Suchergebnisse

Low coverage of urban and rural population to waste collection services leads to various environmental threats caused by uncontrolled waste disposal. New EU regulations on waste management issues transposed into national laws have improved this sector, but, the population access to such services is still low compared to others new EU members. A multi-scale approach of this indicator is a necessary tool for a proper analysis of this environmental issue. The maps reveal that Romanian development regions (NUTS 2) have the lowest coverage rates at EU level in 2010. Furthermore, major disparities are reflected between Romanian counties in 2010. Thematic maps outline a comparative analysis at national and regional scale (Romanian counties & cities and communes of North-East Region) between urban vs rural areas in 2010. These geographical approaches are necessary for a better monitoring process of waste management sector

The Italian forest sector is facing significant changes and challenges. Changes have recently occurred in the policy, institutional and legislative framework (e.g. the function-shifting from the Forest Corp to the Carabinieri Military Police and the approval of the new National Framework Forest Law). Meanwhile expanding forest resources and territories/communities depending on them have suffered climate change-related challenges (e.g. fires, Vaia windstorm) and the reduced management of mountain areas. Within such a dynamic/critical context, rethinking and (re)activating forest management (FM) is recognised as a priority. However, different possible development paths are debated. Timber/biomass production remains important within the transition to a bioeconomy. Meanwhile initiatives aiming to value multiple ecosystem services (ES) have been launched and strong rewilding/conservation interests have emerged too. Such different positions reflect on dual FM approaches, i.e. integrated and segregated FM. Implications of these approaches shall be analysed in terms of policy tools and governance arrangements they imply as well as possible results/impacts. The paper identifies relevant policy tools and initiatives in Italy and analyses them concerning their potential implications in terms of supporting integrated/segregated FM approaches. Three cases are analysed in depth, in order to cover a range of situations in terms of geographical scale (national/regional/local), promoters/actors (public/private) and approaches (multifunctional/specialised): -The National Forest Strategy, being developed within the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forest Policies; -The Lowland Forest Association, a public-private initiative operating across regions in Northern Italy and involved in the world-first application of the FSC ES Procedure for certifying a set of five ES; and -The Val di Sella (Northern Italy), home of a permanent land-art exhibition and developing additional initiatives in the field of cultural ES. The paper builds on a qualitative content analysis. By framing policy tools and initiatives, it aims to provide an up-to-date picture of possible directions/trends in future FM developments in Italy. By analysing three selected cases and their expected/on-going implications for the promotion of integrated or segregated FM, different factors, drivers and barriers are discussed. This two-steps analysis will contribute gaining a better understanding of Italian policies and tools and might contribute to inform future research and policy-making.