Wetlands are precious reservoirs of biodiversity with a significant ecosystem function, as they contribute to strengthening the territory resilience against the effects of climate change.
The coastal wetlands of the Mediterranean area, characterized by a hot and dry summer, can be faced by an increase in the water and soil salinity, which jeopardizes their conservation.
Agriculture, whose growing pressure contributed to weakening the equilibrium of these habitats, is now called upon to intervene in their protection and enhancement. The historical coexistence between rural areas and wetlands should evolve into a virtuous integration that encourages, on the one hand, the agriculture boosting and, on the other, the safeguard of such natural zones.
It was in this context that the LIFE AGROWETLANDS II project was born, with the aim to contrast the agricultural wetlands salinization through a new, innovative and technological approach.
The project LIFE AGROWETLANDS II aims to counteract the soil degradation and the wetlands natural ecosystems alteration through a targeted and efficient management of the water resources (precision farming).
The project provides for the implementation of a smart irrigation management system - SMART AGROWETLAND - that, by a monitoring of soil, groundwater and channel water parameters, will formulate irrigation recommendations to support the farmers’ decisions.
This system will be tested on a area located in the Ravenna province (Italy), close to the Northern coast of the Adriatic Sea. The area, widely cultivated, is affected by problems of soil and groundwater salinization, due to the origins by sediments of brackish logoons and by the ingression of sea water in the sandy aquifer. The experimental area is surrounded by two Stations of the Regional Park of the Po Delta, included in the Natura 2000 network and listed in the Ramsar Wetlands Convention (Iran, 1971).
Hence, a concrete contribution to the implementation of the European "Soil Thematic Strategy" and "Water Framework Directive" will be offered through the precision farming approach of this project.
The LIFE AGROWETLANDS II project aims to:
Implement a decision support system (DSS) to help farmers to adopt the most adequate irrigation schedule for a sustainable water and soil salinity management;
Improve the productivity of medium/high salt tolerance crops;
Mitigate the soil salinity;
Reduce the water use for crop production;
Optimize the operational costs of a field sensor networks;
Apply the site-specific approach of the precision agriculture, reducing the environmental impact of the agricultural practices, even on the surrounding natural and semi-natural habitats.