ENVIRONEMTAL AND TERRITORIAL STUDIES

In CO.T.IR. Ecology, Environment and Territory area territorial and environmental studies are carried out to know, represent, study and simulate natural processes linked to mankind’s activity. For this reason Informative Territorial Systems (SIT) have been used, which are instruments able to collect, register and display spatial and non spatial data, to transform them in information, to integrate different kinds of data, to analyse and model the phenomena that occur on the earth surface, and to supply decisional support.

SIT and models creation together with CO.T.IR. different skills (agronomic, chemical, hydro-geological, economic and information-skills) allow to:

- Describe territories in its geologic, pedological, geo-morphological and soil use aspects by reading air-pictures.

- Create genetic pedological maps and irrigation maps.

- Create land use maps through satellite data, which we can easily update to manage irrigation at consortium level.

- Control irrigation systems to quantify hydric availability, crop needs and their real uses in order to give appropriate information to rationalize hydric resources in irrigation;

- Control surface and deep water at basin scale to evaluate possible  supply of nitrate, phosphorus and sediments which can weigh upon environmental balance, to control the stratum movements during the seasons, to study saline ingression in the coastal strip, etc.;

- Evaluate soil erosion and soil losses by using USLE method;

- Evaluate territory changes to improve planning by introducing new indicators such as: environment protection, landscape respect, ecosystems safeguard and sustainable development. For this purpose our Center evaluates landscape evolution in the passing of time and quantifies it through specific indexes deriving from landscape ecology.

- Apply SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) hydrologic simulation model to compare the present situation of a basin according to different sceneries. For example there are conservative agriculture techniques, environmental management systems, climatic changes, soil different uses, etc.;

- Create “Land-improvement Co-operatives Classification and Sharing Contributions Plans”;

- Create and update Land-improvement Co-operatives irrigation network to optimize water management at consortium scale;

- Supply its scientific contribution to realize european projects which include the setting up of a European territorial infomation infrastructure (INSPIRE Policy);

- Implement territorial analysis and researches to study the possible introduction of bio-energetic crops to develope agri-bio-energetic chains.

The numerous information managed by SIT, also provided a valid support to realize COTIR initial  environmental analysis necessary to structure, implement and certify (BVQI n. 17621) its Environment Management System (UNI EN ISO 14001:2004).

The Environmental Analysis applied to our Center became a reference point for other environmental studies in order to enforce COTIR experience so it can provide other realities with an "environmental" tool.