Valutazione del potenziale di sequestro del carbonio forestale nella serie di vegetazione <i>Galio-Scabri Quercetum ilicis</i>: il caso di studio del Monte Arci: Sardegna centrale

The main goal of this research is to verify the feasibility and applicability of procedures aimed at estimating forest carbon stocks for different land use categories at the local scale. As a case study the Monte Arci - Distretto forestale dell'Arci Grighine (central-western Sardinia), was chosen. In this ambit, the vegetation series of the Galio scabri-Quercetum ilicis was evaluated, on a total area of 1,650 hectares of woods and shrubs. The investigation started from unpublished inventory data (level Tier 3 for the pool "aboveground biomass"), describing the dendrometric features of the studied woods in the year 2010, that were gathered with the aim of building the knowledge system for the settlement of the district forestry plan. This research was realized in the ambit of the institutional collaboration between the Assessorato alla Difesa dell'Ambiente of Autonomous Region of Sardinia as the manager institution, and the Dept. of Sciences for Nature and Environmental Resources of the University of Sassari as the research institution. The data developed for 2010 and the elaboration of a management scenario characterized by a sustainable ecological-productive orientation, allowed us to estimate potential carbon stocks of the study area for 2040. Our estimates describe a total of 1,144.65 tons of C (4,190 tons of equivalent CO2) for 2010, and a thirty-year increase of 6,182.84 tons of C (22,690 tons of equivalent CO2) for 2040 on the whole area. The method herein tested, proved to be effective to support decision processes for forest planning, and as an informative tool to communicate targets in the ambit of participatory planning processes that are increasingly applied. Furthermore, our results can motivate public and private forest land managers to join protocols for forest management certification, and to promote the development of voluntary markets meeting emission trading schemes to be adopted at the local scale for the transition of carbon credits

Environmental characterization and cork oak presence by toponyms in Sardinia: an ethnoecological approach

This work analyzes cork oak toponyms in Sardinia aiming at (i) resuming the ecological gradient of environmental factors behind vernacular names of place, (ii) testing a methodology to evaluate if conservative meaning of plant names respects the potential vegetation of Cork Oak as dominant forest species and (iii) actual land use

Modelling goods and services from cork oak forests

Forest ecosystems provide multiple essential ecosystem services (ES) for ecological and human well-being. In forest management, understanding of the services and functions distribution, interactions and assessing the economic value of forest ES represent an important future challenge to balancing tradeoffs among them. In this study we consider three ES related to cork oak forest management: (i) carbon storage and sequestration, (ii) water yield, and (iii) cork production

Bitti (Sardaigne) : du risque nul à l’urgence nationale

peer reviewedLe 28 novembre 2020, en pleine pandémie de Covid-19, une pluie initialement ‘banale’ estimée à 50-60 mm va mettre les quelque 3.000 habitants de la commune de Bitti (province de Nuoro, en Sardaigne) sous des torrents d’eau et une couche de boue pouvant atteindre jusqu’à trois mètres d’épaisseur. Les dégâts sont nombreux sur les infrastructures publiques et les biens privés – rapidement évalués à plus de 40 millions d’euros – et trois victimes sont à déplorer. Dans les heures qui suivent la catastrophe, le désastre est reconnu – fait rare – comme une « urgence nationale de la protection civile ». Cet article raconte comment une bourgade « sans histoire » classée au début du 21e siècle par la Région autonome de Sardaigne comme à « risque nul » face à l’exposition aux risques naturels – tous stress confondus – a été très sévèrement impactée à deux reprises en moins d’une décennie (2013 et 2020) ; jusqu’à devenir un exemple national en termes de gestion de crise, de reconstruction post-catastrophe et de mitigation des risques naturels. Pour ce faire, une série de données ont été collectées – depuis les relevés pluviométriques jusqu’à un très long entretien avec le maire de la commune de Bitti, Giuseppe Ciccolini – pour caractériser quantitativement et qualitativement l’exposition aux risques naturels, les perceptions et la gestion de crise.13. Climate actio

