Water-Dependent Ecosystems in Italy

Water is a key element of all the ecosystems and creates a complex web of connections between nature and society that need to be properly understood and quantified. Ecosystem services assessment, combining ecology with economic evaluation, can help identify holistic management strategies that preserve the ecosystems multifunctionality while enhancing the benefits produced by water. In the last decades, Italy has moved towards the adoption of an “(eco)systemic approach” in natural resources management, from local pilot experiences (for instance, Regional Law no. 13/1997 in Piedmont) up to the recognition of the importance of Natural Capital and its accounting in the national legislation (the 2015 Collegato Ambientale). In between, several experiences of innovative management practices, such as Payments for Ecosystem Services, have been experimented. The overview here presented aims at giving evidence of the work done so far, highlighting the limits and potential of introducing the concept of ecosystem services to support watershed management.