Effetti del cambiamento climatico e indicatori di stress per le specie ittiche

La definizione di strategie di adattamento ai cambiamenti climatici si articola su un ampio spettro di scale spaziali e temporali, e richiede un concerto di azioni diverse, integrate e sussidiarie a seconda del contesto considerato. L’Autorità di bacino del fiume Arno ha sviluppato da tempo una linea di ricerca tesa a valutare le peculiarità del cambiamento globale in atto nel territorio del bacino, attraverso l’attività di uno specifico laboratorio territoriale permanente. I risultati mostrano la validità dell’approccio e l’evidente deriva che caratterizza la non stazionarietà del regime delle portate alle scale d’interesse per la pianificazione territoriale. Ai fini del presente lavoro si pone particolare attenzione alla deriva del regime di portata che, a partire dagli anni ’70, mostra una sensibile riduzione della disponibilità idrica e una progressiva asimmetria rispetto agli usuali contributi stagionali. Tale effetto al suolo rispecchia gli aspetti del cambiamento climatico in termini di distribuzione spaziale e temporale delle precipitazioni e dell’andamento delle temperature. Tra gli indicatori di vulnerabilità l’evoluzione dell’Area Disponibile Ponderata (ADP, Bovee et al. 1998), in funzione dei diversi regimi, si è mostrata un indicatore efficace al quale è possibile affiancare specifici segnali di stress. Per questo si è effettuato un rilievo di dettaglio del fondo dell’alveo in un tronco posto nella sezione di chiusura del bacino laboratorio e, fissata la specie bersaglio nel barbo in fase riproduttiva, si è calcolata l’ADP utilizzando un modello idrodinamico bidimensionale a elementi finiti. Si è poi effettuata l’analisi della serie storica (quasi secolare) delle portate osservate scegliendo, come riferimento, la permanenza della portata media giornaliera al disotto del 50% e del 70% dell’ADP per due giorni consecutivi ed oltre. I risultati mostrano una forte dinamica del dato che, sopratutto negli ultimi dieci anni, indica un incremento notevole del numero di eventi e dei giorni di permanenza. Mostrano inoltre la validità dell’approccio seguito che tende a fornire una indispensabile dimensione temporale all’analisi alla scala del meso- e del microhabitat

Perceptions on deforestation in the Chaco salteño: An environmental justice perspective

This note analyses the issue of deforestation in the Gran Chaco from an environmental justice perspective. The main purpose of the article is to understand the prevailing perceptions on the issue of deforestation and to assess possible ways forward. For this purpose, first the results of qualitative interviews were analysed through the use of Q method, which allows classifying local perceptions on deforestation in the Chaco Salteño through the use of factor analysis. This resulted in three factors (i.e. perceptions), called “Development”, “Family Agriculture” and “Subsistence”, which were subsequently used to inform future land-use scenarios. Secondly, a social multi-criteria evaluation was deployed to rank these possible land-use scenarios according to sustainability and environmental justice criteria. The results show that the “Subsistence” and “Family Agriculture” scenarios are the most environmentally just as well as the most sustainable. The “Development” scenario, together with the “status quo” scenario, which was added on an ad-hoc basis, are the worst. The article concludes by highlighting the importance of taking justice into account when considering land use issues, especially when indigenous peoples and other marginalized actors are involved

Prescriptive conflict prevention analysis:An application to the 2021 update of the Austrian flood risk management plan

Flood events have become more frequent in Europe, and the adaptation to the increasing flood risks is needed. The Flood Directive set up a series of measures to increase European resilience, establishing Flood Risk Management Plans (FRMPs) at the level of the river basin district as one relevant action. In order to efficiently fulfil this objective, the involvement of stakeholders as well as the analysis of their roles, responsibilities, and demands has been considered to be crucial to develop FRMPs. As a result, the hypothesis tested in this paper is that a consensus solution for the 2021 update Austrian Flood Risk Management Plan is feasible. To demonstrate this, both in-depth interviews and questionnaires to key Austrian stakeholders are implemented. The information collected in both participatory techniques are then used to run a conflict prevention analysis. The results show that (a) improving the coordination among regions and including better land-use planning approaches are preferable to a hypothetical business as usual scenario; and (b) a consensus solution for the 2021 update Austrian FRMP might be achievable on the basis of both a deep discussion on the state-of-the art and green infrastructure development

Using the Constitutionality Framework to Understand Alliances, Collective Action, and Divisions Between Indigenous and Peasant Communities in the Chaco Salteño.

