Cambiamenti nell’uso del suolo: analisi e comparazione di mappe storiche e recenti. Il caso della Valle dell’Agri, Basilicata, Italia

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Agro-energie in Basilicata: un approccio analitico per la valutazione dei costi di trasporto

The present study aims at implementing a biomass transportation cost mapping, drawn thanks to the spatial analyses included in the Geographical Information System (GIS). The themes involved in the creation of the cost function can be identified in the use of soil, information concerning the punctual biomass availability, road system and morphology, and exact localisation of plants for processing wooden material, etc. The idea stands in the will to search for and afterwards apply a function able to match cost and distance by keeping in mind several parameters. Stepping back, the realisation of the transport cost function is useful in case we have not definitely placed the biomass processing plants in the whole area as it is in the region of Basilicata, the area analysed in the present proposal. The proposed analysis would be useful to identify the economically valid collection basins and the best positions where a new plant can be installed, and also the size itself of the biomass processing plant on the basis of the actual production conditions of the area

The Sustainability of Non-renewable Resources Use at Regional Level: A Case Study on Allocation of Oil Royalties

The aim of this work was to assess the socioeconomic impact derived from the oil royalty allocation on regional development, using a multi-sector model based on a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM), appropriately implemented for Basilicata region (Italy), the typical case of a region lagging behind in a developed economy. Our focus was on how political decisions have influenced the economic development of the region and how a different set of choices can be more effective in transforming public receipts into long-term benefits. Results show clearly that in the past the allocation of oil royalties to the regional Government (as a Whole 990 million euros) generated a much lower impact than expected, in terms of economic growth and employment. Given the structure of the regional economy, much of the impact of investments and running expenses financed by royalties has maybe been lost outside the regional boundaries. A greater effect on income and employment will not be possible unless resources are redirected towards Greater competitiveness of the regional economic system. Better balancing the use of royalties between social expenditure and production investments would probably be the first step towards a strategy of sustainable development of the regional economy

The socioeconomic impact derived from the oil royalty allocation on regional development

The aim of this work was to assess the socioeconomic impact derived from the oil royalty allocation on regional development, using a multi-sector model based on a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM), appropriately implemented for Basilicata region (Italy), the typical case of a region lagging behind in a developed economy. Our focus was on how political decisions have influenced the economic development of the region and how a different set of choices can be more effective in transforming public receipts into long-term benefits. Results clearly show that in the past the allocation of oil royalties to the regional government (as a whole €990 million) generated a much lower impact than expected, in terms of economic growth and employment. Given the structure of the regional economy, much of the impact of investments and running expenses financed by royalties has maybe been lost outside the regional boundaries. A greater effect on income and employment will not be possible unless resources are re-directed towards greater competitiveness of the regional economic system. Better balancing the use of royalties between social expenditure and production investments would probably be the first step towards a strategy of sustainable development of the regional economy

SUB-REGIONAL DISPARITIES: AN INTEGRATED AND DYNAMIC MODEL FOR ASSESSING QUALITY OF LIFE INEQUALITY

Recently, the quality of life (QoL) has become a commonly used concept with a growing significance also in the local development policies. However, there is no sufficient attention to the QoL framework at local level. Thus, starting from the assumption that a reduction in local disparities may also favour an increase in the regional performance compared to other non-regional contexts, we propose an integrate and dynamic model able to monitor QoL components in order to assess sub-regional disparities. The model was applied to the Basilicata region, a lagging rural region of South of Italy. A dashboard of indicators within 10 QoL domains was identified, considering two periods (2001 and 2011), by applying a non-compensatory aggregation method to combine them. Despite an average improvement for most of QoL components in the considered period, the results of the spatial autocorrelation analysis highlighted, in most cases, a clustered distribution, with the tendency of clusters to generate a carry-over effect (both in positive and negative) on the neighbouring municipalities. About 32-33% of municipalities tends to move from moderate to high advantage condition, while municipalities in a risk condition tend to move on to a moderate disadvantage condition. It follows that significantly deficient QoL components, acting synergistically, generate a self- reinforcing process. The proposed model, overcoming some limits related to data availability, allows an integrated knowledge and monitoring of sub-regional inequalities in order to implement target actions to smooth out them

Use of Forest Residues for Building Forest Biomass Supply Chains: Technical and Economic Analysis of the Production Process

(c) there are strong margins for economic profits at the level of each single supply basi

Escaping the resource curse in regional development: A case study on the allocation of oil royalties

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the socio-economic impact of the allocation of royalties from oil extraction on regional development through a case study on the Basilicata region (Italy). We examine how the regional government’s chosen policies have impacted the income of Basilicata residents and the economic development of the region and how a different set of choices may reveal a more effective approach to turning revenue into long-term public benefits. The analysis focuses on growth as well as on distributive impacts of the allocation of royalties. The results clearly show that the past allocation of the royalties accruing to regional government into regional policies generated little impact in terms of economic growth and occupation, the total well below what was expected. Appreciable impacts on incomes and occupation will not be forthcoming unless resources are redirected towards supporting a stronger competitiveness of the regional economic system

Conservation agriculture systems: an economic viable solution experimented in a Mediterranean area of southern Italy

The global agro-food system is facing challenges that look at the hunger eradications, the control of global warming as well as the fair exploitation of terrestrial ecosystems. Therefore, it is necessary to define and implement a viable agricultural model, combining satisfaction of food needs and land preservation. A possible solution can be found in a holistic farming system consistent with a sustainable development model, designed to satisfy diverse “local” economies. The conservation agriculture (CA) can contribute to the management of agroecological systems including a set of best practices available to preserve agrarian soil and its biodiversity. After a brief background about recent CA experiences in Europe we provide, in a unique interpretative scheme, the evaluation of the impact of CA practices in terms of private/public interest, using the sustainability’s metric. We test the viability of a model based on CA in “local conditions”, we compare economic performance of different conservation practices (i.e. minimum and no tillage) to that of conventional agriculture in a typical Mediterranean environment - Collina Materana – in Southern Italy (Basilicata region). Our findings suggest that: i) CA can actually be a viable alternative to conventional systems and in particular no tillage is a useful tool to support rainfed agroecological systems in dry climates; ii) CA plays a role in terms of provision of public goods; iii) public support is needed to direct business choices

Towards sustainable and inclusive communities: an integrated approach to assess sustainability in rural areas

Sustainable development is a priority in EU rural development strategies. Due to the multidimensionality of the sustainability issue, this paper presents a Spatial Decision Support System to assess territorial sustainability and help decision-makers in rural planning process. Four globally valid sustainability dimensions were considered (long-term ecological sustainability, satisfaction of basic human needs, promotion of intragenerational and intergenerational equity), measured by a set of socio-cultural-political-environmental indicators by using the Mazziotta and Pareto method.The results of the S-DSS, implemented and verified in Basilicata region (southern Italy), provide the maps of sustainability values for each dimension at municipalities level, showing the usefulness of the tool to identify and monitor rural areas that require priority interventions and resources, in order to foster sustainable rural development