Search results for "Ecosystem services"
showing 10 items of 191 documents
PAYMENT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES FOR THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TERRITORY
2014
Over the last years the interest in environmental s ervices provided by forests has considerably grow. This situation, in developed countries, derive from risi ng demand of new goods and services tied to landsca pe use and leisure activities. These can be considered such as no woody products and they represent externalities produced by forest that, if suitably utilized, could produce value for the area and earn ings for people living near forests. From an economic point of view, at the aim of providing these services, it is necessary the introduction of a suitable payment sy stem or, in alternative, a situation in which posit ive externalities of landscape, in sync with other good s/service…
A new definition of soil to promote soil awareness, sustainability, security and governance
2022
Abstract In these last decades, the awareness that soil is a very important resource for humans has noticeably increased. Many actions and initiatives to promote soil governance, aiming at sustainable soil management and soil security have been undertaken by several national and international institutions and in many countries. Analysis of the changes of soil perception over the centuries allows highlighting a perfect harmony between the evolution of soil awareness and the level of knowledge and technology achieved by humans during their history and evolution. Notwithstanding these many achievements, soils continue to be scarcely considered in politics and society. We suggest some thoughts …
Smart Sustainable Cities of the New Millennium: Towards Design for Nature
2021
AbstractUrban environments consist of a mosaic of natural fragments, planned and unintentional habitats hosting both introduced and spontaneous species. The latter group exploits abandoned and degraded urban niches which, in the case of plants, form what is called thethird landscape. In the Anthropocene, cities, open spaces and buildings must be planned and designed considering not only human needs but also those of other living organisms. The scientific approach of habitat sharing is defined asreconciliation ecology, whilst the action of implementing the ecosystem services and functioning of such anthropogenic habitats is calledUrban Rehabilitation. However, urban development still represe…
Soil Erosion as an Environmental Concern ... for Everyone?
2020
Nowadays, the scientific community is aware of the negative environmental impacts of soil erosion on ecosystem services. Soil erosion is one of the most important causes of land degradation because of its immediate influence of the most fertile topsoil parts. It is well-known that questions related to who, what, why, where and when soil erosion causes negative impacts must be considered by stakeholders and policymakers. However, why do the Sustainable Development Goals tell anything about soil erosion? In this keynote, we will try to show the importance to develop tools which can be used to assess soil erosion to obtain convincing results for stakeholders and policymakers. According to this…
Sustainable vineyard floor management: An equilibrium between water consumption and soil conservation
2018
Abstract Sustainable vineyards soil management can help to mitigate the negative effect of intensive agriculture on soil ecosystem for the achievement of the sustainable development goals. Cover crops use as cover management in vineyard could be considered as nature based solution for soil restoration and proper water management. Cover crops (CC) provide many ecosystem services through carbon sequestration and climate change regulation, water purification and soil protection. However, a holistic approach is needed to understand the maximum potential ecosystem service that can be provided in different soil and climatic condition also considering vineyard needs. The current knowledge of CC ma…
Soil Quality Characterization of Mediterranean Areas under Desertification Risk for the Implementation of Management Schemes Aimed at Land Degradatio…
2020
Soil is a key component of ecosystems as it provides fundamental ecosystem functions and services, first of all supporting primary productivity, by physical, chemical and biological interaction with plants. However, soil loss and degradation are at present two of the most critical environmental issues. This phenomenon is particularly critical in Mediterranean areas, where inappropriate land management, in combination with the increasingly harshening of climatic conditions due to Climate Change, is leading to significant land degradation and desertification and is expected to worsen in the future, leading to economic and social crisis. In such areas, it is of fundamental importance to apply …
Barriers and Bridges for Landscape Stewardship and Knowledge Production to Sustain Functional Green Infrastructures
2018
Sustainable landscapes and regions require both stewardship and management to sustain the composition, structure and function of ecosystems as a base for delivering human benefits. This complex is captured by the topic of ecosystem services. To deliver these, the concept green (or blue) infrastructure emerged as a tool for spatial planning of networks of natural and semi-natural areas. Such planning requires evidence-based knowledge about both ecological and social systems. For ecosystems, states and trends need be monitored, and improved knowledge must be developed about ecological tipping points for assessment of sustainability, as well as measures for conservation, management and restora…
Towards Functional Green Infrastructure in the Baltic Sea Region: Knowledge Production and Learning Across Borders
2018
Natural capital is the foundation for delivering multiple ecosystem services important for biodiversity and human wellbeing. Functional green infrastructure (GI) is one of the land management approaches to secure the sustainable use of natural capital. This chapter presents the outcomes of a integrative research for knowledge production and learning towards functional GI in the Baltic Sea Region. The overview of attempts to develop functional GI in Sweden, Latvia, Belarus and the Russian Federation, the countries with different contexts, illustrates similar sets of challenges in the maintenance of GI functions for both biodiversity and human wellbeing. The main challenges are (1) sustaining…
The Italian TREETALKER NETWORK (ITT-Net): continuous large scale monitoring of tree functional traits and vulnerabilities to climate change
2020
<p>The  <strong>Italian TREETALKER NETWORK (ITT-Net) </strong>aims to respond to one of the grand societal challenges: the impact of climate changes on forests ecosystem services and forest dieback. The comprehension of the link between these phenomena requires to complement the most classical approaches with a new monitoring paradigm based on large scale, single tree, high frequency and long-term monitoring tree physiology, which, at present, is limited by the still elevated costs of multi-sensor devices, their energy demand and maintenance not always suitable for monitoring in remote areas. The ITT-Net network will be a unique and un…
The Tropical Forest Ecosystem: Reviewing the Effects of Deforestation on Climate and Environment
1991
The rapid decline of tropical rain forests in the 1980s, particularly caused by man-made forest clearance for farmland and timber exploitation, is accompanied by adverse climatic and environmental effects. In particular, rainfall and temperature conditions are adversely changed, with lower rainfall and high-er temperatures. Through deforestation, the atmospheric emissions of CO2 are increased and thus the global greenhouse effect is being strengthened. Tropical deforestation also increases soil erosion, depending upon the type of ecosystem. It also can be seen that floods more often occur in cases of deforestation. An international “action programme” for the protection and preservation of t…