The agricultural park as a tool to enhance the agricultural landscape of the SIC "Timpa di Acireale" (CT)

The Sixth Environment Action Programme and the Action Plan for Nature and Biodiversity of the Council of Europe as its main objective the protection of biodiversity, the rehabilitation plan and the management plan of the natural systems. These programs involve the expansion of the Natura 2000 Network, the European Protected Areas Network, these are provided for the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and Birds Directive (79/104/CE). The Natura 2000 network is the set of sites called SPAs (Special Protection Areas) and SIC (Sites of Community Importance). The management Natura 2000 network is entrusted to special "management plans". The management plans are intended to identify the measures to ensure the conservation and restoration of the natural habitats and of the species habitats, which are considered of Community interest. The study proposes a structure to support the evaluation of the expected interventions in the management plan. In particular, the proposed evaluation model will be applied to the case of SIC "Timpa di Acireale." In this case, the model will be used to support the evaluation of the agricultural park project. Thus, the model will be used for the evaluation in a ex-ante phase, in a intermediate phase and in a ex-post phase of the interventions system of the Agricultural Park project. The evaluations in the different phases can be used to define a system of the evaluation of the effectiveness for the envisaged actions in the draft Park and a system of monitoring of such actions.