THE PROTECTION OF POSIDONIA OCEANICA (L.) DELILE AND THE MANAGEMENT OF ITS BEACH-CAST LEAVES. THE ITALIAN JURIDICAL FRAMEWORK.

The work aims at reconstructing the complex network of rules that, also due to the implementation of obligations accepted at the international and european level, our legal system sets up for the protection of Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile in the sea and for the management of the beach-cast leaves ashore, highlighting the many unsolved, highly problematic knots. For what concerns the protection in the sea, the laws protecting Posidonia as a species and as a habitat can only apply to clearly defined areas, outside of which the protection needs must be weighed against the other interests at stake – chiefly those related to the economic and social development. As for the management of beach-cast Posidonia, the few interventions of the state legislator have left over the years a fragmentary and lacking legislative framework, the lacunae of which have been filled by ministerial circulars and guidelines, in a substitute operation that, however valuable, has made even more evident the need of a specific discipline. The Regions as well have intervened on the subject matter, not only by means of circulars, guidelines and alike, but also through laws. It is the case of the Region of Sardinia, which, with regional law no.1/2020, has tried to introduce some rules aiming at giving priority to on-site preservation or recovery. However, many of these rules did not overcome the scrutiny of the Constitutional Court (Judgment no.86 of 2021). The latest addition to this framework is Article 5 of Law no.60/2022, the so-called Legge Salvamare (Sea-saving Law), which, once again, appears still far from providing the long-coveted, well-structured rules.