Combining Multifunctionality and Ecosystem Services into a Win-Win Solution. The Case Study of the Serchio River Basin (Tuscany—Italy)

Post-war development—characterized by intensive processes of urbanization, concentration of agriculture on the most fertile lands, and abandonment of mountainous and marginal areas—brought about negative environmental and socio-economic consequences. They have been particularly severe in terms of increase of hydrogeological risk, which is high in most Italian regions. Over time, there has been an increasing awareness of the multiple functions played by agriculture in terms of provision of Ecosystem Services (ES), which contribute fundamentally to human well-being. In particular, some ES provided by farmers may help to reduce the hydrogeological risk of territories prone to landslides and floods. In this framework, the paper presents as a case study the project “Farmers as Custodians of a Territory.” This project was implemented in the Serchio River basin, Tuscany (Italy), and combines a multifunctional farm strategy of diversification with the provision of Ecosystem Services related to the hydraulic and hydrogeological protection of the river-basin territory. Although this case study should be read within the framework of the theories of agricultural multifunctionality and ES provision, it nevertheless took a very pragmatic and innovative approach, which differentiates it from most of the case studies given in the literature. Results of our analysis show that, by involving farmers as custodians of the territory, it is possible to reach a “win-win” solution characterized, on the one hand, by better services for the community at a lower cost for the Land Reclamation Consortia involved with hydrogeological risk prevention, thus improving the effectiveness and efficiency of ES provision; and on the other hand, by improving the economic situation and survival chances of local farms

Understanding the participation in agri-environmental schemes: evidence from Tuscany Region

Agri-Environmental Schemes (AESs) represent one of the main agricultural policy instruments which address environmental objectives in Common Agricultural Policy. In spite of twenty years of application and its high share of RDP budget, several evaluation reports and scientific literature have measured a low environmental impacts compared with expectations. Economic literature has identified in low target level of schemes, low participation rates, spatial heterogeneity and asymmetric information between farmers and public administration the main reasons for low impact. The objective of the paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of determinants of agrienvironmental adoption. The objective is pursued combining results of farm level adoption analysis with spatial analysis of participation rate. Results show that both micro and meso-characteristics strongly affect participation to AESs. In fact, farm and household structure, quality of advice services and territory endogeneity, significantly affect AESs adoption

A DSS model for the governance of sustainable rural landscape: A first application to the cultural landscape of Orcia Valley (Tuscany, Italy)

There is a growing interest on landscape and landscape policy and planning, especially since the adoption of the European Landscape Convention in 2000. This latter defines landscape as "an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors". In the case of rural landscape, this means that an appropriate governance model should not only involve local stakeholders in a participative approach, but also take into account natural characteristics, cultural aspects of the past and present, and socio-economic aspects, since agriculture is the main driver of change for rural landscapes. Farm strategies are influenced by internal and by external factors, these latter being related to market conditions and to constraints and opportunities given by policies. Market globalization and Agricultural policies are consequently having a strong impact on landscape, that public institutions try to neutralise setting rules about landscape conservation. Thus, due to its specific features, landscape is impacted both by several sectorial and territorial policies which have none or very low coordination among them. Indeed, Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has often shown a negative influence on landscape, also in the case of Agri-Environmental Schemes (AES) intended to promote landscape. In this framework, the aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive model for the governance of rural landscape and a first simplified application to a cultural landscape. This model is based on the integration of a geographical multi-criteria analysis, an advanced GIS-based geo-processing tools, and participatory techniques aiming to understand and foresee local stakeholders' behaviours through focus-groups and dedicated interviews. The identification of future landscape scenarios is based on the integration of past evolution (historical analysis), landscape sensitivity (territorial analysis) and farmers' adaptation to market and policy changes (farm analysis). A simplified version of the model was tailored and tested in the municipality of Castiglione d'Orcia of the Siena province in Tuscany, Italy, one of the UNESCO cultural landscapes, but is the Authors' opinion that its approach

A Spatial Analysis to evaluate the Farm's structure and the Geography of Rural Areas: The case study of Mugello Area

