Ph: Andrea Carboni

In the Gulf of Oristano, between Cabras and Arborea, six of the nine protected wetlands in Sardinia still endure. These are ponds, marshes, and salt pans — key reservoirs of biodiversity and exceptional tools for absorbing climate-altering gases. However, any initiative to coordinate protective interventions has stalled for years despite the process of establishing Maristanis Park, which began back in 2017. This protective measure — now a lost opportunity — seems even more precious today. It would have allowed even the smallest municipalities to speak with one voice against speculative energy projects or to effectively limit pollutants found over the years in the rivers that feed the ponds.

Sale 'e Porcus, Cabras, Mistras, Pauli Maiori, S'Ena Arrubia, Corru S'Ittiri, San Giovanni, Marceddì: surrounding the Gulf of Oristano in coastal Sardinia lies one of the most essential and extensive wetlands in all of Italy, spanning over 140 kilometres of coastline and covering eleven municipalities. However, pollution and energy projects threaten the health of this territory, putting what remains after a century of land reclamation and the expansion of industrial agriculture at risk. With this in mind, in 2017, a proposal was made to create an agreement among local administrations to form an integrated park, fostering cooperation and centralizing the protection of the 7,705 hectares of wetlands in the area. Yet, the project never gained traction, and today, according to several experts, the stability of these wetlands is endangered by pollution from industrial zones. There are also plans to build wind or solar farms.

However, the need to protect such vital and fragile ecosystems by any means is not a recent realization. In 1971, the Ramsar Convention was signed in the Iranian city of the same name, establishing an international legal framework for the protection of wetlands. The agreement, now endorsed by 90 per cent of the world's countries, was joined by Italy in 1977. Of the 57 national sites identified and protected, nine are in Sardinia, and six are in the Gulf of Oristano.

These include ponds, marshes, salt pans, peat bogs, and diverse vegetation and wildlife, all forming a crucial reservoir of biodiversity. However, wetlands are not merely vast nature parks where people can wander and observe various bird species; they are also effective barriers against coastal erosion and help to enrich surrounding soils. These ecosystems play a crucial role in absorbing climate-altering gases, particularly CO₂. For this reason, their importance is widely acknowledged today, unlike in the mid-20th century when intensive agriculture, industrial fishing, and land reclamation projects began to damage and shrink them.

 

Eyes on 2027

Responsibility for water protection in Sardinia falls to Arpas, the regional environmental protection agency, which monitors all surface and groundwater on the island. The national goal, set by a 2000 European directive, is to achieve "good ecological and chemical status" of the waters by 2027. This goal is pursued through monitoring cycles (the current one runs from 2021 to 2027), but the most recent data, published in 2021, reveal significant concerns for the Oristano coast.

Although the pollutant analysis primarily focuses on watercourses, with monitoring of wetlands postponed to the current cycle, the rivers flowing into Ramsar sites work as indicators of the harmful substances threatening Oristano's wetlands.

The rivers between Arborea and Oristano carry pesticides used in agriculture, particularly herbicides like glyphosate and its breakdown product, aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA). Since 2020, Arpas has been collecting three samples a year and has detected concentrations of glyphosate and AMPA above legal limits in all the main watercourses flowing into Oristano's ponds. Only the Sitzerri stream, which originates in the Montevecchio area and flows through Guspini before feeding the San Giovanni pond, remains free from these contaminants.

Arpas has also detected active ingredients banned in Europe for several years, albeit in concentrations below legal limits. There is metolachlor, for example, a substance banned since 2003 and monitored in Sardinia since 2020. Arpas found concentrations within the limits in the Flumini Mannu of Pabillonis, the Tirso River, and the Riu Merd'e Cani. The latter flows into the Santa Giusta pond, carrying other substances such as Demeton-O, a chemical banned since 2009 and monitored four times each year since 2017. The Riu di Mare Foghe, which flows into the Cabras pond, contains Fenthion, an insecticide banned in 2007 and monitored in Sardinia since 2016. Arpas also found toluene, a paint solvent, in concentrations within legal limits in the Riu Merd'e Cani, Riu di Mare Foghe, and the Tirso River. Arpas also detected linuron in the Tirso, a herbicide banned in 2017 and monitored since 2020.

 

Visualizza a schermo intero

 

From rivers to drinking water

Agricultural substances can also contaminate groundwater or aquifers, which supply drinking water or irrigation. Arpas monitors the groundwater between the Marceddì lagoon and the S'Ena Arrubia pond four times a year. Of the 44 monitoring stations in the area, 11 analyze the presence of pesticides, and all have detected one or more substances. In Arborea, between 2015 and the first half of 2021, one station recorded concentrations above the threshold for Azinphos-methyl, a highly toxic insecticide banned in Europe since 2007.

 

Ph: Benedetta Pagni

 

In some cases, Arpas has recorded levels of pollutants above legal limits, such as glyphosate and difenoconazole, and banned pesticides like chlorpyrifos and linuron. Additionally, the groundwater below the Flumini Mannu of Pabillonis showed concentrations of metolachlor exceeding limits.

