The role of Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) for sustainable Coastal Tourism

The sustainability concept, for any human activity, implies the need to harmonize the protection of the environment with a satisfactory development of the economy and of the society as a whole. This is particularly true for tourism development for which a misuse of the natural resources can cause a degradation of the touristic appeal of the destination, bringing at last to its economic decline. It is therefore necessary to pursue an optimum use of natural resources, minimizing the ecological, cultural and social impacts and maximizing the benefits for the local communities. This problem is particularly important in coastal tourism destinations, because of the fragility of the coastal ecosystem to receive and absorb the pressure posed by large numbers of tourists in relatively small areas. Implementing an Environment Management System in the competent Local Authority can be a mean to improve the knowledge of the local environmental problems and to progress towards these objectives. In this paper the main steps and problems encountered in applying the EMAS procedure to the municipality of Cervia, a well known tourist destination located on the Adriatic coast of the Emilia Romagna region, are described. In the studied area, an heavy presence of tourists during the summer season, which multiplies by ten the residential population, coexists with important protected natural areas, where an old saltwork (827 ha) has now been joined to a National Park area (Parco del Delta del Po) and included in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance. The Environmental Review, recently concluded, showed that the main environmental pressures in the summer season are related to production of wastes, water consumption and emissions of the treated wastewater; other disturbances, such as pollution and noise, deriving from the summer increase of the road traffic, should not be underestimated. The specific pressures exerted by tourism on the protected natural areas have been investigated too. In this study the possibility to find adequate solutions to manage specific touristic flows interested in visiting the natural area without creating disturb to its delicate ecosystem has been examined. The pertinent results and lessons learned are presented and discussed.