Rete Natura 2000, Servizi ecosistemici e reti complesse

Transcription

1 Rete Natura 2000, Servizi ecosistemici e reti complesse Facoltà di Ingegneria e Architettura - 7 dicembre 2015 Seminario organizzato nell ambito del progetto di ricerca Natura 2000: Valutazione dei piani di gestione e studio dei corridoi ecologici come rete complessa finanziato dalla Regione Sardegna, L.R. 7/2007, bando 2013 How does Strategic Environmental Assessment help bridging spatial planning and preservation of ecosystem services? Empirical findings from Sardinia, Italy Sabrina Lai, DICAAR

2 ( Ecosystem services: a definition Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems, including provisioning services such as food and water regulating services such as regulation of floods, drought, land degradation, and disease supporting services such as soil formation and nutrient cycling cultural services such as recreational, spiritual, religious and other nonmaterial benefits (MA, 2003)

3 Land-use changes and ES land-use & land-cover changes human activities natural events modification in structures and functions of ecosystems alterations of ecosystem services effects on human well-being

4 Spatial planning and ES Resulting in one or more services being favored over the others, land-use changes usually entail a trade-off between ES. Provisioning services Cultural services Land use changes Regulating services Hence spatial planning, with its ex-ante spatial allocation of land uses, can play a key role in preserving healthy ecosystems and ensuring a balanced trade-off between ES. Supporting services

5 Towards the identification of a research gap Many studies have proposed methods for mapping and assessing ES and their flows (e.g. Burkhard et al., 2009; Burkhard et al., 2012; Bunse et al., 2015; Crossman et al., 2013) Burkhard et al., 2009 Burkhard et al., 2012

6 Towards the identification of a research gap Still little investigated is the way land-use changes affect provision and flow of ES. DeFries et al., 2004

7 Towards the identification of a research gap And still little investigated is also the relationship between planning scenarios and ES alterations. Geneletti, 2013

8 Biodiversity Population Human health Fauna Flora Soil Water Air Climatic factors Material assets Cultural heritage Landscape IMPACTS Exploring linkages between ES and SEA SEA aims at ensuring a high level of protection of the environment and to contribute to the integration of environmental considerations into the preparation and adoption of plans and programmes with a view to promoting sustainable development (Directive 2001/42/EC): a mandatory and participatory environmental assessment has to be carried out for those plans and programs that might lead to significant effects on the environment. Which likely impacts need to be taken into account in SEA? interrelationships In the absence of a mandatory requirement, limited consideration of ES in SEA has been reported. (Baker et al., 2013, Honrado et al., 2013, Mascarenhas et al., 2015, Partidario and Gomes, 2013)

9 Exploring linkages between ES and SEA However, explicit inclusion of ES in SEA processes has been advocated. SEA can act as a legal vehicle to incorporate ES approaches in planning; this would in turn benefit SEA processes because ES-based approaches, due to their holistic nature, have the potential of encompassing the so-called silo-based approach (Baker et al., 2013) quite common in SEA processes. (Geneletti, 2011) ES consideration calls for the identification of ES beneficiaries, people who depend on ES to maintain their basic subsistence, health, income, personal security, or income (Landsberg et al., 2011) hence ES would help bridging the environmental and the socio-economic dimensions of a plan. ES inclusion in SEA helps identify unattended and unwanted consequences of policy implementation on human well-being, because the valuation of ES clarifies costs and benefits of development plans to different stakeholders. (Kumar et al., 2013) ES-based approaches, as well as EIA & SEA, often make use of scenario analysis: common tools and methods would help strengthen SEA analyses.

10 Exploring linkages between ES and SEA Geneletti (2011) regards (SEA) as an excellent platform for a systematic consideration of the effects of land-use changes on ES Baker et al. (2013) have explored whether integrating ES may help address some of the common problems with current environmental assessment practice by looking at four SEA case studies. Although taking a skeptical view, they nonetheless conclude that integrating ES within EA has potential value and identify potential areas of contribution. Rega and Spaziante (2013) advocate the integration of ES in SEA as a means to enhance adaptive management, promote accountability and foster stakeholder engagement in the making of agri-environmental schemes.

11 Exploring linkages between ES and SEA But how should this inclusion work? Only some tentative guidance documents have been proposed. (e.g. Landsberg et al., 2011) Some reviews of current approaches have been proposed by Partidario and Gomes (2013), Honrado et al. (2013), Mascarenhas et al. (2015). Following on Mascarenhas et al. s (2015) review framework, the extent to which ES are explicitly being taken into account in spatial planning in Sardinia is next examined by looking at a sample of 46 SEA reports related to: 23 municipal land-use plans (MMPs, ): legally binding, they allocate future land uses, and rule over allowed land transformations and development. 5 sectorial regional plans ( ), including the regional forestry plan, the water district management plan, the waste management plan, the flood risk management plan, and a plan for a national park: many of them provide a mandatory framework for MMPs; the regional scale is deemed as particularly adequate for ES integration. (Mascarenhas, 2015) 18 management plans (MPs) of Natura 2000 ( ): they aim at maintaining natural habitats or restoring them at a favorable conservation status, hence affecting positively ES, whose consideration should therefore be more likely than in other plans and related SEA processes.

