Speaker
Description
Climate change represents a critical global issue for urban, periurban, agricultural, and natural areas, where significant alterations to ecosystems and habitats are occurring. According to the European Pollinator Initiative (EC, 2018), approximately 80% of crop and wild plant species in the EU depend, at least in part, on animal pollination. In this context, the Mediterranean basin is experiencing rising temperatures, prolonged drought periods, and extreme weather events, which affect both the phenology of plants and, consequently, the feeding opportunities for wild pollinators and the survival of these pollinators themselves.
This contribution presents the methodological framework of the Life 'BEEadapt' project, which links the ecosystem services provided by pollinators with climate change adaptation measures in urban, periurban, and rural areas. The project defines a collaborative governance framework for implementing pollinator-oriented solutions, alongside forms of cooperation between institutions, private entities, and associations for territorial protection.
The project includes applied experimentation in four different Italian territorial contexts: Parco Nazionale dell’Appennino Tosco-Emiliano, Riserva Naturale Montagna di Torricchio, the Agro Pontino, and the Protected Areas of RomaNatura. The selection of these case studies has enabled the analysis and comparison of very different territories, not only in terms of climatic, morphological, habitat, and agricultural characteristics but also due to the variety of key actors and stakeholders involved in the collaborative governance process.
This paper also presents the first results of the Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment, developed through the risk impact chain tool, based on the definition and conceptual framework of the IPCC AR5 (Hagenlocher et al., 2014; GIZ and EURAC, 2017), structured around the interaction of three main elements:
1. Hazard, which considers the effects of climate change, such as rising temperatures and drought, which alter ecosystems and resources. In our case, the global climate models used include temperature, precipitation, and extreme weather events. These integrate historical data (1970-2000) and CMIP6 climate projections (Eyring et al., 2016), based on Shared Socioeconomic Pathways: SSP1-2.6 (low emissions, <2°C) and SSP5-8.5 (high emissions, fossil fuel use).
2. Exposure, which refers to the presence of populations, infrastructure, ecosystems, or economic assets exposed to the dangers of climate change. In our case, the exposed subjects are agricultural companies in the area and the pollinator species (lepidoptera and apoidea). The data used comes from the 2020 Agricultural Census of ISTAT (ISTAT, 2021) and species richness models.
3. Vulnerability, which measures the ability of a system to withstand and adapt to climate impacts. In our case, data on the presence and vegetative vigour of flora (NDVI Index) (Rouse et al., 1974), environmental mosaic heterogeneity (RAO Index) (Rao, 1982), presence of green infrastructure and ecological corridors (Copernicus Small Woody Features) (ESA, 2018), and the suitability of the territory for pollinators (LC classes) were combined.
To obtain an overall risk assessment, the three analysed components were integrated using GIS tools, allowing for a coherent and homogeneous spatial representation. This approach enabled the identification of the most at risk areas of losing ecosystem services of pollination in each case study, providing a foundation for the analysis and planning of targeted interventions.
The results of the BEEadapt project aim to initiate a first consideration about the role that an ecosystem services-based approach can play in supporting governance and the implementation of climate change adaptation policies and strategies.
References
European Commission (EC), 2018. The EU Pollinators Initiative. [online] Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/conservation/species/pollinators/index_en.htm [Accessed 31 January 2025].
European Space Agency (ESA), (2018). Copernicus small woody features 2018 [Raster]. https://doi.org/10.2909/a8e683b1-2f96-45c8-827f-580a79413018.
Eyring, V., Bony, S., Meehl, G. A., Senior, C. A., Stevens, B., Stouffer, R. J., & Taylor, K. E. (2016). Overview of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) experimental design and organization. Geoscientific Model Development, 9(5), 1937-1958.
GIZ and EURAC, (2017). Risk supplement to the Vulnerability Sourcebook: Guidance on how to apply the Vulnerability Sourcebook’s approach with the new IPCC AR5 concept of climate risk. Bonn: GIZ.
Hagenlocher, M., Schneiderbauer, S., Zebisch, M., & Renner, K. (2014). Vulnerability Sourcebook: Concept and guidelines for standardised vulnerability assessments. Bonn: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Adelphi, EURAC Research.
Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT), (2021). 7° Censimento Generale dell'Agricoltura. [online] Available at https://esploradati.istat.it/databrowser/#/it/censimentoagricoltura [Accessed 31 January 2025].
Rao, C. R. (1982). Diversity and dissimilarity coefficients: A unified approach. Theoretical Population Biology, 21(1), 24-43.
Rouse, J.W., Haas, R.H., Schell, J.A., & Deering, D.W. (1974). Monitoring vegetation systems in the Great Plains with ERTS. In Third Earth Resources Technology Satellite-1 Symposium-Volume I: Technical Presentations (NASA SP-351, Vol. 1, pp. 309-317)
| Keywords | Climate Change; Pollinators; Ecosystem Services; Collaborative Governance; Risk Assessment |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
