Integrating Habitat Conservation with Amenity and Recreational Uses Along an Urban Stretch of the Adige River, Northern Italy - River Conservation and Management - page 325

Figure 28.2 Basins and watercourses where the Integrated Environmental Model approach was applied: (a) northern
Italy; (b) the River Adige basin; (c) the Sarno river basin.

measures and management procedures (Braioni
et al ., 2005, 2008a, 2009).

link in the natural, historical and environmental-
landscape network of the Campania Region of
southern Italy (Braioni et al ., 2002, 2005, 2008a,
b, 2009).

Study areas

Harmonizing nature
conservation and land use
along the River Adige corridor
in Verona

This IEM approach was used on several river
corridor systems in Italy, covering different
types of morphology, hydrology, landscape and
human impacts (Figure 28.2). This was done
as part of a programme of work to produce
a series of practical management reports and
plans. The IEM was applied to reaches on
selected rivers for three specific purposes: (i)
to develop river basin management plans ( sensu
Water Framework Directive (WFD); Council of the
European Communities, 2000) for 'water bodies'
representative of the River Adige in northern Italy
and also for the rivers Reno, Marecchia and Senio;
(ii) as a contribution to the Environmental Plan
for the rivers Cordevole and Valsorda, Valzanca,
Travignolo, Canali within the Dolomiti Bellunesi
National Park (north-east Italy) and the Regional
Park of Paneveggio-Pale di S. Martino (Trento,
northern Italy); (iii) as part of a plan to transform
a 'highly modified water body' ( sensu WFD) - the
Upper Sarno-Solofrana river system - into a pivotal

The River Adige and its corridor in the city
of Verona are ideally suited for the application
of an IEM approach to river management. The
water body is 25 km long and has a complicated
hydrological regime resulting from the pattern
of tributaries draining the surrounding hills and
channel diversions created for hydro-electric power
generation and irrigation (Figure 28.3).
The water body is at the node of an ecological
network where cultural history, nature and
landscape are inextricably linked. The River Adige
in Verona forms the central axis of the 'Green
System' (ecological network) that connects: (i) city
areas, with a rich variety of historic buildings
of different ages and their surrounding suburbs;
(ii) river habitats protected as part of the Natura