Long-term analysis (1863–2002) of environmental change in the Capo Feto area (Mediterranean sea)

The area of Capo Feto represents one of the few remaining salt-marshy zones in Sicily. It lies within a site of importance for the Community (defined as a “sito di importanza comunitaria” (SIC)), which also includes Margi Spanò and Margi Milo. The Capo Feto and Margi Spanò marshlands have also been identified by the Ministry for the Environment as an area deserving special protection (“zona a protezione speciale” (ZPS)). Moreover, in 1999, 150 ha of the Capo Feto area were included in a project for environmental rehabilitation as part of the European Union “Life-Nature 2000” programme (Comitato Tecnico-Scientifico Area di Capo Feto, 1997). Prior to this, the area had become somewhat degraded due to numerous natural and man-made changes that had profoundly modified and badly affected the environment over the previous decades. The aim of the present study was to define the main morphological and environmental changes that have occurred in the Capo Feto area over the last 150 years and to characterize the natural and anthropogenic factors that caused them (Perego, 1988). By means of surveys of the area, a comparative study of existing maps and an interpretation of a digital colour orthophotograph of 1998, this work was developed in a GIS environment and describes the Capo Feto environment and how it has changed with time, focusing particularly on variations in the shoreline and the marshy area (Zecchi et al., 2001).