Protection and conservation of the coastal environment

The project envisages the protection of coastal habitats, through both the defence of the dune system from meteomarine and anthropogenic actions that cause its degradation (stabilisation of the foot and dune front and restoration of the continuity of the cordon), and the implementation of interventions that allow the development of the plant seriation characteristic of these ecosystems.
Specifically, the types of intervention will therefore be the following:
- interventions to protect the foot of the dune and to restore the morphological dune cord,
through naturalistic engineering techniques. In particular, use of interventions that offer mechanical resistance but, at the same time, integrate with the environment and the landscape: techniques called ''antedune cordon'', made with stacks of wood, using plant material from forest cutting operations and beached posidonia mixed with sand for morphological replenishment;
- interventions for the use and control of dune crossings, through the creation of structured accesses, installation of fences, closure of improper accesses, placement of information and prohibition signs, etc.;
- planting of shrub, tree and herbaceous psammophilous species;
- construction of a raised walkway that runs along the entire coastal ridge from the limit with the Municipality of Scicli to the limit with the Municipality of Pozzallo, in order to protect the existing dune ecosystems from trampling which is often the cause of impoverishment of habitats.
The restoration and strengthening of the dune must in fact tend to the development of an autochthonous dune vegetation with a well-developed root system, also able to resist erosive actions. To fully achieve this functionality, however, it is necessary to wait a few years (typically from 2 to 5 years, depending on the technique and site) for the established vegetation to create a robust and well-franked root system and a subsequent period (from 6 to 10 years) to reach maximum resistance against erosion and instability. The dune redevelopment aims at the reconstitution of a consolidated body through the implementation of integrated actions, which combine direct structural interventions on the dune with ancillary works, aimed at creating conditions for the correct use of the area, assisted by appropriate information on the naturalistic values, the project and the correct behavior of tourists and managers of the area.
The direct interventions of reconstitution, protection and growth of the dune are based on the use of naturalistic engineering techniques, which involve the nourishment of material (purely sandy), for the purposes of protection, aid to the young vegetation and dissuasion to human access and the insertion or facilitation of the spontaneous growth of native vegetation (herbaceous and shrubby) along the strip adjacent to the work. With this modality, therefore, both structural objectives and, at the same time, landscape-environmental improvement are pursued, in applications in sensitive and valuable natural contexts, such as coastal sand dunes, this type of intervention therefore responds to objectives of renaturalization and not only of soil protection.
Downstream of the naturalistic engineering interventions, camera traps will be used to monitor the specimens present, in order to monitor the state of health of the ecosystems.