Francisco Diniz (p), Almeida, Z, Scheuneman, I, Sequeira Teresa

The territory is a spatial cutout that includes nature and society, characterised by social, political and economic relationship flows. The conquest of Rio Doce territory was the first step towards clearing Brazilian hinterland, in the state of Minas Gerais, in the search for gold and gems. A small trading post on the riverbank of Rio Doce gave origin to a town called Governador Valadares (GV). Intensive exploitation of natural resources led to unsustainable economic growth cycles and ultimately to the depletion of the area. This study wishes to look into the history of the formation of the territory and the building of its territoriality. The methodology used was the study case, a research approach that studies phenomena within their real context. After bibliographic and documentary surveys had been conducted, two field researches were undertaken in order to: a) assess public and private secondary school students’ and teachers’ awareness of Rio Doce — origin and historical references of the town — its environment; b) determine how the various social actors look at the “town we have” and the “town we would like to have” in a near future. Results point to an assessment represented in the SWOT analysis. The main goal of this study is to put forward a Masterplan regarding the Integrated Management of the Territory(IMT) in order to lead and promote sustainability in Governador Valadares, with Rio Doce as the main factor that congregates the interests of the town and of the region. Underlying the proposal there is a strategic view of the town, with new collective references, a redefinition of territorial alliances and economic bases, solidarity bonds, a cultural basis and the sense of identity. The main challenges identified in the present study are: fighting alienation; establishing a permanent dialogue with social actors; and setting out a dynamic, flexible and inclusive plan in order to achieve quality of life for present and future generations through new ways of planning that are targeted to sustainable development and based on human capital formation, so as to unite people, multiply knowledge and bring together wills. The model proposed in this study may be replicated in other towns.

Stefania Tonin (p)

Coastal and marine ecosystems provide goods and services that are essential for our well-being (Beaumont et al. 2008). However, they are strongly dependent on biodiversity (Schwartz et al. 2000), which makes them extremely vulnerable to environmental change (Nunes 2001). Human activities are degrading the quality of marine biodiversity and thus diminishing the ability of marine ecosystems to provide goods and services (Worm et al. 2006; Petrosillo et al. 2007). The observed global deterioration of marine biodiversity has resulted in a worldwide demand for changing the way the resources of oceans and seas are managed and safeguarded. Scholars agree that governmental strategies implemented until now have failed to deliver sustainable use of these resources and to ensure marine biodiversity conservation in many regions of the world (Beaumont et al. 2008; Brooks et al. 2006).
Recent studies have found that ecosystem services conservation success is often grounded in local population support. Other empirical studies demonstrate that policies and activities are necessary to improve the relationship between public managers and communities and between socioeconomic and conservation outcomes (Abecassis et al. 2013; Atkins et al. 2011). Institutional and governance innovation is thus required for ecosystem conservation, and that such innovation can best be achieved by engaging in the process the local population. The challenge is to understand how to engage society and stakeholders in supporting conservation strategies and sustainable behavior
This paper will describe the results of a questionnaire administered in Italy with the aim of collecting a wide spectrum of information, opinions and attitudes of the general public regarding ecosystem services (ES), marine biodiversity, marine protected area (MPA), and other topics related to their management and conservation strategies. The first aim of the questionnaire was to understand what people know about the main ES produced by a coralligenous habitat locally named “Tegnùe”, located in front of the Lagoon of Venice (North Adriatic Sea), and then to investigate public opinions and attitudes towards governance instruments and policies for the management and conservation of this ecosystem. Moreover, a contingent valuation scenario was designed to allow the estimation of people’s willingness to pay (WTP) for the creation and management of MPA as an effectiveness instrument for conservation and management of ecosystems services.
The final questionnaire was administered using CAWI to a sample randomly drawn and stratified to represent national population data on gender, age, and education; 4000 complete questionnaires were collected in December 2015.

Katsuhiro Sakurai (p), Hiroyuki Shibusawa

In this study, we develop a socio-economic model to evaluate the land use conversion and industrial subsidy policy as a water environmental measure in the river basin. The target area is the Toyogawa basin, Aichi prefecture, Japan. The Toyogawa basin is located in the East Mikawa area in the southern part of Aichi Prefecture. In particular, the basin’s southern area has been developed since the area’s water for household, agricultural, and industrial uses is supplied by the Toyogawa River. Currently, this development includes high-value-added agricultural systems in the cities of Toyohashi and Tahara as well as the manufacturing base, which includes the automobile industry, beyond the Mikawa Port. Because the area’s water supply also depends on the Toyogawa River, changes in the industrial structure and residents’ lifestyles have resulted in a serious problem of water shortage. This has also caused several policy issues to arise, including water environmental preservation in the Mikawa Bay. However, the water-environment problems such as water contamination have become increasingly important. To clarify the relationship between these factors and determine the best approach to solve these pressing issues, we first analyze regional data of the Toyogawa Basin and construct a system model to clarify the interaction between the regional economy and the water environment in the basin. This model describes ongoing socio-economic activities and their impact on the water environment in the area. Next, using this model, we will analyze the relationship between the regional economy and water environment, and estimate the impacts of the regional economy on the water environment in the Toyogawa Basin. Finally, we evaluate the land use conversion and industrial subsidy policy as a water environmental measure in the basin via a simulation analysis using the developed model. For example, the land use conversion and industrial subsidy policy means that, for example, the local government promotes highly-productive industry in the region to convert rice paddies into abandoned farmland and give rice farmers subsidies to reduce the farm production.