In Italy, protected areas are not lacking. The problem is that even protected areas are not truly protected.

Rosario Balestrieri doesn't fool around with words. An ornithologist and researcher at the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station in Naples, Balestrieri is also highly active in science communication, serving as a consultant and expert for numerous conservation projects in Italy and abroad.

When we ask him whether the lack of protection around Lake Garda might be one of the reasons that allow construction and the development of infrastructure, even for tourism, to continue in an area that several scientific reports identify as fragile and under strain from multiple angles, he explains that the issue, in his view, is not just the absence of protection. Because, in reality, even in areas protected by various laws and directives, the situation is far from ideal.

"In many cases, protected areas, aside from a border drawn on a map, don't even have a managing authority. So, if you witness an environmental violation, you don't even clearly know who you should report it to," Balestrieri continues. "In Italy, most of the parks' funding is used to promote biodiversity, but only meant as agricultural products, DOPs and IGPs. In the average Italian park, biodiversity often revolves only around caciocavallo cheeses, mozzarella, and wines. The park has become a quality label for food and agricultural products."

The real issue, which emerged unequivocally when we began researching this story, is that biodiversity is in severe decline in many areas of Italy. A fact due to our past, marked by a model of development and land management that certainly did not support the conservation of a biodiverse and healthy environment. But also, unfortunately, to the present, which continues to see land consumption happening at a pace incompatible with the green commitments our institutions have made on paper: from the Birds directive with its Special Protection Areas (SPAs), to the Habitats directive that established the Natura 2000 network and the Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), up to the more recent European and national Biodiversity Strategies for 2030 and the Nature Restoration Law passed in 2024, which requires the drafting of national restoration plans by the end of 2026.

Losing nature is not an issue only for nature lovers. It means exposing our territories to multiple vulnerabilities. The loss of vegetation leads to land that heats up more, absorbs less CO₂, fails to retain water and becomes eroded, is poorer in biodiversity, and more easily invaded by alien species. It is, therefore, less productive and less healthy. In short, the loss of nature and biodiversity increases risks at the economic, social, and cultural levels. Because it is now well established that disconnection from nature also affects people's mental health. Conversely, a land that burns and suffers becomes a driver of eco-anxiety, a growing phenomenon that is especially prevalent among young people.

What seems to emerge from the way land is actually managed is that territory is seen, and must be seen, above all as a generator of economic growth, within a logic now widely recognised under the label of "extractive capitalism," which appears increasingly incompatible with the balance of the planet, our only home.

Green to Grey is an investigation we launched a year ago, together with 41 other journalists from 11 different countries. The work, initiated by Zander Venter, a researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Arena for Journalism in Europe, and the Norwegian public broadcaster (NRK), has brought to light the ongoing and very real loss of natural land across 39 countries in the European region.

The data as a whole are alarming, and they cast a very different light on all those commitments that, on paper, were made to steer at least Europe toward a model of development that is more respectful of the environment, and of our relationship with nature, which we continue to think of as something we are not part of.

La perdita di natura dal 2018 al 2023 identificata da Green to Grey

The focus of our specific story, as told in the first part of this investigation, is the lack of protection around the southern part of Lake Garda, both along the Veneto shore (except for a small stretch) and especially along the Lombardy shore, where a significant portion of tourism is concentrated between Sirmione and Desenzano. A lack of protection that, at least on paper, seems to give the green light to an unstoppable wave of construction. Buildings that include infrastructure projects that are marketed as part of a green and sustainable tourism strategy, while in reality continuing to strip the lake's shores, convert fields into residential complexes, and even build a suspended cycle path anchored to the cliffside rock.

What are the consequences for the ecosystem as a whole? Many, and difficult to describe with precise data, as systemic research is limited and not easily carried out. However, some clear and consistent clues do exist. Below are a few concrete examples we gathered through conversations with several experts.

The disappearance of shoreline ecosystems

“The percentage of intact riparian surface around the lake is extremely low. I would estimate it at less than 10%,” explains Osvaldo Negra, zoologist at MUSE, the Science Museum of Trento. "Transforming the remaining natural shoreline into tourist-accessible areas, such as sandy or pebbly beaches, basically means erasing every form of riparian ecosystem."

Both aquatic and terrestrial vegetation along the shores is being destroyed, severely undermining the ecological potential of the lake's coast. These areas are, in fact, critical breeding sites for terrestrial species that frequent the water to feed, such as waterbirds and small mammals. The first few meters of the water zone, where sunlight still penetrates, also host many aquatic species, including plants, animals, and microorganisms, as well as those that typically live farther from the shore.

The health of the lake’s waters is monitored by the regional environmental agencies (ARPA), which primarily measure safety based on the presence or absence of two bacterial species, Escherichia coli and Enterococci, as indicators of faecal contamination, through sampling at various coastal points. According to the data available on the Italian Ministry of Health’s water portal, except for a couple of days in late August, when temporary swimming bans were issued around Desenzano, the waters have consistently been deemed suitable for bathing.

Overall, biological and chemical indicators don’t show major problems, apart from the presence of invasive alien species, such as the quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis), which is raising concern due to its impact on native species.

Legambiente’s Goletta dei Laghi also conducted its annual monitoring campaign this summer, identifying four points of heavy pollution along the Lombard coast near the municipality of Desenzano.