In order to promote rural development public agricultural policies need to constantly adapt to the continuous change of socio-economic conditions of rural areas, related to both farm and territorial dynamics. Hence beyond the zoning provided by the European Commission and developed by Member States [art. 11 Reg. Ce 1698/2005], policy makers should take into account geography, farms characteristics and farmers attitude to acquire a deeper knowledge of these rural areas. This paper aims at supporting the design of proper agricultural policies focusing on the case-study of Mugello territory, a rural area located in the North of Tuscany, which includes both: intermediate rural areas and areas with development problems. This purpose is firstly pursued by generating a geo-referenced database able to develop a deeper analysis on the existing interactions between socio - economic attributes of farms, land use and agricultural policies. The study combined several sources of data: the 2010 Italian Agriculture Census, the Tuscany Regional Agency for Payments in Agriculture (ARTEA) database, and cover land data from the database Corine Land Cover (CLC-06), as updated to 2007 by LaMMA (Laboratory for Environment Monitoring and Modeling). The resulting sample is composed by 821 farms operating in the Mugello area which are split in four different farm styles according to their level of multifunctionality and enterpreunership capacity. Results show that Mugello territory is characterized by an internal differentiation, that determines the prevalence of different farm structure according to the sub-areas characteristics. Especially analyzing the distribution of payments related to area with development problems we note that there are still margins of improvement

A spatial analysis of terrain features and farming styles in a disadvantaged area of Tuscany (Mugello): implications for the evaluation and the design of CAP payments

In recent times there has been a growing awareness of the role of agriculture in providing public goods and services, in particular in less favoured areas. However, since agriculture is an economic activity, its permanence implies that it should be able to generate a satisfactory income for farmers. Where this is not possible, due to natural constraints or adverse economic and market conditions, in order to maintain an adequate use of farmland it is necessary to provide public aid to farmers. In this framework, the design of proper interventions aimed to promote rural development in less favoured areas should be based on a deep knowledge at the farm and territorial level. As regards the territorial level, the RDP zoning [art. 11 Reg. Ce 1698/2005] developed by Member States on the base of the guidelines provided by the European Commission is very often not sufficient to adequately define the territorial characteristics of rural areas. The use of GIS techniques may help to handle this issue by providing a better and more detailed knowledge at the territorial level. Farm level is important insofar as aid effectiveness is usually strongly depending on the type of farm that is receiving it. Thus, a careful selection of beneficiaries could determine a more effective and efficient distribution of resources. This paper aims to provide a spatial analysis of natural constraints and types of farming style in Mugello area and to analyse their relations with CAP aid distribution. Both Single Payment Scheme (SPS) and Rural Development Programme (RDP) payments have been taken into account. The paper combines a GIS analysis of terrain features with the theoretical approach of farming styles. For this purpose, the study integrates several sources of data: the 2010 Italian Agriculture Census, the Tuscany Regional Agency for Payments in Agriculture (ARTEA) database, and land cover data from the database Corine Land Cover (CLC-06), as updated to 2007 by LAMMA (Laboratory for Environment Monitoring and Modelling). A geo-referenced database including socioeconomic attributes of farms, land use, and terrain characteristics has been generated in order to merge information at territorial and farm level. The results of this integrated analysis confirm that Mugello is a very heterogeneous area as regards terrain characteristics despite the fact that it is totally included in less favoured areas. On the other side, farm strategies and economic results seem to be related to entrepreneurial characteristics as much as to natural constraints. The analysis of Pillar I payments and RDP payments for farms located in this mountainous area shows a very complex situation where the strategies implemented by farmers of the strongest farming styles may successfully counteract natural constraints. Besides, in the Authors' opinion, the analyses performed highlight the importance of spatial analysis as a tool for evaluating how public resources are distributed on a territory, thus providing also useful information on the way this distribution could be improved, e.g. for ensuring a higher level of environmental services

Agricoltori come “custodi del territorio”: il caso della Valle del Serchio in Toscana

