3 minutes read

Web site VECTOR studies the vulnerability of costal areas and marine ecosystems to climate change in Italy. The objective is to review the most crucial methodological issues that climate change cost assessment and climate change control policies must face, and to develop a methodological framework to be implemented to estimate the costs of climate change at the local level.

VECTOR is a national research project that studies the vulnerability of costal areas and marine ecosystems to climate change in Italy. The consortium consists of various Italian research Institutions with complementary multidisciplinary experience, including geologists, climatologists, ecologists, environmental economists and engineers.<BR> The overall project activities are developed in 10 research lines. FEEM is involved in Line 3 – VARCOS on the impacts of the See Level Rise (SLR) on the costal areas. FEEM’s main responsibilities include the economic assessment of the potential impacts of climate change in the lagoon of Grado and Marano, Friuli Venezia Giulia.

Building on the work performed during previous FEEM’s projects held at Piana di Fondi (Lazio) and Piana del Sangro (Abruzzo), the objective of this research is twofold. First, FEEM applies a participatory approach to reach a shared vision of the main potential impacts that future risk scenarios of SLR can cause in the lagoon of Grado and Marano. With this aim the NetSyMod (Network Analysis – Creative System Modelling – Decision Support) model is applied in the study. NetSyMoD is a methodological framework, developed by FEEM, which uses a suite of support tools to facilitate the involvement of stakeholders or experts in decision-making processes. Second, the main dimensions of impact identified are measured to provide first order-of-magnitude estimates of the cost of climate change in Italian coastal areas. The more vulnerable territorial dimensions are classified and a taxonomy of potential impacts is provided. These include local goods and services, either market and non-market, such as: agricultural and residential areas, coastal areas with recreational and natural values, industrial plants and transport infrastructures.

Using a multiscenario approach and taking into account alternative future risk and socio-economic conditions, the team provides a quantification of the main costs of SLR in the study area.

The first participated workshop with experts, organised by FEEM and held in Trieste, was intended to reach a shared vision on the most relevant dimensions of potential impact due to the risk of Seal Level Rise in the area of Grado and Marano. The experts will be further involved in the partecipatory process by applying different consultation methodologies.

The complexity of climate change cost assessment involves several crucial dimensions, including non-market evaluation, risk and uncertainty, baseline definition, equity and discounting.

The main aim of FEEM’s research is to review the most crucial methodological issues that climate change cost assessment and climate change control policies must face, and to develop a methodological framework to be implemented to estimate the costs of climate change at the local level. The project assesses the vulnerability of Italian coastal areas to the impacts of sea level rise, and focuses on the area of Grado and Marano (Friuli Venezia Giulia).

The role of FEEM is twofold:

  • First, FEEM applies a participatory approach to reach a shared vision of the main potential impacts that future risk scenarios of sea-level rise can cause in the lagoon of Grado and Marano. With this aim the NetSyMod (Network Analysis – Creative System Modelling – Decision Support) model will be applied in the study.
  • Second, the main dimensions of impact identified are measured to provide first order-of-magnitude estimates of the cost of climate change in the Grado and Marano lagoon, by applying specific methodologies for quantifying the market and non-market impacts.