Protected areas and socio-ecological transition. Strategies and models of sustainable development in a unitary vision of territorial governance

In the contemporary panorama of opportunities of the socio-ecological transition, which is developed through a systemic approach and a holistic vision, which includes environmental, economic and social strategies with the aim of achieving quality of life and social equity, in which contemporary global policies are committed to building a model of sustainable development (National Ecological Transition Plan, PTE),the central role that protected areas play within this framework cannot be ignored. Protected areas have the ability to provide multiple services and benefits to human beings (Rete Natura 2000), including: climate regulation, conservation of biodiversity and natural habitats, knowledge of the historical and cultural heritage and promotion of local economic development. However, for too long there has been a lack of understanding about the social, environmental and economic value that protected areas have (Piccioni, 2023). This paper, which reports on research activities, falls within the disciplinary field in progress on protected areas (Fifth report on the state of natural capital in Italy, 2022) and within the contemporary global challenges of the Ecological Transition Plan and the European Biodiversity Strategy 2030, in particular it refers to goal number 15 which "aims to protect, restore and promote the sustainable use of ecosystems" (2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development). Therefore, territorial planning, in line with these targets, must be able to develop new strategies and innovative development models to encourage integrated processes of territorial development. The aim of the research is to identify new theoretical-methodological, strategic references and operational tools to promote sustainable development of the territory, starting from protected areas and their ecosystem multifunctionality, within the context of contemporary global challenges. In particular, the research asks how protected areas can represent an opportunity to overcome the growing territorial and socio-economic inequalities, very often linked to the lack of opportunity for accessibility and usability of protected areas and their heritage. Firstly, new development models and innovative strategies are proposed, to guarantee on one side, the protection and conservation of protected areas and their environmental components and on the other side, the right to access to resources by creating new models of accessibility (based on integrated systems of sustainable mobility and ecological corridors) and the development of differentiated levels of use of protected areas (in terms of graduation). Secondly, new operational tools are illustrated, in the local and territorial planning, which aim to promote territorial unity within the interconnection between urban-territorial planning and landscape-environmental planning, through integrating the principles of ecosystem and biodiversity into various levels of planning, promoting a sustainable, unitary and shared vision of territorial planning. In particular, the case study of the metropolitan city of Paris and the Haute Vallée de Chevreuse regional natural park is analyzed, in which the strategies of the Ille de France involved to address metropolitan issues, territorial and socio-cultural challenges in the same way as the other territorial entities are highlighted.