12 Methodology: content analysis Building upon Mascarenhas et al. s (2015) study, a content analysis of policy and guidance documents pertaining to spatial planning and SEA in Sardinia was carried out. Content analysis: any technique for making inferences by systematically and objectively identifying special characteristics of messages (Holsti, 1968) analysis of the data once organized according to certain content elements should involve consideration of the literal words in the text being analysed, including the manner in which these words have been offered (Berg, 2001) Key terms associated with the concept of ES were selected on the basis of a literature review (both individual terms and combinations) and next coded. The location was also coded following the structure of an SEA report. QDA Miner Lite (freeware) was used.

13 Methodology analysis: the coding Key terms (original Italian) ecosistemico ecosistemici servizio ecosistemico servizi ecosistemici servizio ambientale servizi ambientali equilibrio ecosistemico equilibri ecosistemici funzionalità ecosistemica valore ecosistemico beneficio ecosistemico benefici ecosistemici servizi(o) * regolazione servizi(o) * regolamentazione servizi(o) * fornitura servizi culturali servizio culturale ecoturismo Location in the SEA report Contents and objectives of the plan Current state of the environment and likely evolution in the absence of the plan Environmental characters of the areas concerned by the plan Current environmental issues Environmental objectives set at the international, European, national and regional levels that are relevant to the plan Effects of the plan on the environment Prevention and mitigation measures Alternative analysis Monitoring turismo sostenibile turismo naturale turismo naturalistico servizi ricreativi servizio ricreativo ricreazione

14 The coding - example

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16 The coding - example

17 Results: key terms Very few SEA reports explicitly mention ES, either as ecosystem service(s) or as environmental service(s) (in their Italian translations). 3 MMPs SEA reports 3 MPs SEA reports 0 regional plans SEA reports No SEA report explicitly mentioned ecosystem benefits or regulating services as such. Supporting services: 1 MMPs SEA reports 1 MPs SEA reports 0 regional plans SEA reports Cultural services (cited as ecotourism, sustainable tourism, nature tourism, recreation ) 13 MMPs SEA reports 2 MPs SEA reports 0 regional plans SEA reports

18 Results: locations Location in the SEA report MP MP MP MMP MMP MMP Contents and objectives of the plan X Current state of the environment and likely evolution in the absence of the plan X X Environmental characters of the areas concerned by the plan Current environmental issues Environmental objectives set at the international, European, national and regional levels that are relevant to the plan X X X X Effects of the plan on the environment Prevention and mitigation measures Alternative analysis Monitoring

19 Results: locations An objective set by the Regional Landscape Plan for rural landscapes, in which issues such as air quality and energy dependence should be considered, with a view to improving not just agriculture production, but also those environmental services that depend upon agriculture. A definition of sustainable development (as one that provides environmental, social and economic services to all members of a community, without threatening the functioning of those systems on which the supply of such services depends ) A conservation objective set in the European strategy for sustainable development (improving the management of natural resources and prevent their overexploitation because they are valuable for the ES they provide) ES are here looked at as something external to the plan being assessed and to be taken into account only to asses its consistency with the planning and programming framework.

20 Results: locations ES are themselves part of the objectives of the MMP, which has borrowed an objective established by the Regional Landscape Plan and concerning rural landscapes, hence the SEA report assesses the consistency of this objective of the plan with the goals of other plans and programs concerning not only rural landscapes, but also air quality, water management, competitiveness of the agricultural productions. [ ]

21 Results: locations This is not surprising and rather consistent with the aim of MPs, which is that of preserving habitats and species deemed of community importance in a favorable conservation status, hence consideration of ES in this context accounts for a broad and holistic view in relation to the MPs goals.

22 Conclusions This preliminary analysis, builds on the first part of the framework developed by Mascarenhas et al. (2015). It has concerned 46 spatial plans developed at the regional, subregional or municipal level, and shows that explicit consideration of ES in SEA processes is still in its infancy in Sardinia; this is consistent with findings of similar analyses concerning Portugal (Honrado et al., 2013; Mascarenhas et al., 2015) and Germany. (Albert et al., 2014) Seldom (only in six cases out of 46) are ES explicitly acknowledged in the SEA reports, and extremely rare (only in one case) is their inclusion among the aims of the plan. Moreover, little or no evidence has been found of explicit inclusion of other related key terms such as ecosystem benefits, supporting services or regulating services, with the only exception of cultural services, cited under various forms. Again, this is consistent with previous research (Mascarenhas et al., 2015), and it supports the view that in environmental assessments nature is mainly conceived of, in a conservatory manner, as the provider of the cultural ES of recreation.

23 Conclusions Explicit inclusion of ES in SEA is important because it helps putting the environmental objectives in a clearly communicable framework identifying ES beneficiaries, therefore easing the mandatory selection of stakeholders to be included in the SEA process. Still open question: are ES being taken into account in a less transparent way? Future directions: 1. whether consideration of ES is implicit in the SEA reports; it is expected that such consideration, at least to some extent, is present, given the very nature and aim of SEA, but the role it plays (e.g. assessing the state of a given environmental characteristic; evaluating likely impacts; informing the selection of indicators) is uncertain and might be very different across the case studies. 2. whether the form such implicit inclusion takes differs depending on the type of the plan; this exploration could be especially important in order to understand the absence of explicit consideration of ES in the regional plans here examined, which was unexpected because of their very nature and aim (e.g. relating to forestry, water provision and management, or flood prevention and mitigation).