The “environmental“ variable has acquired , during the last ten years, an increasingly strategic importance and the acceptance of the concept of “sustainable development”  as a point of reference in the management of economic/production systems has created a growing development in Environmental Management Systems following the ISO 14001 standard and the 1836/93 EMAS Regulation. The Environmental Management Systems were initially formulated and implemented to the textile industry and later to other sectors of industry, “ a large geographical area, divided up and predisposed for simultaneous use by numerous businesses, which have a shared infrastructure and are physically close-by”.  Recent experiences have resulted in the experimental environmental certification of an area in the Parks.

Obtaining the environmental certification for a specific area is an innovative idea which could give the means to coordinate all the activities and processes that directly or indirectly have an impact on the environment; an objective which could protect the environment whilst increasing competitiveness.

The certification of a geographical area is not easy. The pilot project involved an area containing more than one administrative district, all coming under the Mountain Community of the Chisone and Germanasca Valleys. Four of the sixteen district councils actively participated in the project (Pragelato, Prali, Usseaux, and Villar Perosa ).

 The project consisted of:

1. An initial analysis of the Area’s conditions and the drawing up of a general picture of the Area’s naturalist, tourist and socio-economic realities.
2. An environmental analysis of the Area based on all the environmental aspects (water samples, waste waters and collection, storage and destruction of hazardous waste, waste collection and disposal, measurement of air quality and energy consumption) resulted in evidence that the Chisone and Germanasca Valleys do not present huge problems of environmental degradation and pollution.
3. The Planning of an Environmental Management System illustrating the steps necessary to obtain certification.