Mount Etna

The World Heritage nomination was developed through a participatory process and was widely supported by a wide range of stakeholders (IUCN, 2013). The participatory process, involving local people and stakeholders, is constantly implemented through public audits with associations, universities, citizens, schools, also on specific UNESCO's Man and Biosphere Programme (MAB) themes. The governance and decision-making is open to scrutiny, territorial plans and regulations are available on the Mount Etna Park’s website. Also available on the websites are results of undertaken studies, such as a tourism flow monitoring analysis. The Park obtained a state funding from MIBACT (Tourism, Cultural and Environment Heritage Ministry) to implement the project entitled “Strengthening management capacity of the Mount Etna UNESCO Site”, including participatory initiatives to finalize and update the Management Plan.

The site includes part of the Regional Nature Park “Parco dell’Etna” established in 1987 by the Decree of the President of the Sicilian Regional Autonomy which provides for adequate protection for the key values of the site. 77% of the site also overlap with Natura 2000 sites (World Heritage Committee, 2013). The Mount Etna Management Plan (including all 13 Natura 2000 sites inside its boundary) was approved in 2016 (D.D.G. of Environment Department n° 783 dated 24/10/2016).

The governance framework is clear and the role of every partner is clearly explained and detailed in the updated Management Plan (Ruggieri et al., 2020a; 2020b).

The current Management Plan summarizes the current regional and local planning documents affecting the World Heritage site (Ruggieri et al., 2020a). Coordination between different national and regional institutions could be improved. At the time of inscription the World Heritage Committee requested the State Party to “coordinate regional and national authorities to maintain and strengthen their support to the property, to further increase the management capacity of the property” (World Heritage Committee, 2013). In 2017, a project aimed to strengthen the management capacity of the property was funded by the Italian government through UNESCO-Italy (Law 77).

The boundaries of the site are clearly defined and include the site’s key geological values which are the basis for its inscription (IUCN, 2013).

No overlap

As the site was inscribed on the World Heritage list in 2013, the World Heritage Committee made a number of recommendations, including review and updating of the management plan, enhancement of visitor facilities and promotion of existing education, monitoring and research activities (World Heritage Committee, 2013). The above-mentioned MIBACT project, "Strengthening management capacity of the Mont Etna UNESCO site" addressed and complied with the World Heritage Committee recommendation, both to strengthen staff technical capacity, and to review and implement the Management Plan. Moreover, many tourism facilities have been restored within the buffer zone towards ensuring that the outstanding geological features are not adversely impacted by increasing tourism pressures, as requested by the World Heritage Committee.

No information

The management of the site is coordinated by the public agency Ente Parco dell’Etna – the management authority of the Etna Regional Nature Park (IUCN, 2013), also through the external involvement of the INGV (National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology), Catania University, Regional Department for Rural and Territorial Development. The park’s Executive Committee, a technical body, is in charge of decisions concerning the park’s budget, administration and management. The park director leads the day-to-day administration and management of Etna Park (IUCN, 2013). The main instrument for the management of the protected area is the triennial park territorial plan and related regulations (IUCN, 2013). The Park obtained a state funding from MIBACT (Tourism, Cultural and Environment Heritage Ministry) to implement the project entitled “Strengthening management capacity of the Mount Etna UNESCO Site”, to finalize and update the Management Plan of the World Heritage site, completed in 2020 (Ruggieri et al., 2020a, 2020b). The Plan identifies values, management objectives (following SMART approach), future management outcomes and threats of the World Heritage site, and consists of a long-term management plan (lasting 25 years) with foreseen mid- and short-term Intervention Programmes (lasting 15 and 5 years respectively). The Plan also envisages a permanent collaboration with another UNESCO site (identified suitable partner: Teide National Park) to enhance World Heritage site management. The collaboration should take form as a 3-year evaluation with exchange of experiences and field visits, but has not been established yet.

Data deficient

The management authority Ente Parco dell’Etna receives its core funding from the Sicilian Regional Authority. Other sources of funding include the Italian State and the European Union. Self-financing mechanisms are currently being explored (Ruggieri et al., 2020b). The IUCN Evaluation report noted that “additional financial and technical support is needed for example to improve the environmental education and ecotourism facilities in the property, and tourism facilities in the buffer zone and wider park area” (IUCN, 2013). There is no new information to what extent this has been secured.

The management authority Ente Parco dell’Etna has 23 staff members. Despite the planned recruitment of additional 6 staff members, the management authority clearly remains understaffed for the adopted Performance plan requiring 65 staff members (Parco dell’Etna, 2024), especially since the number of staff reduced in recent years (Parco dell’Etna, 2022, 2024). Although previously onsite management presence had limited expert staff capacity in the fields of volcanology and ecology (IUCN, 2013), the park has now recruited an expert in geomorphology.

