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THE ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM OF SARDINIA

Coastal conservation areas

Is Mortorius
Regional Agency Conservatoria delle Coste della Sardegna was founded with Article 16 of the regional law, 29th May 2007, no2. Its aims are the safeguard and stewardship of coastal ecosystems, and integrated coastal management duties of areas with scenic and environmental importance.

More specifically, the functions of the agency include the acquisition and management of assets explicitly mentioned in the same founding law:

• The exercising of the right to preemption for sales of the land and buildings listed in Article 4 of the 29th May 1967 law, no 379, and the free of charge acquisition of buildings in Article 11 of the 30th April 1976 law, no 386 concerning assets within 2km of the coast;
The assets covered by preemption and free of charge acquisition are those allocated by the farming land reform regulations or, more precisely, the properties of agricultural development bodies. In essence, the agency's use of preemption and free of charge acquisition has replaced that of the agricultural development bodies

• The appropriation and acquisition of built assets of environmental, scenic and cultural quality is in order to retain their safeguard and conservation;
Conservatoria, following a mandate from the Regional Council, can acquire private coastal buildings that retain specific scenic and environmental importance

• The exercising of regional expertise in maritime and coastal property matters on state-owned lands immediately overlooking coastal conservation areas and their individual assets;
The assigning of these functions is supported from the need to standardise and coordinate the use of skills in maritime property management themes, in cases where heritage assets immediately overlooking the coastal strip become the property of or are entrusted to Conservatoria. This implies a partial skills transfer from the regional offices dealing with property and heritage.

• The exercising of the powers delegated to the region under articles 60, 61, 62, 106 and 115 of the 22nd January 2004 legislative decree, no 42, for cultural built heritage assets that fall within the conservation areas entrusted to it
This function allows Conservatoria to act on behalf of the region, exercising the right to preemption as specified in the Urban Code regulations concerning assets identified in that same Code and that fall within coastal conservation areas.

Of particular relevance is the prediction in the second paragraph of Article 16 of the 29th May 2007 regional law, no 2. This foresees the possibility of entrusting to Conservatoria “coastal conservation areas” that are public property or are available to the state.
The decision of 26th July 2005, no 36/1 allows Conservatoria to rule on methods of disposal. More precisely, the coastal heritage concessions made by the region.

To this end, the disposal (through transferal of ownership, leasing agreements, or any other means) of regional or regional body built heritage assets that fall within 2 kilometres of the coast must be brought to the attention of Conservatoria during the preliminary phases of the project.
Following their identification, assets with high environmental or scenic value are leased to Conservatoria delle Coste through Regional Council rulings, and assume the title “Coastal Conservation Areas”