THE "CARTA DELLA NATURA" MAPPING PROJECT IN THE SUPRAMONTE AREA (CENTRAL-EAST SARDINIA)

Since 1991, the Italian framework law on protected areas, has been calling for the editing of a national Nature Map, an instrument for the assessment of the state of the environment in Italy. The methodology applied in Sardinia is comparable with those applied in the other regions of Italy, with the necessary modifications, generalizations and integrations. Satellite imagery represents the fundamental informative layer to provide a synoptic view of the whole territory. In a second proceeding step, supervised classification is thematically enhanced by using logical niche models of species and habitats derived from assessed relationships between species-habitats known distributions patterns and available predictors, i.e. GIS thematic layers. This has resulted in the production of a habitat map with 24 habitat and land use classes. The environmental assessment procedure delivered four maps, the ecological value, the environmental sensitivity, the anthropic pressure and the land vulnerability (fragility). A reduction from 70 to 24 habitat/land use types, is coherent with the aims of the projects and planned deliverables. These 24 classes have been detected with semi-automatic procedures and with a high level of reliability. It is a reasonable compromise between thematic resolution and the possibility to record a synoptic view of the whole land in an acceptable lap of time. Various stakeholders will benefit from knowing the current condition of habitats distribution. Described deliverables are powerful tools for monitoring at regional level future land-use and habitat changes on a solid quantitative basis, for environmental conservation and habitat management.