Why in Trieste?

Trieste is a city which developed at the foot of an arid limestone plateau called the Carso, which, as far back as the end of the 18th Century, witnessed the birth of research on management of fresh water, a fundamental resource for the rural and urban economy.
After the first studies, which focussed mainly on the large rivers in Carso, the importance of minor wetlands, which had always been preserved and managed by shepherds and farmers in the Venezia Giulia region, began to be recognized at the beginning of the 20th Century.

In 1965, the first organic study of the ponds of Classic Carso began, with the publication in 1969 of the first classificationn of small wetlands in the Province of Trieste, which was published by the Trieste Natural History Museum with the explicit aim of management and conservation of these ecosystems. So, exactly 40 years ago, the first European study group on the protection of minor wetlands was founded in Trieste. In 1974, this led to the first restoration of a pond with the sole aim of protecting its biodiversity.

Scientific research and conservation activities have continued throughout the past 40 years and in 1990, SCHOOL-ENVIRONMENT, a programme dedicated to education and divulgation on minor wetland protection was devised, aimed at all categories of student in the Trieste area.

In 2000 in Trieste, the Group of Pond and Wetlands Wardens was formed. To date, apart from supporting the Trieste Civic Natural History Museum in its continuous study and research on fresh water, it has carried out more than 200 interventions to build, restore, clean and manage wetlands in the whole of Friuli Venezia Giulia, as well as several interventions in Slovenia and Croatia. All of these must be added to the hundreds of lessons, conferences and educational activities for students and citizens ranging from nursery school age to pensioners.

Thanks also to collaboration with the Regional Natural Reserve "Foci dell'Isonzo" (Gorizia), Trieste therefore represents the only reference point for this kind of activity in Friuli Venezia Giulia, as well as being one of the pilot centres internationally for wetland management, and this is the natural place to hold this first international friendly meeting on the management and conservation of small wetlands.