The influence of individuals in forming collective household preferences for water quality

Preference for water quality and its nonmarket valuation can be used to inform the development of pricing policies and long term supply strategies. Tap water quality is a household concern. The objective status quo of water provision varies between households and not between individuals within households, while charges are levied on households not individuals. Individual preferences differ from collective preferences. In households where there are two adults, we examine the preferences of each separately and then as a couple in collective decisions. We show the level of influence each has in developing the collective decision process. We use discrete choice experiments to model preference heterogeneity across three experiments on women, men and on both. We propose a random utility model which decomposes the error structure in the utility of alternatives so as to identify the individual influence in collective decisions. This approach to choice data analysis is new to environmental economics.     

Shrines in Central Italy conserve plant diversity and large trees

Sacred natural sites (SNS) are instances of biocultural landscapes protected for spiritual motives. These sites frequently host important biological values in areas of Asia and Africa, where traditional resource management is still upheld by local communities. In contrast, the biodiversity value of SNS has hardly been quantitatively tested in Western contexts, where customs and traditions have relatively lost importance due to modernization and secularization. To assess whether SNS in Western contexts retain value for biodiversity, we studied plant species composition at 30 SNS in Central Italy and compared them with a paired set of similar but not sacred reference sites. We demonstrate that SNS are important for conserving stands of large trees and habitat heterogeneity across different land-cover types. Further, SNS harbor higher plant species richness and a more valuable plant species pool, and significantly contribute to diversity at the landscape scale. We suggest that these patterns are related not only to pre-existent features, but also to traditional management. Conservation of SNS should take into account these specificities, and their cultural as well as biological values, by supporting the continuation of traditional management practices.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13280-015-0738-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Developing an integrated approach to enhance the delivering of environmental goods and services by agro-ecosystems

It is widely acknowledged that the implementation of the majority of agri-environmental measures (AEMs) does not allow for the quantification of expected environmental benefits, thereby undermining the possibilities to assess both their effectiveness and efficiency. The objective of this paper is to show how an approach to develop agri-environmental measures based on the multifunctional character of agro-ecosystem is useful to overcome the difficulties in assessing expected environmental benefits. In the following sections, the main theoretical concepts underlying the actual European model of multifunctional agriculture are introduced. Following a critique of some aspects of the current analysis of the joint production of environmental non-commodities, the rationale to operate a shift of focus from multifunctionality of agriculture to that of agro-ecosystems is proposed. Finally the methodology developed by the AEMBAC project, based on the assessment of impacts exerted by agriculture on the capacity of local agro-ecosystem to perform environmental functions, is presented to explain how this shift of focus facilitates the assessment of the delivering of multiple environmental goods and services.     

Predicting hot-spots of land use changes in Italy by ensemble forecasting

In the context of environmental change projections at the regional level, not only the climate but also the land use plays a key role. The limited availability of historical information reduces the possibility to calibrate land use change (LUC) models. Even in case of successful calibration, using it both for diagnostic and prognostic studies does not guarantee the reliability of single future simulations. Through ensemble forecasting, useful LUC predictions are evaluable. In this work, after introducing a modified version of the well-assessed CLUE-S model, we present reasonable hot-spots of LUC in Italy for the end of 21st century, derived from the agreement of a 32 simulation ensemble performed alternating two choices for five model configurations or inputs: (1) two different climate projections (reflecting A2 and B2 emission scenarios by IPCC, respectively); (2) two different degrees (slight and strong) of demographic increase; (3) the conservation (or not) of protected areas; (4) the influence (or not) among adjacent land uses in determining their shift; and (5) the importance (or not) of past/recent LUC trends. Results, in terms of LUC hot-spot distribution, were evaluated at administrative, biogeographical, physiographic, and watershed level. The main findings highlighted that some trends of land use substitution will be likely opposite to the past and that a more detailed spatial scale can detect situations neglected by coarser scale evaluations, and due to different transpositions of directives from high-levels to local scales. Biogeographical and physiographic settings seem strongly influencing LUCs, and administrative and catchment units across Italy show very different developments and a highly fragmented territory in terms of LUC hot-spots, all that to be considered in landscape and resource planning.     

Application of the Method of Organizational Congruencies in Substituting Organic Solvents With Vegetable Agents for the Cleaning of an Offset Printing Machine

The aim of this research is the application of the Method of Organizational Congruencies before and after the substitution of organic solvents with vegetable agents for the cleaning of an offset printing machine in order to assess the organizational changes. A solvent-free process is the goal of the Subsprint Project (Technology Transfer Program of the European Community). This, study shows how human and environmental health is improved by using vegetable agents, though this change may lead to some other organizational constraints such as an increase of tbe time needed, monotony, and repetitiveness of the technical actions involved. The authors underline that the knowledge of the impact of the new technology on health helps a better understanding of the resistance to the change and its further amelioration.     

Emergy and emergy algebra explained by means of ingenuous set theory

Emergy is an important concept that has originated several effects in ecology, systems ecology and sustainability science. Its communication, however, has always presented several problems, since it does not follow the same rules of conservation as other energy-based approaches. Attempts have been made to clarify emergy by means of more formal/mathematical approaches, but the problem persists. In this paper, we have introduced a view of emergy and of its algebra based on ingenuous set theory. By means of this simple tool, emergy can be defined as the set of solar exergy that is directly and indirectly necessary to make a product. The operation that correctly sums the emergy “carried” by the inputs to a process is the union. This definition and the operation of union are able to account for all the rules of emergy algebra.     

The relationship between agricultural intensification and biological control: experimental tests across Europe

Agricultural intensification can affect biodiversity and related ecosystem services such as biological control, but large-scale experimental evidence is missing. We examined aphid pest populations in cereal fields under experimentally reduced densities of (1) ground-dwelling predators (-G), (2) vegetation-dwelling predators and parasitoids (-V), (3) a combination of (1) and (2) (-G-V), compared with open-fields (control), in contrasting landscapes with low vs. high levels of agricultural intensification (AI), and in five European regions. Aphid populations were 28%, 97%, and 199% higher in -G, -V, and -G-V treatments, respectively, compared to the open fields, indicating synergistic effects of both natural-enemy groups. Enhanced parasitoid: host and predator: prey ratios were related to reduced aphid population density and population growth. The relative importance of parasitoids and vegetation-dwelling predators greatly differed among European regions, and agricultural intensification affected biological control and aphid density only in some regions. This shows a changing role of species group identity in diverse enemy communities and a need to consider region-specific landscape management.