Map of Nature of Friuli Venezia Giulia ed. 2007

The Framework Law for Protected Natural Areas (L. 394/91) introduced into the general process of planning and evaluating the territory a new instrument, the Nature Charter, whose objectives can be summarised as follows:1. provide an up-to-date and dynamic representation of the ecological-naturalistic heritage of the national territory, not only of the Protected Areas (Parks, Reserves, etc.), but also of all those elements of diffuse nature that, although outside the Protected Areas and, even more so, surrounded by anthropised structures, they nevertheless play a strategic role in the maintenance and management of the Protected Areas;2. to provide the basic and essential knowledge for the identification and evaluation of areas at risk, i.e. subject to natural degradation or excessive anthropogenic pressure;3. to provide the necessary knowledge bases for the identification of the spatial planning lines, in order to balance the needs of the conservation of environmental values with the needs of socio-economic development.Ispra, Istituto Superiore per la Ricerca e l protezione ambientale (exAPAT), he supervised the organisation and experimental implementation of Nature Charter at scales 1:250,000 and 1:50,000 for some portions of the national territory that involved also Friuli Venezia Giulia.With a specific project curated by the Central Directorate for Environment and Public Works — EIA Service and carried out by the University of Trieste (Department of Biology) in collaboration with the University of Parma (Department of Environmental Sciences) the Nature Charter was created at the scale of 1:50,000 for the entire regional territory, to satisfy also the need to know the ecological status and criticalities of the regional territory for carrying out the institutional activity of Environmental Impact Assessment under Regional Law 43/90. The results of the project are therefore a fundamental information tool of ecological knowledge of the regional territory, useful in the environmental assessment, planning and programming of policies for the conservation, protection and management of natural resources. The Nature Charter consists of the following information layers, realised through the application of different methodological paths:1. the habitat map on the scale 1:50,000;2. the estimate of ecological value (environmental quality);3. the estimation of ecological sensitivity;4. the estimation of anthropogenic pressure;5. the estimation of environmental fragility (territorial vulnerability).The Habitats Charter constitutes the cartography of territorial areas (biotopes) homogeneous at the chosen scale of analysis. It is produced using a national standard legend developed for the allocation of habitats to the corresponding Corine Biotopes codes (European Community Habitats Handbook, EUR 12587/3, Commission of European Community, 1991). In this map each “polygon” map represents a biotope to which is attributed a Corine Biotopes code that identifies its habitat.The data have been structured in a territorial information system. The cartography was carried out through an integrated process of elaboration, interpretation and classification of satellite images — obtained mainly with the LandsatTM satellite sensor — and the application of niche ecological models, developed for