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E-book Water and the Law : Water Management in the Statutory Legislation of Later Communal Italy

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Penilaian

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A recent report by the World Meteorological Organization updated to January 2022 showed that around 11% of the world’s population has no access to sufficiently safe sources of water. In addition, drought in some regions of Africa, Central Asia and the American continent is hastening the expansion of the desert belts and is causing serious difficulties in a growing number of countries, thereby contributing to migratory activity among so-called climate refugees, triggered elsewhere by ever more intense and frequent flood episodes.1 Furthermore, sustainable use of water resources and the need to limit the damage caused by floods have long been problematic for the regions and societies of southern Europe. With their long, hot and mostly dry summers, intense rainfall in springtime and autumn, and sudden freezes in winter, Mediterranean coastal areas have all too often experienced issues related to the supply of water and sudden, excessive rainfall. Today, with the march of global warming and soil consumption, they are seeing an intensification of these well-known phenomena.2As far as the Italian territory is concerned, the report of the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) issued in December 2021 revealed that more than 90% of municipalities across the entire country are affected by acute situations or hydrogeological instability. The report also levelled the criticism that more than eight million people live in areas defined as highly dangerous from this point of view.3Efficient use of water has thus become a dramatically urgent requirement in this post-industrial age.4 Nevertheless, an analysis of historical sources shows that this issue has a decidedly long history, suggesting that, leaving aside the gradual rise in temperatures, recent critical issues have mainly escalated, exacerbated, and made pervasive the impact of the phenomena that human groups have repeatedly and tragically had to contend with on account of their impact, great or small, on the ecosystem.5Public opinion, environmental associations and government institutions often call for legislative intervention as a means to defend the environment and to protect populations from their own harmful actions. In other words, there appears to be an established idea that only when there is targeted, well-structured legislation is it possible, at least for planning purposes, to protect the natural and social environment. Conversely, critical situations are mostly blamed on what is often called a ‘legislative void’. Verifying the validity of this thesis in the contemporary world is beyond the scope of this work.6 The aim here is to investigate the reasons why this conviction has gradually taken hold, beginning more or less in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries when, for the first time since the Roman era, Italy underwent a period of widespread rules-setting in which human use of environmental resources, particularly water, became subject to regulation. Indeed, by referring to that period we intend to verify the supposed effectiveness of legislation and to assess whether and to what extent it has been a useful means of ensuring access to and proper distribution of water for communities, and flood prevention.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

940 SAL w

Penerbit

London : Archaeopress Publishing., 2024

Deskripsi Fisik

178 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9781803277370

Klasifikasi

940

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

HIstory of Europe

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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