Sara Bianchi, Massimiliano Costa, Po Delta Biosphere Reserve, Cultural and Natural Water Heritage, Italy Venice, 16-17 December 2021 Overall responsibility for the views and opinions expressed in the slides is taken by the authors

1. MAB-IHP RegionalSymposium
ManagingWater Resources in Biosphere Reserves in
South East Europe and the Mediterranean
16-17 December 2021
Venice (Italy)
Po Delta Biosphere Reserve
Cultural and NaturalWater Heritage

2. Po Delta Biosphere Reserve
www.biosferadeltapo.org ufficiomab@parcodeltapo.org
The Po Delta is one of the
most important wetlands in
Europe
It has 7 river branches on a surface
of over 700 km2, including:
• 160 km2 of fishing lagoons,
natural lagoons and sandbars;
• 123 km2 of fossil dunes and
ancient river beds.
The “active” Delta is growing
almost 70 mt every year.

3. Po Delta Biosphere Reserve
www.biosferadeltapo.org ufficiomab@parcodeltapo.org
Po Delta Biosphere Reserve since 2015…
The Core areas - 10% 13,495 ha
Are the most important and representative
areas for the environmental aspects of the
Delta. (3 Ramsar sites; Natura 2000 sites);
The Buffer areas – 40% 55,281 ha
act as a filter to the most protected Core
including Sites of Community Interest
(SCI), Special Protection Areas (SPA) under
the Natura 2000 network, and Areas of
environmental and landscape interest;
2 PARKS
2 REGIONS
2 PROVINCES
16 MUNICIPALITIES
The Transition areas - 50% 70,622 ha
are suited to develop activities for the improvement of the economic, social and general welfare of local
communities, for experimentation and dissemination of a sustainable development model.

4. Po Delta Biosphere Reserve
www.biosferadeltapo.org ufficiomab@parcodeltapo.org
A biodiversity world hot spot
With more than 50 species of
inland fish and nearly 300 marine
species and with 400 bird species
reported in the last 50 years, the
Po Delta is an area of ​​great global
importance for these two animal
groups.
In addition, there are many
endemic species of plants, fish,
amphibians, which contribute to
raising the value of the natural
heritage of the Biosphere Reserve.
The Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) nests in the
Valli di Comacchio with more than 3.000 pairs.

5. Po Delta Biosphere Reserve
www.biosferadeltapo.org ufficiomab@parcodeltapo.org
A thousand-year history ...
The Po Delta has been occupied by
man since prehistoric times. The
long attendance has left
extraordinary archaeological and
historical evidence: Etruscan,
Roman, Byzantine, from the Middle
Age or the Renaissance period
(due to the proximity to Venice and
the Ferrara of the Estensi).
The daily struggle for life in the
wetlands has also given rise to
crafts, knowledge, landscape, a rich
ethnography.
Interior of the Pomposa Abbey (9th century).

6. Po Delta Biosphere Reserve
www.biosferadeltapo.org ufficiomab@parcodeltapo.org
UNESCO welcomed on 15 June 2018, through a
specific "resolution” adopted by the International
Hydrological Program (IHP) Intergovernmental
Council, the creation of The Water Museums
Global Network (WAMU-NET), an Italian project
born in 2017 thanks to the collaboration between
the International Center for Civilization of Water
ONLUS, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the
UNESCO Regional Office for Science and Culture in
Europe of Venice.
The WAMU-NET currently involves over 60
museums and research centers in various parts of
the world with a potential pool of over 5 million
users. Many countries are interested in developing a
"consciousness" of water to ensure a sustainable
future especially for the younger generations, in line
with the objectives of the new United Nations
Development Agenda.
Water Museums are giving value to the wealth and
uniqueness of the priceless "hydraulic" heritage of
our countries, a heritage of culture and knowledge
that constitutes a fundamental resource to face the
challenges in the hydrological sector and in
management of the water resources that the
international community is called today to deal
with.

