Geremia Gios

Landscape-Recreational Value: A Resource for Local Development—First Results from a Survey in a Small Mountain Valley (Sinello Valley, Vallarsa, Northern Italy)

Abstract The landscape fulfils many different functions and provides multiple benefits in terms of goods and services for human society. For this reason, it must be conserved in its diversity, complexity and functionality. The aim of this paper is to identify which conditions have to be developed to transform the environmental features of a particular area into a source of income for the local population, and thus to set the basis for conserving natural capital by means of a management process. This opportunity results from a change in the willingness to pay (WTP) declared by the actors potentially interested in the characteristics of a given area. Clearly, modifying the WTP may imply, in some cases, the conservation of a specific site through profit-oriented management. This type of activity allows us to minimize the costs for public agencies as well as to ensure long-term sustainability. We evaluate all of this by means of three different contingent valuation surveys conducted in Sinello Valley, which is located in the north-east of Trentino (Italy).

Landscape Conservation: The Perspectives of Experts and Other Stakeholders

Abstract The idea that landscape fulfils many different functions and provides multiple benefits for human society is gaining strength. This new vision of landscape changes both, the interests and the needs of the persons involved and the use and management of the landscape itself. The objective of this paper is to study landscape conservation in a particular mountainous area of Italy, which requires an institutional, non-generic approach. Using the contingent valuation method, we investigated whether there is a relationship between experts’ and casual observers’ evaluations of ten different scenarios in the Leno Valleys. Results show that direct knowledge of the site characteristics increases the awareness of the importance of the site, significantly impacting on conservation choices and strategies.

Multiple Services from Alpine Forests and Policies for Local Development

The starting point of the analysis here presented is the concept of ecosystem services, which could help us appreciate natural systems as vital assets, recognizing the central roles that they play in supporting human well-being, either at the local or global level. In fact, ecosystem services provide benefits, in terms of goods and services, both to people living in the mountains and to people living outside them. At the moment, these services are seriously threatened, and “their global degradation is increasingly jeopardizing development goals”(OECD, 2008). As a consequence, it is necessary to reverse this trend while, at the same time, meeting the increasing demands of and interests in such services.1 The focus of our study are the alpine forest ecosystems, which represent a fundamental resource for people living in mountain areas and for human society, in general.2 In fact, it is commonly known that forests nowadays fulfil several other functions, in addition to what has been perceived as their main function (the productive one). These functions include the protective function, the landscape and recreational function and the ecological function. This functionality means that forests not only produce goods but also various social and environmental services,3 contributing, in many different ways, to the welfare of humans. This capacity is well summarized in the concept of “multi-functionality”. It is clear that ‘‘better understanding of the full range of goods and services supplied by forests is essential for optimal utilization of forests, and it may provide an economic rationale for sustainable forestry’’ (Lange, 2004).

Beyond Commons: New Perspectives and Roles for Common Properties

The aim of this chapter is to give a different perspective on the evaluation of land and goods of common property. These commons are rather frequent in many nations and characterize most of the mountain and upland territories. Biological and cultural diversity in the common property has been generated by adaptation and by exploitation, namely, traditional forest use permitted the expansion of natural diversity (CIPRA, 2008). This diversity is, nowadays, to be considered as a sort of capital from environmental, economic and social perspectives. It leads to an extremely relevant role of social-ecological systems: biodiversity - in fact - has to be considered as a part of the cultural context (UNESCO, 2005).