Aspromonte National Park: A Study Of The Energy Flows As A Support Tool For The Sustainable Management Of Protected Areas

Abstract

The Aspromonte National Park, which is set entirely in the province of Reggio Calabria, is a protected area of 70,000 hectares. It has been the subject of a preliminary study aimed at detecting and investigating the most important issues in the field of energy, with the purpose of supporting a sustainable energy plan. This paper presents a summary of the main results obtained from the analysis of the energy flows, which are spread over the territory of the protected area itself and parts of the small towns whose territory belongs only partially in the area of the Aspromonte Park. The analysis has been carried out in three different steps: collecting the required territorial data, analysing the consumption of energy, and evaluating the potential of the renewable resources already existent in the aforementioned territory of the Park. Through the creation of suitable maps, it has been possible to discern the areas having the highest potentiality with regards to the use of renewable sources of energy. The representation of the results is thus a useful tool which can be used in the process of planning and management of the area itself and which is also, along with other cultural, social and environmental information, the first step towards the definition of a Sustainable Energy Plan for the area of the Aspromonte National Park.