Wetlands are environments with high biological diversity that play very important roles for our planet: just to name a few, these areas absorb excess rainfall, stemming the risk of flooding, slowing down the onset of drought and minimizing the shortage of water as well as store large quantities of carbon, removing it from the atmosphere. In Italy there are 57 wetlands of international importance recognized and included in the list of the Ramsar Convention, distributed in 15 regions, for a total of 73,982 hectares; there are 9, however, those in the establishment phase: a total of 66 wetlands on the national territory.
However, the growing pressures on water bodies, both of an anthropogenic nature and caused by environmental changes, have led inland waters to become the most threatened biome on the planet, so much so that the loss of biodiversity linked to aquatic ecosystems is dramatically higher than that of terrestrial ecosystems.
Populations of freshwater vertebrates are decreasing at a rate more than double that of terrestrial and marine vertebrates, aggravated by the effects of climate change and by the increase in the use of water resources for agriculture, industry and energy production.
Among these, also the Mediterranean trout, whose conservation the STREAMS Guidelines are aimed at, is a species that is in a critical state of conservation (CR – www.iucn.it).
The Mediterranean trout represents a fundamental element of aquatic ecosystems due to its role at the top of the trophic networks of the Apennine and hilly watercourses with irregular flow, seasonally subject to periods of strong low water or sudden floods, and is subjected to the effects of multiple anthropic pressures, including the large inputs of alien trout, water abstractions, alterations and degradation of river habitats and climate change.
As part of our project, the “National Guidelines for the conservation of Mediterranean trout” were defined, the elaboration of which was coordinated by ISPRA in collaboration with the University of Perugia. These Guidelines will be presented and shared with bodies involved in the management and conservation of fish populations and rivers in meetings organized from April to June 2023, for the appropriate involvement of all the responsible actors and users of these environments and ecosystem services provided by them.