Marina Macchia (p), Colomba Sermoneta

Marija Bockarjova

There is a growing awareness of the need to reduce GHG emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change. One way to do this is to reduce emissions from livestock production and grazing practices, which can be achieved through the adoption of more sustainable livestock management practices.
Indeed, livestock production and grazing practices significantly contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change. In particular, enteric fermentation and manure management represent the majority of methane and nitrous oxide emissions from the agricultural sector and a significant percentage of total emissions from all sectors.
The estimation of various GHG indicators falls under the purview of other Research institutions within the Italian SISTAN network. However, ISTAT can provide a significant contribution to such indicators through the analysis of the spatial distribution of livestock activity at a local scale, derived from geolocated administrative and census sources, valid for the year 2020.
Overall, the study aims to locate the areas where livestock activity takes place and where emissions of some of the most important agricultural GHGs are produced. This could help to identify possible measures to mitigate GHG emissions and reduce the environmental impact of livestock production more easily.

Marija Bockarjova (p), Job Papineau Salm, Wouter Botzen, Hens Runhaar

Marina Macchia

Urban nature increases the liveability of cities and can improve their resilience to climate change. However, the value of urban nature often remains unknown, which results in its omission from urban planning decisions. Particularly the valuation of small-sized urban nature remains understudied. This study, therefore, employs a stated preference methodology to estimate the economic value of seven types of small urban nature and four associated ecosystem services: namely, temperature regulation, flooding risk regulation, air quality regulation, and biodiversity. We perform two choice experiments: one with urban parks, urban forests and green corridors and another one with even smaller urban nature types (green roofs, green walls, street trees, and green beds). The results of the choice analysis show that urban residents are willing to pay more for the former types of urban nature but not for the latter types. Urban parks are valued the most, followed by urban forests and green corridors. Within the smallest urban nature types category, street trees are valued most followed by green beds and green walls, whereas green roofs are least valued. In terms of ecosystem services, urban residents are most willing to pay for increased urban biodiversity. Urban nature’s contribution to flood risk reduction, cooling, and improved air quality is valued substantially lower. We discuss various opportunities and barriers to implementing the valuation results in urban planning practices. Exploratory interviews reveal that practitioners and planners are most likely to use the results of this study as an instrument to convince other stakeholders and form more effective alliances for greening projects in urban areas. We discuss opportunities and barriers to implementing economic valuation results in urban planning practices. Several policy and future research recommendations are proposed.