(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 24 - Today we celebrate the European Day of Parks, which commemorates the date of establishment in Sweden of the first national park in Europe, May 24, 1909. In Italy the first national parks were established in 1922 with the Gran Paradiso and the Abruzzo Park.
In Italy, the system of protected natural areas currently consists of 24 National Parks, 133 Regional Parks, 147 State Natural Reserves, 30 Marine Protected Areas, over three hundred and sixty Regional Reserves, and a vast network of protected sites, most of which are part of the Natura2000 network of the EU. .
In our country we have 820 thousand hectares of woods and forest in parks, which perform fundamental ecosystem functions: among these the absorption of 145 million tons of CO2eq./year. In the National Parks alone, 1,700 research projects have been activated in the last 10 years, while on average 45 operations are carried out each year to reintroduce and repopulate endangered species.
With Covid and the lockdown, protected areas have also shown to be the most suitable places to rediscover the necessary psycho-physical balance, thanks to contact with nature.
Last year there was a peak of tourist presence, and the same seems to be looming for the next summer season.
"This year, like Federparchi, we have decided to host the European Day of Parks on the theme of breath, which wants to remember the close link between nature and health -, says Giampiero Sammuri, president of Federparchi, speaking today at the initiative of the Parco dell ' Alta Murgia -. Protected areas can and must play a fundamental role both for the psycho-physical recovery of people and for the economic recovery of territories and communities ". (HANDLE).