Enrico Marone

Il valore d’uso delle aree verdi: la stima dell’universo dei fruitori di alcuni parchi urbani fiorentini

The importance of the valuation of public goods is growing. In fact, only by determining the economic value of these assets is possible to determine the efficiency of the investments and of the maintenance. The problems in estimating the total economic value relate to two fundamental aspects: the choice and implementation of the more accurate evaluation methodology and the identification of the universe of users. In literature, in fact, the issue of the universe is often resolved by considering the number of potential users (be they the inhabitants of a city, a neighborhood, a street, etc..) and not the actual visitors. This leads to an underestimation or an overestimation of the use value of public goods. The objective of this research is to focus on this issue by proposing a specific methodological approach to correctly estimate the universe of the actual users of different urban green areas of Florence.

Le variazioni del territorio rurale e le diverse tipologie di imprenditore agricolo: un caso di studio

The increasing attention of the Agricultural Policies on the issues regarding rural development must take into account the elements which influence the farmers’ behaviour. In fact, it is thanks to the farmers’ choices that there will be direct effects on the territorial, social, environmental and economic rural development. This paper examines a marginal area of Tuscany, the Mugello, and for that territory several farmers’ typologies have been detected. These farmers’ typologies are differentiated depending on the followed objective function, in order to assess the most probable future landscape management. Together with this economic analysis, based on a farmers’ typologies mathematical programming approach, the paper implements also a georeferred analysis (SIT), thanks to which it has been possible to create forecasted scenarios, using a raster cartography.

Optimisation of the regional energy supply network: a multi-objective analysis in the province of Florence (Italy)

This work presents an integrated method for the optimisation of a regional wood-energy supply network. The model is based on a scalar system that comprises a demand point (district heating plants (DHP)) and bio-energy sources (supply basin (SB)), each of which is related to a biomass terminal. The objective of optimisation is based on both technical-logistics and environmental parameters. An SB is defined by the anisotropic weighted Voronoi tessellation methodology. The parameters are then aggregated to a multi-objective analysis that includes the optimisation of variables and compromise programming approach. Results permit the identification of the best supply chain organisation and the determination of the agro-forest energy districts where rural policy and intervention could be applied. The model was tested in the province of Florence (central Italy) to depict efficient scenarios for the fuelling of DHPs.

Cost analysis on water resource: the case study of plant nursery in Pistoia (Italy)

Questo articolo esamina le relazioni tra gli aspetti economici relativi alla gestione delle risorse idriche nel florovivaismo nella Provincia di Pistoia e la loro gestione sostenibile. L’obiettivo e di analizzare nel dettaglio gli investimenti necessari e la struttura dei costi d’irrigazione con tecniche a risparmio idrico crescente. L’utilita di questa ricerca e data dalla conoscenza dei costi aziendali dell’uso dell’acqua e dai benefici ambientali associati a un intervento pubblico a favore del risparmio idrico nel florovivaismo.

Economic analysis to support the implementation of Directive 60/2000 EC in the context of the plant nurseries of Pistoia (Italy)

La gestione dell’acqua in agricoltura e un tema che interessa da tempo il mondo istituzionale e accademico. In ambito politico, la direttiva 2000/60/CE pone l’accento sulla necessita di mettere in atto, da parte degli Stati membri, adeguate politiche in grado di orientare gli utilizzatori ad una gestione efficiente e sostenibile dell’acqua. In questo contributo verra esaminato un caso di studio particolarmente interessante per quanto riguarda l’uso dell’acqua in agricoltura, ovvero il vivaismo pistoiese. Saranno quindi presentati i risultati relativi all’analisi delle aziende vivaistiche della provincia di Pistoia in merito al loro utilizzo della risorsa idrica. Inoltre sara introdotto il tema delle analisi economiche nella gestione dell’acqua ad uso irriguo e, a tale riguardo, saranno indicati i possibili strumenti per una gestione sostenibile dell’acqua nel vivaismo pistoiese.

Economic Impact of Regulation on Sustainable Irrigation Schemes: a Case Study on a Plant Nursery

In agriculture, water is a fundamental but increasingly scarce resource that requires careful use. The goal of fostering water-savings could be achieved with a regulation that imposes more efficient irrigation systems. This might represent the only policy option when water withdrawals cannot be controlled and when the operational context does not allow filling the information asymmetry between policy makers and farmers with metering systems, quotas, or market rights. The regulation could involve higher costs for farmers. However, it could represent an opportunity to increase farm revenues if consumers are willing to pay a higher price for goods produced according to an ecological standard. Knowledge of the costs and possible benefits is relevant because it would enable us to understand the potential cost allocation among stakeholders according to how the policy is designed. The results of this study indicate that the management cost of a sustainable irrigation system could be at most 48% greater than that of a wasteful, traditional system. However, the higher costs of the regulation could be compensated for because consumers are willing to pay 6.8% more for less intensive water-use agricultural products. Therefore, a regulation associated with the promotion of hypothetical water-saving label can be the best strategy to irrigation efficiency in agriculture.

