I servizi ecosistemici nella riproduzione dei sistemi territoriali. Osservazioni da una ricerca sugli scambi montagna-città

From a research for the Metropolitan City of Turin on the flows of matter, energy, services, people and information between the metro-mountain and metro-urban subsystems, it has emerged that the ecosystem flows always have a degree of openness to the outside, which requires an assessment of the positive or negative effects on ecosystems on a larger scale, up to the global one. In perspective, less sectoral and more multifunctional visions of the interventions seem to be required, which also recognize the mountain as a new central location as a privileged place to experiment with alternative life models.

L’approccio patrimoniale ai servizi ecosistemici

The flourishing of literature on ecosystem services testifies to an increase in awareness of the extent to which economic operations of human societies is due to “natural” factors, so far considered as mere marginal conditions. However, this analysis appears to be flawed by an excessive of economism. It is limited to the evaluation of the effects and does not dive into the ecological relationships between community and environment. After introducing the concept of eco-territorial services, this section traces the coordinates of a more mature discussion of this topic, with important repercussions on land use planning.

Servizi ecosistemici in chiave progettuale e proattiva

Having ascertained that the ecosystem service paradigm is a scientific rather than a “natural” one, the text criticizes the purely analytical attitude with which it is usually used; such an attitude, together with the dominance of a purely economic evaluation, is hiding the risk of a real commodification of nature. This highlights the need to progress towards the use of the ecosystem service instrument within a transformative design framework, aiming at social equity, and which adopts an inclusive evaluation system of the local actors.

Un’introduzione ai servizi eco-territoriali

The text supports the introduction, alongside ecosystems services, of eco-territorial services, which unlike the former depend for their very existence on human care actions. To assess them (under a monetary or other perspective) it is necessary to distinguish between the use value and the existence value of each element of the territorial heritage: such a measure can drop to zero or rise to infinity, and is strongly dependent on the culture of the subjects who use it; this also requires the degree of self-determination of their communities to be included in the assessment.

Ecosistemi, boschi e servizi ecosistemici

A series of considerations about the value of the living, the difference between natural ecosystems, neo-ecosystems and artificial systems, self-organization and emerging behaviors, the difference between forests managed and intact in the provision of ecosystem services lead to introduce, alongside the latter, the eco-benefit concept. This perspective requires planning on scales having as a reference the water catchment area, a key element in the fractal nature of the landscape, and to consider forest rewilding as an essential step in territorial politics.

Sostenibilità e riproduzione del capitale territoriale: il problema della scala di analisi

Starting from a critique of the concept of "natural capital" which helps in defining the concepts of territorial and rural capital, the utility is affirmed of measuring the sustainability of individual and collective actions with respect to the contribution they offer to their production and reproduction. The analysis of case studies therefore poses the problem of over-exploitation of territorial capital in the absence of adequate investments for its reproduction. This requires a detailed evaluation of the eco-territorial services, focusing on the communities of actors who take care of them.

La conservazione del patrimonio naturale e paesaggistico mediante la valorizzazione dei servizi ecosistemici offerti dal territorio: considerazioni generali e casi di studio

Pragmatically, the same “utilitarian” vision underlying the ecosystem service paradigm seems to allow an easier understanding by large portions of society of the need to keep the ecosystems in an efficient ecological state, as shown by a series of case studies. Therefore, forms of conservation/biodiversity finance are illustrated, aimed at supporting ecosystem services, and scenarios of integration of the analysis and management of these services at the various levels of environmental planning and evaluation are presented.

Tracciare la rotta per iscrivere i servizi ecosistemici nella pianificazione bioregionale

Although still in a provisional form, as befits a field of study still undergoing consolidation, the text tries to summarize the results that emerged from the contributions collected in the volume and from their comparison; outlining, even before real conclusions, a series of clues, cues and problematic issues with which scientific reflection will have to face in the near future. Therefore, they are to be read as many beginnings of research paths, to be followed towards a plausible way of including ecosystem services in the bioregional planning of the territory.

Servizi ecosistemici, servizio idrico integrato e componenti tariffarie: l’opportunità dei Payments for Ecosystem Services

Having defined the possible relationships between ecosystem services and local public services, the text focuses on the integrated water service, illustrating the regulatory tools that contemplate the "environmental and resource costs" that each user must bear as a principle. A wide examination of national and international cases on the use of Payments for Ecosystem Services for the management of water in a multifunctional perspective highlights the opportunity to raise this tariff component to finance ecosystem services in the territorial field.

Premessa

The short introduction reconstructs the external history of the texts collected in this volume, which are a reworking of the authors' contributions to the seminar "From territorial heritage to eco-territorial services: towards an operational definition". It also draws a quick sketch of the relationships that urge us to rethink the ecosystem services as eco-territorial services, between territorialist approach, bioregional planning, territorial heritage, and answers to be offered urgently to the problems - climatic, environmental, economic and social - posed by a society in transition.