In addition to pesticides, Arpas has detected high average nitrate concentrations (≥40 mg/l) in the groundwater of Arborea, along with increasing levels near the Marceddì lagoon and the Corru S'Ittiri and Pauli Maiori ponds. High levels of nutrients like nitrates and phosphates can lead to algal blooms (eutrophication), which deplete oxygen levels in the water, causing mass die-offs of aquatic species. Last May, over 150 kilograms of dead fish surfaced in the S’Ena Arrubia pond. Arpas detected a severe oxygen deficiency but has yet to identify the causes.

 

Wind power obstacles

Along with threats from land and water, the air poses risks, particularly to bird species that inhabit the ponds and salt pans. Proposals for wind and solar farms have proliferated, potentially altering the landscape and affecting the habits of local avifauna. Lipu and BirdLife International have created a model to map the danger wind farms pose to 70 bird species most at risk of injury, death, or disruption of their migratory routes. Lipu's map clearly shows the area's sensitivity.

 

One of the sites Lipu focuses on is near Marrubiu, above the ponds, where there is a breeding area for the stone-curlew and the little bustard, which could be forced to coexist with a wind farm. Another project, near the towns of Seneghe and Narbolia, involves the installation of nine wind turbines, each 125 meters high at the hub and with a diameter of 170 meters, right in the middle of a major migratory route for large birds.

Lipu's mapping effort considered 70 bird species most affected by wind turbines, including the Egyptian vulture, bearded vulture, marsh harrier, and Bonelli's eagle. According to a statement opposing the Seneghe wind farm, Bonelli's eagle faces a particular "risk of collision with wind turbines and power lines" due to "its flight characteristics."

All of this is happening just a few kilometres from where the Maristanis Park was supposed to be created, an initiative launched in 2017 by the Medsea Foundation and co-financed by the Mava Foundation. This park was intended to create a single body coordinated by the Marine Protected Area "Peninsula of Sinis - Island of Mal di Ventre."

 

A missed opportunity

As mentioned, the ponds and lagoons of Oristano stretch across 11 municipalities, covering 7,705 hectares along the Gulf of Oristano, yet there is no coordinated management for protection efforts. Each municipality manages its territory, even though they share watercourses and wetlands. The Maristanis initiative was supposed to integrate these municipalities, from San Vero Milis to Arbus, to create a unified system for wetland protection.

In 2019, mayors signed a declaration of intent, preparing programs that outlined the planned protective actions. Finally, in 2021, a negotiated programming agreement was signed called the "Wetland-Coastal Marine Contract of the Oristano Area." However, three years later, integrated management is still nonexistent. Amid the boom of renewable energy infrastructure projects, the voice of Maristanis park — an entity that could have safeguarded the interests of the wetland system as a whole — is absent. The complex web of environmental regulations in Italy should primarily protect areas officially designated as natural, such as marine or regional parks. Some level of protection can also be extended to adjacent areas that could claim proximity-based safeguards.

"If the project initiated in 2017 to create a large regional park in the Gulf of Oristano had been completed, today even the smaller municipalities would have a unified voice and effective tools to protect the area from energy speculation," Alessio Satta, director of WWF Mediterranean and former director of Medsea during the Maristanis planning, explains. "The park could have promoted a model of economic development that enhances natural resources through ecotourism, organic farming, sustainable fishing, and other activities compatible with protecting these extraordinary ecosystems."

 

Ph: Andrea Carboni

 

"However, I am optimistic," the expert adds, "and I believe there is still an opportunity to create the regional park of coastal wetlands of international importance in Oristano. The timing is right, and most citizens know that the park represents an extraordinary opportunity for the future of this territory."

The mayor of Arborea, Manuela Pintus, explains that the project never took off because "the participatory process should have involved municipal technicians, as they know whether problems can arise from a project written in a certain way. However, this was not the case." According to the mayor, there is also a problem with human resources: "We lack professionals who are knowledgeable about hydraulic works or other wetland experts such as botanists or zoologists." It is unclear who should have identified these figures.

According to the mayor of Cabras, Andrea Abis, the Maristanis project "in theory could have protected those areas from energy speculation. However, launching the park authority and making it operational would take up to three years." The mayor adds, "In any case, the park authority would not have been able to block energy infrastructures. These projects would have followed the current authorization process." The mayor is one of the signatories of the Oristano wetlands contract. Still, he does not consider it a priority: "For this term, I prefer to focus on necessary projects such as the reclamation and dredging of the Cabras Lagoon. The Maristanis project is interesting but complicated to implement because it includes wetlands where fishing and agriculture take place, as well as archaeological sites and beaches." To plan conservation efforts, the mayor believes it is not necessary to establish a park authority, but still finds it helpful "to implement shared planning strategies among municipalities that share a water body."

 

 

 


Credits

We undertake this with support from various funders, including:

- The Climate Arena Fellowships 2023 supported by Arena for Journalism in Europe

- The "Environmental Journalism" program of the Journalism Fund, which we obtained with other European colleagues for an investigation in several countries during the first part of 2024

- The Data Journalism grant from SISSA in Trieste, that enabled us to work on data collection and experiment collaboratively with the Data Science research group, developing and applying remote sensing technologies and AI tools for satellite image analysis, in the last part of 2023 and the first half of 2024

Most of the articles in this series are published in Italian on Il Bo Live, the digital magazine edited by the University of Padova. We also collaborate with colleagues from independent publications such as Indip, an independent magazine based in Sardinia, where this episode coming from.

"Wasted Wetlands" will continue in the coming months and years.

And we will keep going as long as there are data to collect and stories to tell.

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