The Italian Ministry for the Environment Land and Sea was established in 1986,which was originally named as The Italian Ministry for the Environment and Territory (IMET) and renamed as in 2006. Within its scope of competency lie responsibilities related to: sustainable development, protection of territory, pollution and industrial risks, international protection of the environment, appraisal of environmental impact, nature conservation, waste and cleanup, and protection of seas and inland waters. The Italian Ministry for the Environment Land and Sea is strongly committed to promoting and supporting international partnership and cooperation towards global sustainable development.

The Italian Ministry for the Environment,Land and Sea(IMELS),the former Italian Ministry for the Environment and Territory (IMET)， together with the State Environmental Protection Administration of China(SEPA), the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of China, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and both Beijing and Shanghai Municipal Governments has engaged since 2000 an intense cooperation programme on environmental protection.

The Italian Ministry for the Environment and Territory is mainly in charge of governing and supervising the environmental problems. It provides economic and technical support for the developing countries promoting the sustainable development on environment.

The Ministry rules the following three environmental areas: energy, climate and air pollution. There are 6 departments in the Ministry such as Nature Protection Department, Living Quality Department, Environmental Research and Development Department, Environment Protection Department, Land Prevention Department and Interior Service Department. Each department has different administering areas according to the different environmental areas.

• The Nature Protection Department is in charge of nature and sea;
• Living Quality Department is in charge of waste and soil improvement and domestic water protection;
• Environmental Research and Development Department governs the areas of global environmental protection and sustainable development;
• Environment Protection Department rules industrial pollution and hazard and environmental impact assessment;
• The function of Land Prevention Department is including supervising the plan and investment of land protection;
• prevent and defend land collapse, flood and other hydrology disasters，etc.;
• The Interior Service Department is mainly dealing with the general affairs of the inner Ministry.

Website: http://www.minambiente.it