According to Paolo Zanollo, WWF representative in Brescia, the health of Lake Garda is far from thriving. In a lengthy video call in late July, he first and foremost pointed to the issue of fragile and outdated sewage infrastructure: “There is no complete separation in the sewage system,” he said. “Wastewater treatment has been stalled for 20 years. It needed to be expanded and upgraded, but since the sewage system is underground and invisible, the preference has been to invest in squares and promenades.”

Zanollo also reported that to make space for lakefront walkways, reeds (canneti), zones of high ecological value and theoretically protected, have been cut down in the Sirmione area. The WWF filed a formal complaint over the matter earlier this summer:

 “We need to be very careful,” Zanollo warned, “because there are projects for new lakefront walkways that could further destroy reed beds in the area.”

“The increasing number of visitors and recreational activities around the lake obviously has an impact,” added Osvaldo Negra when we spoke to him in early summer. “And it’s no longer just windsurfing or sailing. There’s a whole range of new activities now spread across the entire lake zone.”

There are, however, some positive exceptions: a few luxury hotels have restored large stretches of shoreline, likely more for aesthetic than environmental reasons, by recreating natural parks. In these areas, vegetation has flourished, and nesting birds have returned.

Even preserving small patches of renaturalised coastline between tourist infrastructures could help reduce biodiversity loss. Vegetation, in fact, is more resilient to human disturbance and tends to recover relatively quickly. Animals, however, are more sensitive: they perceive close human presence as a threat to their safety, and when their natural habitat is altered, especially during the peak of tourist season, they often leave, sometimes permanently. This is exactly what’s happening on the cliff areas.

Not exactly sustainable: cycling paths and climbing routes

Lake Garda has become a paradise for a type of tourism often described as nature-friendly, as it relies primarily on the natural features of the landscape, like the wind and rugged terrain. Cycle tourism, for instance, is widely considered a highly sustainable activity. But, as shown in the first part of this investigation, the decision to build a cantilevered cycle path onto the mountain is at the very least questionable. It fails to respect the delicate balance of the rocky cliffs.

There is, however, another activity rapidly growing on these cliffs: rock climbing.

“In the 1980s, locals climbed the first rock wall, opening the way for many other climbing enthusiasts,” reads the GardaTrentino website. Since then, "the climbing world gathers here season after season," on the western Trentino shore of the lake, in the municipality of Arco, a sort of paradise on earth for climbers. The page ends with a cheerful call to action: "Grab your chalk and aim high!" A call that has been embraced by an ever-growing number of enthusiasts, drawn by a climbing offer considered unique for its quality and variety of routes, ranging from very challenging to beginner-friendly, allowing for outdoor climbing for most of the year.

It’s right here, near Arco, that every October the Rock Master takes place: Italy's most significant climbing event, which attracts the elite of international climbing. The competition features duels and contests between athletes, along with many side events for the public. Judging by past editions, it's no longer a niche event for a handful of passionate climbers. It has become a full-fledged mass happening.

And that's precisely the issue: these places are drawing more and more people, leading to the opening of new climbing routes, which gradually erode the natural state of the environment. "Every new cliff that gets opened becomes a place where naturalness is slowly erased," explains Osvaldo Negra. "For example, ivy is removed. Climbers don't like ivy because it makes the rock damp. And so, even sports considered ecological end up slowly and irreversibly transforming the territory."

The removal of ivy and the year-round presence of climbers disturb bird species that used to nest on the cliffs. These are mainly birds of prey, such as the Eurasian hobby, the black kite, the short-toed snake eagle, and the peregrine falcon, as well as other species like the common swift, the pallid swift, and the alpine swift.

These are, therefore, sensitive areas. Osvaldo Negra suggests that climbers may not even be aware of it. There are already existing legal tools that could be used, for example, a municipal order could temporarily restrict access to cliffs during the nesting season of a bird colony. However, this type of action is often unwelcome to tourism operators, and municipalities tend to avoid enforcing such restrictions.

What vision?

Ultimately, as our interviewees repeated, beyond the tools that may or may not exist, may or may not be enforced to protect the lake, the real issue comes down to awareness of the risk and the willingness (or lack thereof) to safeguard such a precious and unique asset as the entire lake ecosystem. If pushed to the point of collapse, there is a serious risk of ruining the very economic development that depends on it.

It’s the classic story of short-term gain versus a long-term development vision that doesn’t destroy the very resource it relies on.

So far, the institutional response has been lukewarm, based on the scattered statements of a few mayors and local councillors calling for more control over tourist inflows and, consequently, over the exploitation of the lake. Nothing concrete or effective, for now.

That’s why a proposal coming from parts of civil society around the lake is particularly striking—a far more radical idea: granting Lake Garda its own legal personality. A status that would give the lake full legal rights, making the current level of exploitation much harder to justify or continue.

But that’s the story we’ll tell you in the next episode.

Credits

Green to Grey is an investigative data journalism project initiated by Arena for Journalism in Europe and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, NRK. This is a cross-border collaboration between De Standaard (Belgium), Le Monde (France), Long Play (Finland), Die Zeit (Germany), Reporters United (Greece), FACTA (Italy), NRK (Norway), Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland), Datadista (Spain), The Black Sea (Turkey), and The Guardian (UK). 

Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) provided scientific expertise for the project. 

The complete methodology is described by Léopold Salzenstein (Arena) and Zander Venter (NINA).

This investigation is supported by Journalismfund Europe and IJ4EU Investigative Journalism for Europe.

For all published stories, including those from other partners in the investigative consortium, go to: greentogrey.eu