Daniele Bruschi

An estimation of urban fragmentation of natural habitats: Case studies of the 24 italian national parks

Italy is a densely populated country, where most of the land is actively used by its human population. As a result, many of the remaining natural areas are subject to different typologies of human pressures that generally cause habitat fragmentation. Habitat fragmentation, unanimously considered as one of the greatest threats to biodiversity conservation, is due to a variety of factors related to land use changes, such as urban sprawl, increasing of transport infrastructures, and the intensification of agriculture and forestry practices. The main purpose of this paper was to investigate levels of natural habitat fragmentation due to the presence of human settlements in the Italian National Parks through the use of the Urban Fragmentation Index (UFI). All the results were recorded in a GIS database (Geographic Information System), elaborating a new method for a comparative spatial analysis of these records in order to achieve a critical scale of the habitat fragmentation levels in each of the 24 Italian National Parks. The results represent an important indicator for the prioritization of biodiversity conservation interventions in the Italian National Parks.

Risk assessment of oil spills along the Mediterranean coast: A sensitivity analysis of the choice of hazard quantification

Oil pollution in the Mediterranean represents a serious threat to the coastal environment. Quantifying the risks associated with a potential spill is often based on results generated from oil spill models. In this study, MEDSLIK-II, an EU funded and endorsed oil spill model, is used to assess potential oil spill scenarios at four pilot areas located along the northern, eastern, and southern Mediterranean shoreline, providing a wide range of spill conditions and coastal geomorphological characteristics. Oil spill risk assessment at the four pilot areas was quantified as a function of three oil pollution metrics that include the susceptibility of oiling per beach segment, the average volume of oiling expected in the event of beaching, and the average oil beaching time. The results show that while the three pollution metrics tend to agree in their hazard characterization when the shoreline morphology is simple, considerable differences in the quantification of the associated hazard is possible under complex coastal morphologies. These differences proved to greatly alter the evaluation of environmental risks. An integrative hazard index is proposed that encompasses the three simulated pollution metrics. The index promises to shed light on oil spill hazards that can be universally applied across the Mediterranean basin by integrating it with the unified oil spill risk assessment tool developed by the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean (REMPEC).

Coastal and marine impact assessment for the development of an oil spill contingency plan: The case study of the east coast of Sicily

This project is one of the results of the multi-year collaboration in coastal and marine sustainable management, planning and policy between the General Directorate for Nature and Sea Protection of the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea and the CITERA Research Centre (Centro Interdisciplinare Territorio, Edilizia, Restauro, Ambiente) of the Sapienza University of Rome. The main objective of the project was to analyze the parameters involved in preparedness, prevention and response actions required by the Italian Ministry for the setting up of an Oil Spill Contingency Plan. Due to its critical anthropic impacts and its huge environmental heritage in terms of biodiversity richness and coastal geomorphological variety, the Eastern Sicily coastline, bounded by the geographic vertices of Cape Peloro and Cape Passero, has been chosen as the study area. Moreover this area is characterized by significant economic activities such as fishing and tourist industries. One of the major aims of the study was to rank coastal areas on the basis of their sensitivity to an unforeseen oil spill. Physical, geomorphological, biological and environmental attributes have been gathered using remote sensing techniques and field works, and they have been subsequently elaborated for the valuation of oil spill environmental sensitivity indices (ESI). In addition to ESI values, the elaborated maps contain other important information like landscaping and environmental constraints, human-use resources, archaeological and historical sites, and marine benthic biocenosis. In order to achieve the tasks and draw up the maps, the whole data set has been reported in a Geographical Information System (GIS) database. The obtained results include operational maps

Identification and prioritization of areas with high environmental risk in Mediterranean coastal areas: A flexible approach

Interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity are the cornerstone for the future management of coastal ecosystems with many vulnerability and hazard indexes developed for this purpose, especially in the engineering literature, but with limited studies that considered ecological implications within a risk assessment. Similarly, the concept of prioritization of sites has been widely examined in biodiversity conservation studies, but only recently as an instrument for territory management. Considering coastal plant diversity at the species and community levels, and their vulnerability to three main potential hazards threatening coastal areas (oil spills, Hazardous and Noxious Substances pollution, fragmentation of natural habitats), the objective of this paper is to define an easy-to-use approach to locate and prioritize the areas more susceptible to those stressors, in order to have a practical instrument for risk management in the ordinary and extra-ordinary management of the coastline. The procedure has been applied at pilot areas in four Mediterranean countries (Italy, France, Lebanon and Tunisia). This approach can provide policy planners, decision makers and local communities an easy-to-use instrument able to facilitate the implementation of the ICZM (Integrated Coastal Zone Management) process in their territory.

Local energy planning: Potential and perspectives of transport sector in sustainable energy action plans (SEAPs) of four small Italian islands

Nowadays, Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs), represent a great tool for European municipalities and regions to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate their own energy and climate actions, and in doing so contribute to GHG reduction and adaptation achievements. The study analysed the SEAPs of four small Italian islands (SIIs) to evaluate specific impact of transportations taking into account interactions with local renewable energy. Assessing the forecasts for 2020 and 2030 scenarios, in accordance with European and National laws in force, the aim of this paper is to assess an integrated flowchart for planning transport sector and to harmonize it with renewable energy sources (RES) at the local scale.