite the strong attempt to preserve a pristine environment, the presence of different conflicts of use can hinder both the potential of development and the conservation of the area preventing either to take place. This important result leads to suggest that Environmental Function Analysis may be a potential tool for forthcoming adaptive management strategies in the study area.