This article analyzes bottom-up institution-building processes in a region considered deforestation and environmental degradation hotspot. Utilizing the constitutionality approach developed by Haller, Acciaioli, and Rist (2016), we examine two recent cases of bottom-up institution-building in the department of Rivadavia, Chaco Salteño, Argentina. We highlight the similarities and differences between both constitutionality processes and identify various weaknesses in the two cases. We argue that constitutionality, understood as a process, has occurred to different (incomplete) degrees in each case. Finally, we show that external catalyzing agents play a decisive role in enabling or hampering the constitutionality process. Our study contributes to the literature on common-pool resource governance by highlighting how collective action can lead to participatory-development processes

Why economic valuation does not value the environment: climate policy as collective endeavour

Economics takes an individualistic approach to human behaviour. This is reflected in the use of “contingent valuation” surveys to conduct cost benefit analysis for economic policy evaluation. An individual’s valuation of a policy is assumed to be unaffected by the burdens it places on others. We report a survey experiment to test this supposition in the context of climate change policy. Willingness to pay for climate change mitigation was higher when richer individuals were to bear higher costs than when, as is usual, no explicit information was provided about cost distribution. This result is inconsistent with the usual interpretation of contingent valuation data. It also suggests that the data may be biased indicators of policy acceptance. Additional survey questions suggest that a collective mode of reasoning is common

Data from: The impact of income, land, and wealth inequality on agricultural expansion in Latin America

Agricultural expansion remains the most prominent proximate cause of tropical deforestation in Latin America, a region characterized by deforestation rates substantially above the world average and extremely high inequality. This paper deploys several multivariate statistical models to test whether different aspects of inequality, within a context of increasing agricultural productivity, promote agricultural expansion (Jevons paradox) or contraction (land-sparing) in 10 Latin American countries over 1990–2010. Here I show the existence of distinct patterns between the instantaneous and the overall (i.e., accounting for temporal lags) effect of increasing agricultural productivity, conditional on the degree of income, land, and wealth inequality. In a context of perfect equality, the instantaneous effect of increases in agricultural productivity is to promote agricultural expansion (Jevons paradox). When temporal lags are accounted for, agricultural productivity appears to be mainly land-sparing. Increases in the level of inequality, in all its forms, promote agricultural expansion, thus eroding the land-sparing effects of increasing productivity. The results also suggest that the instantaneous impact of inequality is larger than the overall effect (accounting for temporal lags) and that the effects of income inequality are stronger than those of land and wealth inequality, respectively. Reaping the benefits of increasing agricultural productivity, and achieving sustainable agricultural intensification in Latin America, requires policy interventions that specifically address inequality

PNAS_Data

Data for the PNAS publication "The impact of income, land and wealth inequality on agricultural expansion in Latin America" by M.G. Ceddi

Policy analysis for the widespread introduction of genetically modified crops : the case of herbicide tolerant oilseed rape

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Data from: The impact of income, land, and wealth inequality on agricultural expansion in Latin America

Agricultural expansion remains the most prominent proximate cause of tropical deforestation in Latin America, a region characterized by deforestation rates substantially above the world average and extremely high inequality. This paper deploys several multivariate statistical models to test whether different aspects of inequality, within a context of increasing agricultural productivity, promote agricultural expansion (Jevons paradox) or contraction (land-sparing) in 10 Latin American countries over 1990–2010. Here I show the existence of distinct patterns between the instantaneous and the overall (i.e., accounting for temporal lags) effect of increasing agricultural productivity, conditional on the degree of income, land, and wealth inequality. In a context of perfect equality, the instantaneous effect of increases in agricultural productivity is to promote agricultural expansion (Jevons paradox). When temporal lags are accounted for, agricultural productivity appears to be mainly land-sparing. Increases in the level of inequality, in all its forms, promote agricultural expansion, thus eroding the land-sparing effects of increasing productivity. The results also suggest that the instantaneous impact of inequality is larger than the overall effect (accounting for temporal lags) and that the effects of income inequality are stronger than those of land and wealth inequality, respectively. Reaping the benefits of increasing agricultural productivity, and achieving sustainable agricultural intensification in Latin America, requires policy interventions that specifically address inequality

Jevons paradox and the loss of natural habitat in the Argentinean Chaco: the impact of the Indigenous Communities’ land titling and the Forest Law in the province of Salta

The Chaco Salteño in Argentina is part of the Dry Chaco ecoregion, the largest neotropical dry forest in the world, and represents an important hotspot for deforestation and natural habitat loss due to agricultural expansion. The purpose of this article is: i) to assess systematically the role of agricultural expansion, intensification and demographics on the loss of natural habitat and ii) to understand how institutional factors contribute to direct the impact of agricultural intensification towards land sparing or Jevons paradox. We use multivariate statistical methods to assess the effect of important institutional changes, including the promulgation of the Forest Law in the Province of Salta and the titling of communal lands to Indigenous Peoples (IPs), on the loss of natural forests, shrublands and grasslands in the Chaco Salteño. Our results show that the approval of the Forest Law in Salta has been ineffective at slowing down the loss of natural habitat and is associated with the emergence of Jevons paradox via the increase in agricultural productivity. Moreover, this new institutional context appears to have increased the pressures on IPs land and encouraged preventive clearing on these lands. Finally, we detect the decreasing importance of livestock heads as drivers of natural habitat loss