The Directorate-General for the Environment of the European Commission, last June, revoked the infringement procedure against Italy for six illegal landfills, following the intervention of the single commissioner for remediation. In 2014, Brussels condemned Rome for the presence of around 200 illegal spill sites spread across 18 regions, of which 14 containing hazardous waste. Unfortunately, a partial census. The presence of illegal landfills, especially in non-urban areas, is a plague that does not spare any area of the Peninsula and the mapping requires constant updating.
Many associations, from Legambiente to the Estonian Let’s Do It !, and many local administrations have equipped themselves with apps to approach and raise awareness among citizens, encouraging them to report the presence of illegal landfills and request the rapid intervention of the bodies in charge.
The Gaia Observer app, from landfills to endangered species
For some years now, Legambiente has been promoting Gaia Observer, an app and related platform that allow you to collect georeferenced information on the environment to report, with photos, text and position, illegal landfills, fires, poaching activities io. In addition, thanks to the Animal Ecosportello it is possible to access information relating to the local fauna and to have useful contacts for rescuing injured or distressed domestic or wild animals.
«We decided to create a multi-user and multi-service app – explains Antonino Morabito, national head of fauna and animal welfare of Legambiente – precisely to improve the results obtained and allow institutions and other associations to benefit from different functions, gathered in a single tool. Ispra and Federparchi, for example, use it for the national wolf monitoring, some Regions for the reporting of threatened animal species. The report of illegal landfills was the first function implemented and, today, it remains the most used in Campania, Sicily and Calabria ».
Other apps
The app works even where there is no field, it records the information and then shares it with the relevant bodies. Furthermore, it allows you to report and memorize plants and animals encountered during excursions, like a real Nature Diary, indicating the position, GPS coordinates and any presence in a protected area.