The recreational value of forests under different management systems

Forest degradation is a severe threat to the provision of ecosystem services, such as timber production, biodiversity and hydrogeological protection. Forest abandonment is one of the main causes of forest degradation in Mediterranean areas where the low value-added of forest activities affects economic sustainability. This issue requires urgent restoration actions which must be supported by cost–benefit analysis that comprises all forestry activities that generate income, including the recreational ones. In effect, while the impact of forest management systems on timber production is well studied, the impact of recreational values is not. The present article intends to demonstrate that different forms of forest management result in a differing willingness to pay (WTP) for maintaining the recreational use of forests. We collected 248 questionnaires from respondents who confirmed their WTP for the maintenance of the recreational function of forests under three management systems: coppice, active conversion to high forest, and the natural evolution of forests. Moreover, we tested the influence of certain socio-demographic variables on individual WTP. Users elicited a high preference for conversion to high forest, while natural evolution was the least preferred management system. Moreover, males and users with higher levels of education had a greater WTP for conversion to the high forest approach.

Geographical Analysis of Agro-Environmental Measures for Reduction of Chemical Inputs in Tuscany

The agro-environmental policies included in rural development plans are getting increasing importance in European Community strategies. These policies represent the meeting point between demand and supply of positive externalities. The difficulty of assessing real environmental efficiency is one of the elements characterizing agro-environmental measures. This difficulty is related to the identification of suitable parameters for evaluating farms according to their impact on the territory. This impact is mainly related both to chemical inputs and to the territorial characteristics of the farm. Different types of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides are currently used in production processes; however, the analysis has focused only on nitrates, as they represent the most critical types of chemicals related to soil pollution. A case study is provided by analysis of agro-environmental measures in Tuscany for the reduction of nitrates in organic and integrated farms. Using spatial multicriteria analysis, integrated and organic farms were classified according to their geographical locations and their release of nitrates into the soil. This classification permits the highlighting of farms that make the greatest economic efforts to reduce pollution and therefore it could determine environmental benefits. Considering that the trend of policy strategies is toward a reduction of monetary resources, the classification could help decision makers choose the right allocation of future resources.

Full cost analysis and the economic sustainability of the wine sector: the case of Chianti Classico

This study aims at providing a model for sustainability assessment of the wine sector using full cost and market price analysis. The study starts with a territorial approach for the analysis of the characteristics of Tuscan wineries; it then focuses on the specific production of Chianti Classico wine (by means of a direct survey) and its market in Italian Modern Distribution (MD). The results of the analyses show, at territorial scale, a critical situation for the whole Tuscan wine sector. In the specific case of Chianti Classico, production costs structure is very homogeneous and rigid. Moreover, the comparison with market prices in MD highlights the difficulties for wineries in covering all production costs, especially if long term costs and remuneration of all production factors are considered. The assessment of economic sustainability, which can be considered an useful strategic tool for both wineries and public decision makers, is strictly linked, for Chianti Classico, to the opportunity to find another, remunerative distributing channel, even if MD maintains an important role in wider marketing strategies and as a benchmark for the final consumer.

Il catasto da strumento di conoscenza “strutturale” a strumento di informazione “funzionale” delle risorse territoriali

Nella societa contemporanea e nei contesti socioecomicamente “piu avanzati”, come comunemente intendiamo definire quello nel qual noi stessi viviamo e sempre piu evidente l’esigenza di confrontare i crescenti bisogni individuali e collettivi con la sostenibilita delle scelte che effettuiamo: sostenibilita che misuriamo ponendo attenzione tanto ad obiettivi di crescita economica che di garanzia di certi valori sociali e ambientati, sia in favore delle presenti generazioni, sia di quelle future. Tra le molteplici risorse, quella territoriale rappresenta senza dubbio la componente sulla quale si concentrano le maggiori attenzioni e le piu complesse problematiche di scelta, dovendo conciliare le posizioni di molteplici portatori di interessi che contemporaneamente si rivolgono legittimamente ad esse. L’esasperazione della pressione antropica in tutte le sue forme1 sollecita una crescente attenzione verso la gestione sostenibile di questa risorsa, attribuendo alla piena conoscenza delle sue caratteristiche un punto indispensabile per sviluppare qualunque processo decisionale legato ad un suo razionale impiego: conoscenza che soddisfa gli obiettivi di sviluppo solo se essa giunge a relazionare, con opportuno dettaglio di georeferenziazione, tutte le informazioni relative alla consistenza e alle caratteristiche di tutte le risorse territoriali in rapporto a tutti gli altri elementi utili a descrivere le caratteristiche del sistema sociale, economico e ambientale locale. Nell’ambito specifico del contesto rurale, ossia in quell’ampia parte dell’area vasta governata dalle attivita del primario, questi temi relativi alla sostenibilita delle scelte, ovvero al rapporto tra risorse e bisogni, sono strettamente coniugati alla “multifunzionalita” delle attivita agricole: ammessa l’esigenza di pretendere che una attivita produttiva impieghi le risorse territoriali conciliando l’interesse delle singole imprese2 con