Marco Bagliani

Territory and energy sustainability: the challenge of renewable energy sources

The issue of energy production is assuming an ever more pivotal role in the most recent international debate on sustainable development. In particular, the development of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) is seen as a great opportunity to achieve sustainability objectives and targets. This consideration reinforces the great debate on the active role of the local dimension in achieving sustainability objectives. A RES-based energy model implies complex re-organisation of the territory with, usually, increased decentralisation of energy production and consumption and the use of widely-diffused energy resources. This paper argues that utilisation of RES implies the need for careful consideration of their relationship with the territory and, more generally, with the local scale. The real commitment of the local scale in promoting RES development depends on the multiple possible relations that exist between renewable energy and socio-economic complexity, on the one hand, and ecosystem complexity, on the other. This paper aims to achieve three main objectives: (1) establish the role of the local dimension in the most recent debate on sustainable development; (2) illustrate how multiple relationships between RES and the territory may be represented; (3) verify how, through RES, the local dimension can actively contribute to pursuing sustainable development objectives.

Rethinking Water Resources Management Under a Climate Change Perspective: From National to Local Level. The Case of Thailand

Likewise many other countries in Southeast Asia region, Thailand has historically enjoyed relatively abundant water resources. Nevertheless, recently, this flood-prone country’s attention has shifted to drought, as evidence of a globally changing climate. In order to gain better insights of Thai water resources and disaster management, a review of institutions involved and policies promulgated at national level has been conducted. What comes up from this review is that, on paper, Thailand does present a very complex and sophisticated disaster management devise which, apparently, does not seem to be linked in any way to ordinary water resources management, and what is more important is that a gap emerges when it comes to translate a national-level master plan into lower administrative levels (namely at regional, provincial, district and local administrative organization levels). Poor communication, overlapping roles and responsibilities amongst concerned agencies, lack of budget availability and no long-term vision plans are only few of the shortcomings hindering an effective implementation of disaster prevention and mitigation plans. Hence, this chapter seeks to rethink water-related disaster management in Thailand by (re-)shaping the institutional and policy landscapes, envisaging more holistic coordination mechanisms and information flow which would engage all administrative levels (from national level to local level) and concerned stakeholders.

Ecological Footprint Applied in Agro-Ecosystems: Methods and Case Studies

Covering over a fourth of global land area [1], agriculture has been outlined as one of the most relevant human activities associated with ecosystem degradation. A major cause of environmental impacts from agriculture is due to the high quantity of resource used in terms of water consumption and soil degradation: the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [1] estimates that 70% of total available water is used in agriculture and the extent of cultivated systems covers 24% of the terrestrial surface. Furthermore, just in the past 100 years, agriculture has been drastically transformed from a resource-based subsistence activity to a highly technological and resource demanding sector. This rapid industrialisation of agriculture, which is based on the use of fossil fuels, produces wastes and residuals that exceed the assimilative capacities of ecosystems and results in alterations to global climate and deterioration of land, air and water in many parts of the world.