Department of Science and Technology, Parthenope University of Naples, Centro Direzionale-Isola C4, 80143 Napoli, Italy.
Department of Science and Technology, Parthenope University of Naples, Centro Direzionale-Isola C4, 80143 Napoli, Italy.
Sci Total Environ. 2015 Feb 15;506-507:137-48. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.10.085. Epub 2014 Nov 18.
Natural systems make their natural capital and ecosystem services available to human economy. A careful analysis of the interplay between natural and human-made capital is needed to prevent natural capital being overexploited for present economic benefits, affecting lifestyles and wellbeing of future generations. In this study, the emergy synthesis is used to evaluate the natural and the human-made capital of Campania region (southern Italy) by accounting for the environmental support directly and indirectly provided by nature to resource generation. Furthermore, geographic information system (GIS) models are integrated with the emergy accounting procedure to generate maps of the spatial patterns of both natural and human-made capital distribution. Regional storages of natural and human-made capital are identified and evaluated in emergy units (seJ). The human-made capital of the Campania region (6.29E+24seJ) results to be about 11 times higher than the natural capital (5.69E+23seJ) due to the past and present exploitation of the natural resources needed to generate it over time. Moreover, by overlaying the total natural capital map and the total human-made capital map with a map of the protected areas within the region, only the 19% of the regional natural capital appears to be concentrated within protected areas, while most of it (81%) is concentrated outside. These findings suggest that the conservation of natural resources is also necessary outside protected areas by means of suitable policies, directives and investments. The human-made capital is mainly concentrated (88%) inside non-protected areas and interacts with the local natural capital. A management of the interactions between the two categories of wealth is crucial to prevent that the growth of human-made storages degrades the natural ecosystems and the environment. The proposed emergy-GIS framework reveals to be a useful tool for environmental planning and resource management aimed to conserve and protect the regional environmental heritage.
自然系统为人类经济提供自然资本和生态系统服务。为了防止自然资本因当前经济利益而被过度开发，影响子孙后代的生活方式和福祉，需要对自然资本和人造资本之间的相互作用进行仔细分析。在本研究中，通过核算自然为资源生成提供的直接和间接环境支持，利用能值综合方法评估了意大利南部坎帕尼亚地区的自然资本和人造资本。此外，还将地理信息系统（GIS）模型与能值核算程序相结合，生成自然资本和人造资本分布的空间模式图。以能值单位（seJ）识别和评估区域自然资本和人造资本的存量。由于过去和现在对生成人造资本所需的自然资源的开发利用，坎帕尼亚地区的人造资本（6.29E+24seJ）约为自然资本（5.69E+23seJ）的 11 倍。此外，通过将总自然资本图、总人造资本图与该地区保护区地图叠加，只有 19%的区域自然资本集中在保护区内，而大部分（81%）集中在保护区外。这些发现表明，需要通过适当的政策、指令和投资，在保护区外保护自然资源。人造资本主要集中在（88%）非保护区内，并与当地自然资本相互作用。管理这两类财富之间的相互作用对于防止人造资本存量的增长破坏自然生态系统和环境至关重要。所提出的能值-GIS 框架被证明是一种用于环境规划和资源管理的有用工具，旨在保护和保护区域环境遗产。
