A daunting survey about the management of environmental information in Italian ports

The environmental performance of shipping and port sectors have become increasingly important and now affect the reputation of the port areas and thus the social acceptability of their activities and development. Despite this commitment, the environmental information collected by the Port Authorities is rarely managed by geographic information systems. The paper presents data from a survey carried out on the Italian port authorities testifying a huge backwardness in the collection and organization of data, even in cases where an EMS is actually operating. This makes it impossible to use simple or complex decision support systems in the processes of spatial planning or strategic environmental assessment.