Iacopo Bernetti

Wine and globalisation: changes in the international market structure and the position of Italy

Purpose – This paper aims to offer an insight into the fundamental structural changes that the wine sector world‐wide is undergoing as a result of globalisation and mounting international competition.Design/methodology/approach – The most important recent trends in wine production, consumption and distribution are analysed and possible future scenarios for the wine industry outlined. The constraints and opportunities that wine operators are facing and are likely to face in the future are also examined, as is competition between Old World and New World producers. In this context, an analysis of the structure of the Italian wine industry serves to underscore the importance of the local factor and its link to quality as a competitiveness tool.Findings – Globalisation has boosted competition between Old and New World producers. However, varying structures of production suggest the appropriateness of adopting competitive strategies shaped according to the varying relationship between different producers and th...

Land use change and the multifunctional role of agriculture: a spatial prediction model in an Italian rural area

Land use and cover change are very complex phenomena, based on relationships among environmental, social and economic factors. Moreover, its analysis could be highly valuable for predicting the effects of land use change and for planning a policy intervention able to steer agricultural activities towards sustainability. We implemented a spatial prediction model of agricultural land use changes using a Bayesian-based procedure (Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence). This model focuses on the probability maps of changing in a Tuscan area, as derived from the land use change tendency shown in Corine Land Cover (CLC) 1990 and CLC 2000. The social characteristics of the farmer (age, educational level), farming system and farm structure characteristics based on past agricultural census data are taken into consideration. The multifunctional contribution each land covers option is then derived.

State of the art of ecosystem services research at the global level: a multiscale quantitative review

A literature review focused on ecosystem services (ES) research on a worldwide level was performed. The work considered a quantitative analysis based on text mining. Digital information derived from more than 13,000 scientific papers was processed. Temporal trends of ES, the primary research interest, and specificities of different contexts were depicted. Based on a multiscale approach, the above parameters were defined for the global level, regions of the world and countries. The results focused on the relation among ES issues with: 1) techniques for the monetary quantification of ES; 2) the investigation of payments for ecosystem services at a regional scale; 3) the analysis of sustainability pillars. The applied methodology was an updatable and flexible approach useful for the quantitative literature review of specific ES branches, as well as for gap analysis. The final remarks concentrated on future improvements to facilitate the widespread and user-friendly diffusion of the method.

L'impiego degli automi cellulari per la costruzione di scenari di cambiamento dell'uso del suolo

The paper moves from the necessity of understanding the implications of landscape changes, as it is a very important issue for the sustainable planning of rural areas. The observation of the current decrease in rural landscape, which is mainly due to both abandonment and the uncontrolled and rapid spreading of certain urban areas, especially underlines the pressure on rural-urban fringes. The attention to these areas is increasing, as policy makers and institutions recognise their particular role in the balance of rural landscape and, as a consequence, the particular issues and requirements. The paper aims at the definition and testing of an integrated system for the analysis and the evaluation of the effects of agricultural and urban policies on land use change and landscape, in order to supply policy makers and public administrators with an important tool for the decision making process.

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.

Integrated Management of Forest Ecosystem Services: An Optimization Model Based on Multi-objective Analysis and Metaheuristic Approach

The goal of this research was to implement an optimization model that allows definition of best management strategies in the forest sector. The case study is depicted in a coniferous stand (silver fir—Abies alba Mill.) of Tuscany (central Italy). Four ecosystem services were quantified from biophysical (timber produced, carbon stored, ecosystem diversity, recreational function) and economic (total economic value of the above parameters) perspective. The indicators are aggregated through a multi-objective approach (compromise programming). In the framework of forest seen as complex adaptive systems, different management strategies can lead to emergent reaction of forest functions. Due to nonlinear and non-continuous interactions as well as to the presence of feedbacks and loops among environmental and socioeconomic forest components, results are optimized by means of differential evolution and particle swarm algorithm. The genetic algorithm was applied to minimize the distance from ideal point. The best value of the decision variable (rotation period) was defined for different scenarios based on compensatory level of criteria, constraints and presence/absence of forest thinning. Conflicting trends and trade-offs are highlighted when different criteria were optimized. Among outputs, thinning intervention seems to reduce the performance of several criteria in the study area. Strengths and weaknesses of the model as well as potential future improvements are finally discussed.

Urban-rural bioenergy planning as a strategy for the sustainable development of inner areas: A GIS-based method to chance the forest chain

We describe the application of the spatial-based r.green.biomassfor Decision Support System (DSS), which is able to calculate the energy available from forest biomass residues, in a case study in an inner area of Italy, the Union of Pistoia Apennines Municipalities. Inner areas need strategies to counteract demographic abandonment as well as to improve socioeconomic conditions. This work considers the suitability of urban buildings to be served by biomass-energy plants as well as the supply/demand balance at the basin level. The suitability of the implementation of district-heating plants (DHP) was computed by means of a multicriteria analysis (MCA) model able to combine the following parameters: (i) yearly energy needs at the building level, (ii) building density, (iii) distance from the gas network and (iv) accessibility of the buildings/urban context. The MCA involved various experts and stakeholders to choose the parameters and to assess the weight to be assigned. A participative approach based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was carried out. Once DHP suitability and potential energy demand had been calculated, the basin energy density was computed. The optimal localization of DHP was then determined at the geographic level to analyze the technical and economic availability of the bioenergy supply. The new DHP implementation was analyzed for basins with both a high supply/demand ratio and high building suitability. Using the r.green.biomassfor software, the bioenergy availability was estimated from both ecological and economic points of view, while taking into account several environmental, technical, normative and financial variables. A series of scenarios have been analyzed using sensitivity analysis. The absence/presence of bioenergy production, as well as the variability of woodchip prices, stressed the high importance of wood-residue valorization for the improvement of the forest chain. The approach we tested allows for better understanding and valuation of marginal areas in which planning is more difficult because resources are unevenly distributed. By highlighting suitable basins, energy planning is focused where it is advisable. The DSS is an effective tool for planning and communicating spatially explicit results to stakeholders. Although forest biomass covers a limited amount of energy demand and must be integrated with other renewable sources, forest-biomass valorization has huge positive side effects on the energy-supply production chain and can be a driving force to revive local economies. Our spatial results confirm the validity of a holistic strategy for local development.

L’IMPATTO DEI CAMBIAMENTI CLIMATICI SUL SETTORE PRODUTTIVO FORESTALE TOSCANO: STIMA DEI DANNI ECONOMICI NEL PERIODO 2007-2099

Il cambiamento climatico evidenziatosi negli ultimi decenni ed in particolare negli ultimi anni, comporta numerosi impatti dal punto di vista ambientale e socio-economico, sia a scala globale che locale. In quest’ottica la definizione di tecniche che permettano una quantificazione economica dei danni da cambiamento climatico diviene fondamentale per l’applicazione di adeguate forme di gestione dei sistemi a rischio. In base alla definizione di vulnerabilita e resilienza fornita dall’Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, e stata definita una serie di indicatori utili per la valutazione delle due precedenti caratteristiche per l’ambito forestale. La quantificazione del danno economico sul settore forestale potenzialmente derivante dal cambiamento climatico, e stata implementata attraverso l’utilizzo della teoria dell’evidenza di Dempster-Shafer e della tecnica della logica sfocata. Il risultato derivante dalla quantificazione di rischio e resilienza, e stato utilizzato per la stima dei danni economici grazie ad una procedura di analisi spaziale su mappe raster. Infine, il modello di calcolo elaborato, e stato testato sul territorio della regione Toscana.

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