Overlapping of onshore oil activities and biodiversity in Italy: spatialising the guidelines for the Environmental Impact Assessment in “Val d’Agri” Concession, Basilicata, South of Italy

Among the human activities characterized by higher negative effects on biodiversity conservation, there is the hydrocarbons extraction, with all the connected phases. The production of hydrocarbons, in fact, can lead to a wide range of effects on ecosystems including contamination of soil, water and air pollution, deforestation and habitat fragmentation. In Italy there are few analysis about the relationship between oil extraction and environment and biodiversity, so this research provides an evaluation of the main Italian onshore oil activities (“Val d’Agri” Concession, in Basilicata, South of Italy) through two steps: development of Environmental Impact Assessment guidelines and the spatialization of oil operation and biodiversity through the analysis of oil operation in relation to Natura 2000 network. The research presents the development of new guidelines providing a significant contribution to identification and management of adverse impacts in continental areas characterized by high biodiversity. The guidelines focus on the life cycle project of oil activities, the impacts and the possible mitigations, in the framework of Environmental Impact Assessment. Tuned guidelines are then tested and spatialized in the case study showing the level of pressure on biodiversity due to oil operation.