Application of simulation modeling for wildfire exposure and transmission assessment in Sardinia, Italy

Abstract The development of comprehensive fire management and risk assessment strategies is of prominent concern in Southern Europe, due to the expanding scale of wildfire risk. In this work, we applied simulation modeling to analyze fine-scale (100-m resolution) wildfire exposure and risk transmission in the 24,000 km2 island of Sardinia (Italy). Sardinia contains a variety of ecological, cultural, anthropic and touristic resources that each summer are threatened by wildfires, and represents well the Mediterranean Basin environments and conditions. Wildfire simulations based on the minimum travel time algorithm were used to characterize wildfire exposure and risk transmission in terms of annual burn probability, flame length, structures exposed and type and amount of transmission. We focused on the historical conditions associated with large (>50 ha) and very large (>200 ha) wildfires that occurred in Sardinia in the period 1998–2016, and combined outputs from wildfire simulation modeling with land uses, building footprint locations, weather, and historical ignition data. The outputs were summarized for weather zones, main wind scenarios and land uses. Our study characterized spatial variations in wildfire spread, exposure and risk transmission among and within weather zones and the main winds associated with large events. This work provides a novel quantitative approach to inform wildfire risk management and planning in Mediterranean areas. The proposed methodology can serve as reference for wildfire risk assessment and can be replicated elsewhere. Findings can be used to better understand the spatial dynamics and patterns of wildfire risk and evaluate expected wildfire behavior or transmission potential in Sardinia and neighboring regions

One Place, Different Communities’ Perceptions. Mapping Cultural Ecosystem Services in the Asinara National Park (Italy)

As innovative approaches emerge, the concept of Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) is periodically revised and enhanced, presenting new value nuances. Due to their intrinsic site-specific character, CES usually call for subjective, rather than objective, perspectives. Therefore, assessing CES through alternative, non-monetary approaches, is fundamental. This issue becomes even more urgent when attempting to assess and map CES within natural protected areas, and even more so when such areas are non-inhabited, as the absence of any local communities poses additional challenges. In this study, initiated within the GIREPAM(Integrated Management and Ecological Network of Marine Protected Areas) Interreg project and developed within the NEPTUNE Interreg project, the way stakeholders perceive CES supplied by the Asinara National Park in Northern Sardinia (Italy) was investigated. Interviews and questionnaires were delivered in December 2019: more than 600 observations related to CES were mapped and recorded through a participatory GIS in order to investigate whether the different perception of CES supplied by a given natural protected area varies depending on the community. Differences were recorded among three local communities. Results show that significant differences exist in the choice of places, rather than in the perceived values of a natural protected area, and that such differences depend on the local community engaged in recognizing the various types of cultural values

From Ecosystems to Ecosystem services. A spatial methodology applied to a case study in Sardinia.

Ecosystem services (ES) evaluation is the most recommended approach to assess and monitor environmental health and quality of human life. A key role to ensure provision of ecosystem benefits is played by protected areas and nature conservation projects worldwide. Natural capital accounting includes ES evaluation in sustainable land management and planning, setting the challenge to monitor ES over time and to update governance tools considering ES flows. The MAES initiative by the European Environmental Agency suggests ecosystems as the proper land units to evaluate, map and monitor related ES. Ecological Land Classification methodology was applied to obtain Asinara island (Sardinia, Italy) Ecosystem Map within the activities of GIREPAM project (INTERREG Program 2014-2020), aimed at integrating management policies in marine protected areas and parks governance. An ES inventory was also implemented, among others, through expert opinion survey, and carbon sequestration potential was estimated and mapped. Preliminary results of potential ES all over Asinara island territory and carbon sequestration mapping are presented, representing important tools for Asinara National Park future management planning and governance

Spatial Patterns and Intensity of Land Abandonment Drive Wildfire Hazard and Likelihood in Mediterranean Agropastoral Areas

