Land consumption in 2022 grew by 77
square kilometres or 10% over the previous year to reach a total
of over 21,500 square kilometres or 7.25% of the Italian
territory net of rivers and lakes, according to the the 2023
report 'Land consumption, territorial dynamics and ecosystem
services' released by the Higher Institute for Environmental
Protection and Research ISPRA on Wednesday.
This was the equivalent of 2.4 square metres of new artificial
land cover per second.
Most of the new land consumption in 2022 was concentrated in the
northern Po Valley, in the Lombardy and Veneto regions and along
the Via Emilia, and along the entire Adriatic coast,
particularly along some parts of the Romagna, Marche and Puglia
coastlines, the report said.
Between 2006 and 2022, the hidden cost resulting from the loss
of ecosystem services due to land consumption amounted to nine
billion euro per year.
The increase of artificial land cover impacted agriculture in
particular, with the loss of 4,800 hectares of arable land.
ISPRA said 13% of total new land consumption in 2022 occurred in
areas of medium hydraulic risk and that over 35% occurred in
areas of high or very high seismic risk and 7.5% in areas at
risk of landslides.
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