The IUCN Evaluation Report (2013) noted that environmental education could be enhanced with additional financial and technical support. In the recent years, interpretation programmes have been enhanced, including through the production of maps with paths, both in English and Italian, the creation of “UNESCO Parco dell’Etna” website, accessible in Italian English and French, the creation of an App communicating the main values of the site, and the production of didactical paths. School projects and arrangement of didactical material are promoted, but limited due to insufficient fundings (Parco dell’Etna, 2022). The current Management Plan outlined a number of project activities to be implemented, such as the production of a multilingual tourist handbook and the establishment of a “World Heritage Site Monte Etna Day” (Ruggieri et al., 2020b).

Tourism facilities, including environmental education programmes were noted to require some improvement at the time of inscription (IUCN, 2013). Low levels of safety have been noted in some caves, where surveillance is deemed to be necessary both for site conservation and visitors’ protection (Ruggieri et al., 2020a). In recent years, efforts to restore many of the tourism facilities have been undertaken. Interventions entailed new signage/signposts improving information for the visitors, and improvements in the interconnection between the key points for hiking and existing/accessible refuges/huts. An improvement of the network of hiking trails is ongoing (Parco dell’Etna, 2024). A study on tourist flows carried out by the Park Authority, jointly with the University of Catania, found that the UNESCO inscription has had a significant positive impact, both in terms of tourist number and international visibility. The current Management Plan addresses the identified weaknesses in transport, seasonality of tertiary activities, submerged tourism, fragmentation in manufacturing and agriculture and lack of adequate communication tools for the promotion of the area, especially for cultural and historical sites (Ruggieri et al., 2020a). The Plan foresees the set-up of an active collaboration to increase the visitor experience by including training courses for environmental education and to encourage the widespread presence of ecotourism facilities in the buffer zones.

Over time, the Park has adopted measures and initiatives to encourage the sustainable use within and outside the site. The current Management Plan addresses sustainable use specifically in terms of fostering awareness and use of energy from renewable sources (Ruggieri et al., 2020b). The Park has agricultural land used for experimental activities for the conservation, characterization, evaluation and promotion of herbaceous crops for reintroduction into agricultural practice in the protected area of the Park (Parco dell’Etna, 2024). In addition, the Etna Park is encouraging the sustainable use in the local communities for the preservation of biodiversity and the safeguarding of local historical, cultural and production traditions. For instance, the Park established the Mark “Marchio collettivo Parco dell’Etna” to promote and support the productions/activities/services that are carried out within the Park and that share the objectives of respecting the environmental and landscape resources present in the area (Parco dell’Etna, 2024).

There is a large network of monitoring stations and remote sensors to monitor and analyze the volcano’s activity level. Data are also being collected on beech and pine forest areas and on tourism pressure (IUCN, 2013). The Management Plan foresees, in addition to monitoring and control, the identification of values, both regarding geological and volcanological aspects. This activity is also associated with of the attempt to encourage the exchange of management experiences and the promotion of scientific and educational opportunities between the World Heritage sites of Etna and that of the Aeolian Islands (Ruggieri et al., 2020b). Ecological monitoring efforts have been expanded in response to the Committee decision at the time of inscription. In 2017, an agreement between the Italian Academy of Forestry Science and Mount Etna Park Authority was established, which aims to undertake an assessment of EU Habitats Directive type 91AA* (Eastern white oak wood). Furthermore, a project entitled “Study on biology and eco-ethology of wildcat in the Regional Park of Etna, and implementation of a conservation plan” has recently been completed, which supported the evaluation process to recognise wildcat in the Habitat Directive Annex II. Other projects in 2017 include a research project to monitor golden eagle, Sicilian rock partridge, wild rabbit and wildcat conservation inside Etna Park area. Additional ongoing monitoring projects on other themes include tourist flow, of Grotta del gelo (iced lava caved within the property), the state of preservation of the hiking trails, etc.

Several research activities are ongoing and involve local and international organizations (IUCN, 2013). During the last years, research activities authorized have mainly concerned: classification in mycology various activity in the botanic garden "Nuova Guissonea", beech forest, birch population monitoring. Volcanic research continues at this iconic volcano, including studies of radon (Falsaperla et al., 2018), carbon dioxide (Salem et al., 2019), and characteristics of volcanic ash (Polacci et al., 2019), and remote sensing (Laiolo et al., 2019). The Park Authority in collaboration with partners has carried out research on tourism flow, waste reduction, and monitoring activity on wildcat, partridge and golden eagle populations (Ruggieri et al. 2020a, 2020b)

Protection and management outside site are mostly effective. Additional financial and technical support could help improve visitor facilities and environmental education programmes further. Existing monitoring and research activities also need to be sustained in the long term, while many efforts have been done to this aim in the recent years.

The IUCN Evaluation report (2013) noted that the current levels of staffing and funding were adequate, however, they “may be short of the levels required as World Heritage Site”. The Operative Plan of the World Heritage site for 2016 was implemented by local staff through the involvement of an expert geomorphologist following successfully securing funding (IUCN Consultation, 2017). Nevertheless, sustainable finance and staff capacity remains an issue, although the current management plan has contributed to improved education and interpretation and tourist facilities.