The article focuses on the project “Custody of the Territory”, an initiative promoted by a territorial authority of a mountainous area of the Tuscany region (Unione dei Comuni Media Valle del Serchio) which set an agreement with local farmers to improve the hydro-geological management of the district. This innovative flooding prevention strategy, based on farmers’ knowledge and capabilities, shows that an effective hydro-geological management of the territory in mountainous areas should involve not only changes in farmers’ practices, but also a more structural shift regarding their identity, motivations and attitudes. The article highlights the need of implementing integrated policy tools based not only on compensation but also on incentives, communication and learning opportunities, since farmers’ knowledge and joint learning (amongst farmers, institutions, technicians, academics) are very important issues for an effective provision of environmental services through agriculture.L’articolo descrive il progetto Custodia del Territorio, un’iniziativa promossa dall’Unione dei Comuni della Media Valle del Serchio (LU) che ha stipulato contratti di sorveglianza e manutenzione del reticolo idraulico con gli agricoltori locali all’interno della propria area di competenza. Questa strategia innovativa per la prevenzione idraulica, basata sul rafforzamento delle conoscenze e delle abilità degli agricoltori, evidenzia come un’effettiva gestione degli aspetti idraulici nelle aree montane dovrebbe includere non solo cambiamenti nelle pratiche degli agricoltori, ma anche un cambiamento più strutturale che riguarda le loro identità, motivazioni e attitudini. L’articolo sottolinea la necessità di favorire delle politiche integrate basate non solo sulla corresponsione di pagamenti, ma anche su incentivi, comunicazione e opportunità di apprendimento per gli attori locali. Si evidenzia, inoltre, la necessità di sviluppare forme di conoscenze condivise (tra agricoltori, istituzioni, tecnici e ricercatori) per rendere più efficace l’erogazione di servizi ambientali da parte dell’agricoltura

Project Financing for functional recovery of the “Forte dei Pianelloni” in Lerici

[EN] The central theme is the Project Financing, a complex financial instrument that can potentially be used to give a new life to a state property with a strong historical and architectural value and in a state of neglect, through the use of public-private partnerships. This evaluation technique makes it possible to understand the economic and financial feasibility of an intervention both for the owner of the asset (the public) and for the private entity that puts the resources for the requalification / restructuring and will own the profits from the management of the asset. Therefore, assuming the role of a Private Financial Promoter, I developed the Preliminary Project and the Feasibility Study with reference to two possible uses. The work was divided in two parts: in the first part the Preliminary Project was a reworking of an architectural relief kindly lent by the municipality of Lerici to expose the current state of the structure adding also hints of history. Then I made two proposals: one hypothesis is a fancy project with Resorts & Suites and the other is a more affordable one with Hostel & Camping; I considered also the differences between the two proposals. To develop the work, the use of a drone for inspections and a 3D printing to create the plastics were also experimented. In the second part that consists in the Feasibility Study was developed through an analysis of the possible positioning on the market with respect to the project hypotheses, the definition of the restructuring, management and maintenance costs. There were also analyzed other fortifications in the Gulf of Spezia, that were already reconverted in other uses. This study highlights the economic and financial feasibility of both design assumptions.Frroku, N.; Rovai, M.; Calvani, C. (2020). Project Financing per il recupero funzionale ad uso ricettivo del “Forte dei Pianelloni” di Lerici. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 915-922. https://doi.org/10.4995/FORTMED2020.2020.11478OCS91592

Land Consumption, Ecosystem Services and Urban Planning Policies: Preliminary Results of Research Undertaken in the Tuscany Region

In the contemporaneity, the issues of land or soil consumption and of the protection of areas that, within the urban areas, provide ecosystem services (ESs) is becoming increasingly important also in relation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The concept of "Ecosystem Service" appears, in this respect, a fruitful support to define the land consumption effects on the loss of functionality and of settlement quality. Following this considerations the paper presents the first results of a research developed in Tuscany and commissioned by the Regional Government. The research aims to measure the loss of ESs in connection with land use/land cover transformations, and to verify the contribution of soil consumption to these variations. The research use methodologies for elaborating of the geographical data required for territorial governance, LUCL 2010/2016 and Land Cover Flow (LCF) model, and the theoretical model of the “Capacity matrix” to provide ecosystem services