Environmental and socio‐economic criteria for the establishment of marine coastal parks

In setting the standards to establish protected marine coastal areas the Italian Act No. 979/82 points out that conservation measures must be connected as far as possible with administrative actions aiming to create new economical opportunities for the local communities involved. The process undertaken to set up a protected area is therefore quite complex and requires different working phases. This paper describes the principles adopted by ICRAM to define a procedure for the formulation of proposals regarding the zoning of valuable marine coastal areas. Environmental and socio‐economic criteria selected to balance safeguarding and management are also discussed.