In Mediterranean agropastoral areas, land abandonment is a key driver of wildfire risk as fuel load and continuity increase. To gain insights into the potential impacts of land abandonment on wildfire risk in fire-prone areas, a fire-spread modeling approach to evaluate the variations in wildfire potential induced by different spatial patterns and percentages of land abandonment was applied. The study was carried out in a 1200 km2 agropastoral area located in north-western Sardinia (Italy) mostly covered by herbaceous fuels. We compared nine land abandonment scenarios, which consisted of the control conditions (NA) and eight scenarios obtained by combining four intensity levels (10, 20, 30, 40%) and two spatial patterns of agropastoral land abandonment. The abandonment scenarios hypothesized a variation in dead fuel load and fuel depth within abandoned polygons with respect to the control conditions. For each abandonment scenario, wildfire hazard and likelihood at the landscape scale was assessed by simulating over 17,000 wildfire seasons using the minimum travel time (MTT) fire spread algorithm. Wildfire simulations replicated the weather conditions associated with the largest fires observed in the study area and were run at 40 m resolution, consistent with the input files. Our results highlighted that growing amounts of land abandonment substantially increased burn probability, high flame length probability and fire size at the landscape level. Considering a given percentage of abandonment, the two spatial patterns of abandonment generated spatial variations in wildfire hazard and likelihood, but at the landscape scale the average values were not significantly different. The average annual area burned increased from about 2400 ha of the control conditions to about 3100 ha with 40% land abandonment. The findings of this work demonstrate that a progressive abandonment of agropastoral lands can lead to severe modifications in potential wildfire spread and behavior in Mediterranean areas, thus promoting the likelihood of large and fast-spreading events. Wildfire spread modeling approaches allow us to estimate the potential risks posed by future wildfires to rural communities, ecosystems and anthropic values in the context of land abandonment, and to adopt and optimize smart prevention and planning strategies to mitigate these threats

Spatial Patterns and Intensity of Land Abandonment Drive Wildfire Hazard and Likelihood in Mediterranean Agropastoral Areas

In Mediterranean agropastoral areas, land abandonment is a key driver of wildfire risk as fuel load and continuity increase. To gain insights into the potential impacts of land abandonment on wildfire risk in fire-prone areas, a fire-spread modeling approach to evaluate the variations in wildfire potential induced by different spatial patterns and percentages of land abandonment was applied. The study was carried out in a 1200 km2 agropastoral area located in north-western Sardinia (Italy) mostly covered by herbaceous fuels. We compared nine land abandonment scenarios, which consisted of the control conditions (NA) and eight scenarios obtained by combining four intensity levels (10, 20, 30, 40%) and two spatial patterns of agropastoral land abandonment. The abandonment scenarios hypothesized a variation in dead fuel load and fuel depth within abandoned polygons with respect to the control conditions. For each abandonment scenario, wildfire hazard and likelihood at the landscape scale was assessed by simulating over 17,000 wildfire seasons using the minimum travel time (MTT) fire spread algorithm. Wildfire simulations replicated the weather conditions associated with the largest fires observed in the study area and were run at 40 m resolution, consistent with the input files. Our results highlighted that growing amounts of land abandonment substantially increased burn probability, high flame length probability and fire size at the landscape level. Considering a given percentage of abandonment, the two spatial patterns of abandonment generated spatial variations in wildfire hazard and likelihood, but at the landscape scale the average values were not significantly different. The average annual area burned increased from about 2400 ha of the control conditions to about 3100 ha with 40% land abandonment. The findings of this work demonstrate that a progressive abandonment of agropastoral lands can lead to severe modifications in potential wildfire spread and behavior in Mediterranean areas, thus promoting the likelihood of large and fast-spreading events. Wildfire spread modeling approaches allow us to estimate the potential risks posed by future wildfires to rural communities, ecosystems and anthropic values in the context of land abandonment, and to adopt and optimize smart prevention and planning strategies to mitigate these threats