WATER FOR WATERBIRDS - Waterbirds in and around the city

Everywhere in Italy and in Europe, for hundreds of years, wetlands have been considered unproductive and unhealthy environments, therefore to be ‘reclaimed’, drained, dried up, and perhaps destined for cultivation. Such an approach, which is particularly severe in places (such as the Alpine valley floors) where the hunger for agricultural land has always been very pronounced, has led to the destruction of most of the aquatic habitats and the organisms that used to inhabit them: among them, many birds that were once common on the shores of lakes and ponds, have become rarefied or locally extinct. In recent times, the crucial role of wetlands in regulating the water cycle and maintaining biodiversity has been fully realised and attitudes, at least in theory, have been reoriented towards conservation. At the same time, within cities, there is often the presence or creation of bodies of water for recreational and aesthetic purposes and this condition has offered new settlement opportunities to the most adaptable and opportunistic of ‘water-bound’ birds.  - The meeting will explore the many facets of the presence of the most common water birds in urban and suburban settings.
Osvaldo Negra, zoologist at the MUSE in Trento, is the author of numerous scientific publications in the field of nature.
Conference in Italian
also online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhLdySuP2_o