COMPENSATING LOCAL

GOVERNMENTS FOR ECOLOGICAL

SERVICES: A PROPOSED
NATURALNESS
  INDEX
 

Ilda Dreoni

University of Turin
 INTRODUCTION
The dominant economic development model ignores the
limits resulting from the finiteness of natural resources.

One of the main issue concerns the artificial

transformations of land which have a strong impact on
the balance of the ecosystem  and that reduces its ability
to supply ecological goods and services.
 
In this context, the function of spatial planning is crucial in
the management of environmental purposes and affects
decisively the degree of naturalness of the national
territory.

The environmental protection function produces positive

externalities that local authorities, responsible for land
management, can not fully internalize.
 OBJECTIVE
Develop new policies to reverse the perverse economic
incentives that lead to degradation of the Italian territories.

For this purpose it is necessary to develop new methods

to integrate environmental benefits into market
mechanisms.
 

The proposed naturalness index, based on land cover

 
datas, may be used for the development of market-based
instruments that permit the internalization of
environmental externalities.

The final purpose is to orient the land-use planning

towards environmental sustainability and to strengthen
environmental policies implemented at sub-national levels
of government.
 NATURALNESS MEASUREMENT

The degree of naturalness of the land is directly

connected to the existing biodiversity.

However, this assessment requires

  knowledge, acquisition
and processing of a large number of information and data
given the complex set of relationships that characterize
 
natural ecosystems.

The development of a synthetic index, which involves

modest costs in its elaboration, is essential to promote a
real integration of environmental issues within the policies
implemented at all levels of government.
 NATURALNESS INDEX

Three indicators were analyzed to develop a representative

naturalness index:

- the Net Landscape Ecological Potential Index proposed

  Agency;
by the European Environmental

- the Landscape Conservation  Index proposed by

Pizzolotto and Brandymar (1996);

- the Naturalness Land Index proposed by Osservatorio

Città Sostenibili (2002).
 NATURALNESS INDEX
The index proposed is based on cardinal rating techniques
of classes of indicators corresponding to the ecological
value of existing biotopes.

According to the reclassification proposed for the

calculation of Naturalness Land Index an ecomosaic map
was created and for each category of biotope was
assigned values ranging from 0 (maximum level of
artificiality) to 1 (maximum level of naturalness).

The indicator proposed by Osservatorio Città Sostenibili

was further improved introducing considerations related to
the designated areas for nature protection and to the land
fragmentation.
Fig. 1 Naturalness map of Emilia Romagna
Fig. 2 Naturalness map of Sardegna
 NATURALNESS INDEX
Summarizing, the calculation of the final naturalness index (N) for each
province is based on the following steps:
- creation of the naturalness map (ecomosaic map) relate to each
province j and weighting of the each biotope (i) area (S) based on the
naturalness value (n):
Vi j= ni x Si
- calculation of the total naturalness value (VT) of the province j as the
sum of the naturalness values of the biotopes that constitute it:
VTj = Ʃ Vij, for i = 1,....,n
- calculation of the total weighted naturalness value (VN) as a product of
the total naturalness value relate to each province j and the fragmentation
factor (F):
VNj=VTj x Fj
- calculation of the final naturalness index (N) relate to each province j as
the ratio between the total weighted naturalness value (VN) and the
provincial area (S):
Nj = VNj/Sj
 Tab. 1 Calculation of the final naturalness index
for the provinces of Emilia Romagna and
Sardegna
Total Fragm e n ta Total n atu ral n e ss
Are a (S j) Natu ral n e ss
n atu ral n e ss ti on factor we i gh te d val u e
Ha i n de x (Nj)
val u e (VTj) Ha (Fj) (VNj) Ha
B ol ogn a 363,946 133,399 0.94 125,813 0.35
Fe rrara 255,434 68,787 1 68,787 0.27
Forl ì -C e se n a 235,036 114,240 0.95 108,762 0.46
Mode n a 263,589 91,809 0.96 88,283 0.33
Parm a 336,658 172,213 0.96 164,570 0.49
Pi ace n z a 252,470 107,930 0.97 104,282 0.41
Rave n n a 181,422 43,315 0.94 40,574 0.22
Re ggi o n e l l 'Em i l i a 224,829 82,488 0.95 78,772 0.35
Ri m i n i 51,535 8,013 0.85 6,829 0.13
Total e 2,164,920 822,195 786,673 0.36

C agl i ari 452,031 257,163 0.96 248,083 0.55

C arbon i a-Igl e si as 148,801 90,823 1 90,823 0.61
Me di o C am pi dan o 151,343 64,868 0.99 64,535 0.43
Nu oro 391,985 279,659 0.97 269,911 0.69
O gl i astra 184,377 142,631 0.97 137,713 0.75
O l bi a-Te m pi o 337,791 216,246 0.98 212,497 0.63
O ri stan o 302,096 152,218 0.95 145,157 0.48
S assari 425,897 216,560 0.98 212,770 0.50
Total e 2,394,321 1,420,168 1,381,489 0.58
Fig. 3 Final naturalness index of the provinces of
Emilia Romagna
Fig. 4 Final naturalness
index of the provinces of
Sardegna
 LIMITS

- Exclusion from the assessment of the aquatic

ecosystems.

- Influences on the degree of naturalness of each biotope

depending on the context in which it is inserted.
 
- Influences on the degree of naturalness of the
designated areas for nature protection depending on the
 
intensity of protection.

- Availability of thematic maps related to cover and land

use at a level of detail suitable for local applications
(1:25.000).
 CONCLUSION

The methodology presented represents a first stage of

research for the implementation of biodiversity
conservation policies based on market-based
 
instruments.

 
The implementation of funding mechanisms for
environmental services offered by local authorities within
the Italian local finance system would allow a better
integration between economic development and
environmental policies improving the efficiency and
effectiveness of biodiversity conservation policies.