7. Po Delta Biosphere Reserve
www.biosferadeltapo.org ufficiomab@parcodeltapo.org
The Po Delta water museum
Po Delta is part of the project Water
Museum of Venice and member of the
WAMU-NET as a “scattered water
museum” including 30 different sites as
public repositories of our fluid heritage -
from technologies to artefacts, from
science to the arts.
To protect traditions and memories –
whether material or immaterial – is
fundamental to the Po Delta existence
and necessary to
address the next global water
challenges.

8. Po Delta Biosphere Reserve
www.biosferadeltapo.org ufficiomab@parcodeltapo.org
Land of Water, Land in Water. The
Po River Delta and Venice.
Po Delta has been presented to the EU
Commission by the Ministero della
Transizione Ecologica for the European
Heritage Label.
The thematic site links 4 archaeological
museums, which even in their specificity
and despite their differences, they are
united by their belonging to a territory
in which the element of water built
civilisations, and continues to permit
encounters, trades and cultural
exchange. This new district involves
different universities, both Italian and
foreign ones collaborating with it,
increasing the development and the
research potential of the area.

9. Po Delta Biosphere Reserve
www.biosferadeltapo.org ufficiomab@parcodeltapo.org
A scuola di Mare e Biodiversità su
Goletta Verde
The project Teaching the Sea and the
Biodiversity aboard «Goletta Verde» aims
to create a qualified center for
environment education focused on sea
and biodiversity.
The ancient schooner Catholica - Goletta
Verde (famous for the green fights of
Legambiente) will host a laboratory for
analysis and monitoring activities for the
health of Adriatic sea and the species
Caretta caretta and Tursiops truncates.
The goal is to permit younger generations
to achieve awareness on the extraordinary
value of the territory.

10. Po Delta Biosphere Reserve
www.biosferadeltapo.org ufficiomab@parcodeltapo.org
LIFE Eel
LIFEEL is the first conservation
project of the European Eel
(Anguilla anguilla) conceived at the
scale of the entire Po River basin.
Aimed at maintaining and
increasing the natural stock of the
Eel, responding to the threats
affecting the species
(fragmentation of the water
network, pressure of fishing on
spawners or juveniles), with a
shared, participatory and in some
cases extremely innovative
approach.
The European Eel (Anguilla anguilla) is an emblem of the
extraordinary fish fauna of the Po Delta.

11. Po Delta Biosphere Reserve
www.biosferadeltapo.org ufficiomab@parcodeltapo.org
LIFE Transfer
The TRANSFER project aims to
improve the conservation status of
habitat 1150* due to seagrass
regression:
- transplanting submerged
phanerogams;
- achieving a good ecological state
of transitional water;
- quantifying the value of
ecosystem services provided by
the lagoons and the seagrass
meadows.
The Beaked Tasselweed (Ruppia maritima) it is one of the
most important elements of the seagrass beds in the lagoons.

12. Po Delta Biosphere Reserve
www.biosferadeltapo.org ufficiomab@parcodeltapo.org
The daily management of the
Valli di Comacchio
The Park manages 8,000 hectares
of the Comacchio Valleys for the
conservation of the natural
heritage and the landscape,
sustainable fishing and tourism.
We preserve the saltmarsh
ecosystem and the water
circulation system, including the
maintenance of buildings,
hydraulic artifacts, embankments
and canals, the reloading of the
islets for the nesting of birds.
Aerial view of the Valli di Comacchio, the largest brackish
marsh in Italy and one of the largest in Europe (125 Kmq).

13. Po Delta Biosphere Reserve
www.biosferadeltapo.org ufficiomab@parcodeltapo.org
The Manifattura dei Marinati
The long local tradition of fishing
and processing of eel is still alive
and is told in the documentation
center of the Manifattura dei
Marinati, which tells the story that
binds the Po Delta, Comacchio and
this extraordinary fish and where
the marinated eel is still produced
in the old factory.
Not far away, the extraordinary
Museo del Delta Antico tells the
millennia of human history in the
territory of the Biosphere Reserve.
The cooking in the coals of holm oak, one of the stages in the
processing of the traditional Comacchio marinated eel.

14. Thank you for your attention!
www.biosferadeltapo.org ufficiomab@parcodeltapo.org