Ilda Mannino

The impact of agroforestry networks on scenic beauty estimation The role of a landscape ecological network on a socio-cultural process

The reintroduction of agroforestry networks (via a GIS-supported design procedure) is one of a number of strategies that some authorities of the lagoon of Venice drainage basin (in Italy) are planning to use in order to control lagoon pollution and to achieve landscape amelioration. While attention is paid to the conservation implications and environmental effects of an ecological network, socio-cultural impacts are not generally given the same consideration. The aims of this paper were (1) to assess the impacts of agroforestry network planning outputs on the perception of landscape in terms of scenic beauty (SB) estimation, (2) to analyze the influence of socio-economic variables on the agroforestry role in SB, (3) to analyze the relationships between SB and landscape variables as measured on the local and landscape scales, and (4) to assess the strength of an expert ratingSB empirical procedure utilized in the GIS system. The outcomes of the GIS planning procedure application were found to have a positive impact on the perceptive evaluation of landscape, but landscape sites preference did not appear to be significantly different between socio-economic groups: in all cases, sites with an optimized agroforestry network were preferred to the same sites without. A strong explanatory relationship was found to exist between citizens’ scenic beauty estimation (SBE) and the landscape metrics. The representative empirical procedure gave sound qualitative results for this kind of landscape, but can be efficiently substituted by the regression model tested at the “local” scale. At the “landscape” scale it appears that (1) the explanatory power of the landscape pattern metrics selected for the GIS procedure is high, even for the mean “social” SBE, (2) the main explanatory power among network metrics is expressed by connectivity and circuitry, and (3) it is reasonable to expect that the impact of an agroforestry network on citizens’ SBE could be predicted with the empirical models that were tested.

The role of agroforestry networks in landscape socioeconomic processes: the potential and limits of the contingent valuation method

Abstract Agroforestry networks can be a means to achieve landscape amelioration. Some authorities of the Lagoon of Venice drainage basin (Italy) are planning, amongst other actions to control pollution in the Lagoon, to reintroduce agroforestry by means of a GIS-supported design procedure. The goals of this paper were to assess (i) the contingent valuation (CV) (willingness to pay and willingness to accept) of agroforestry networks and its relationship with socioeconomic and agroforestry role variables, (ii) the coherence between agro-economic policies and farmers expectations, (iii) the relationship between the value of agroforestry as a “shared good” and water quality (non-point source pollution). Respondents associate a positive value/preference to the agroforestry network implementation, although this value is strongly affected firstly by their identity with the landscape and secondly by their income. The motivations of farmers’ evaluation are precise and the agroforestry network is considered not only as an “ethical object” but also as a concrete element of their own cultural and economic world. In this case the contingent value (in particular, in terms of acceptance) increases with the farmer’s economic capacity, and the farmer’s valuation is not linked only to the “good” but also to the “service” offered for implementing it. The expectations of farmers regarding an agroforestry plantation were lower than European Union incentives at the time of survey, and a lack of results in this field is probably linked to poor information and to bureaucratic difficulties. Even if there is general knowledge on water quality, there is little awareness on the non-point source pollution control effect of agroforestry buffer plantations, either in the common people or in those who are environmentally trained (e.g. planning university students). In every case the agroforestry “shared good” evaluation is high enough to permit efficient and supported intervention policies. These results confirm that landscape choices strongly involve issues of identity, perceived rights and evaluation capacity that cannot be simply resolved in terms of preference cost benefit analyses, but a clever use of the CV allows an identification of these same limitations and a partial estimation of them.

The evaluation of a planning tool through the landscape ecology concepts and methods

Purpose – Landscape ecology represents an area of theoretical and empirical support of spatial planning, providing parameters such as heterogeneity, connectivity and fragmentation. The aim of this study was to use these parameters to evaluate the choices of a real planning tool to protect the biodiversity, to evaluate the applicability limits of concepts and methods used.Design/methodology/approach – This was achieved by analysing the selected spatial indices and their dependency scale, and by the comparison of these results with regard to spatial biotic parameters estimations (birds and mammals).Findings – The study confirmed the scales effect on the indices, unstable at the adopted resolution for extensions up to 6,000‐7,000 meters. The selected indices permitted appreciation of the low effectiveness of the real planning tool in improving conservation of biodiversity. The paper suggests that empirical studies and predictive knowledge at different scales are urgent in this field. To preserve biodiversit...