Tutela e valorizzazione delle risorse ambientali del Parco dell'Etna (Patrimonio UNESCO): un modello di gestione partecipata sostenibile (Protection and enhancement of the environmental resources of the Etna Park (UNESCO world heritage site): a sustainable partecipatory management model

The vision of protected areas as natural environments to be protected in a conservative manner has been transformed into a vision of a place where knowledge and intervention techniques are integrated, according to a global ecological approach. Alongside interventions to safeguard natural resources, planning and management actions are now recognised as necessary for the sustainable use of natural resources, for the development of traditional activities and to ensure the socio-economic and environmental well-being of the local population. Participatory planning supported by multi-criteria analysis represents an innovative methodology to contribute to the sustainable management and use of natural resources. The proposed methodology is based on an integrated approach between participatory planning techniques and the NAIADE method, which has made it possible to integrate the ease and speed of application with the flexibility to the specificity of the territorial reality, which in the case of protected areas is characterised by complex systems, with a variety of landscapes, territories and populations. Etna Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2013) is the case study in which this integrated participatory assessment approach was applied, with the aim of experimenting with innovative ways of defining management strategies for protected areas.