Research/Ricerca

Current activities

  • Spatial analysis, integrated assessment and modelling;
  • Integration of physical and economic approaches for sustainable develpment;
  • Climate change vulnerability, risk, capacities and impacts on socio-ecosystems, mitigation and adaptation strategies;
  • Decision support systems, participatory modelling and decision/policy making for environmental management;
  • Natural resources management (IWRM; ICZM; agri-environment; biodiversity conservation, etc.);
 Research

Past activities

  • Land classification and land planning; land suitability; land capability; land vulnerability; thematic mapping; agricultural diffuse pollution; waste management;
  • Crop rotation; cultivation systems; management of inputs: water and agrochemicals, with specific emphasis on environmental aspects;
  • Computer science applied to land management and planning: digital image processing of remote sensing data and geographical information systems;
  • Agronomical and environmental simulation modelling;
  • Statistics and geostatistics applied to agricultural and environmental studies;

Main contributions to research projects:

  • 1994-95: EU DGXII Poject ” MEDALUS II: Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use” (expert);
  • 1994-96: EU FP4 Project “Soil and water quality as affected by agrochemicals under different tillage systems”(coordinator of field scale modelling)
  • 1994-98: EU FP4 Project ” IMPEL: Integrated Model to Predict European Landuse” (project partner)
  • 1995-97: EU DGVI Concerted Action “SAGA: Sustainable Agricultural Use of Aquifers in Southern Europe: Integration between Agricultural and Water Management Policies” (project partner)
  • 1996-97: EU DGXIII Project “SPHERE: +Substitution Projects for health and environment; Lessons from Results and Experiences” (expert)
  • 1998: EU DGXI Project “The environmental impact of maize cultivation in the European Union: practical options for the improvement of the environmental impact” (expert)
  • 2001: EU, DGXII-INCO-DEV  Project COASTIN: Measuring, monitoring, and managing sustainability: the coastal dimension” (expert)
  • 2001-04: EU FP5 Project “ACCELERATES: Assessing Climate Change Effects on Land use and Ecosystems: from Regional Analysis to The European Scale” (responsible of research group)
  • 2001-03: EU FP5 Project “MULINO: MULti-sectoral, INtegrated and Operational decision support system for sustainable use of water resources at the catchment scale” (coordinator)
  • 2002-05: EU FP5 INCO-MED Project “SMART: Sustainable Management of Scarce Resources in the Coastal Zone” (responsible of research group)
  • 2002-07: Research Project of the EU Mediterranean Cooperation MEDA: “ISIIMM: Instutional and Social Innovation in Irrigation Mediterranean Management “(responsible of research group)
  • 2003-06: EU FP5 Project “TRANSCAT: Integrated water management of transboundary catchments” (responsible of research group)
  • 2004-07: EU FP6 Project “ITAES: Integrated Tools to design and implement Agro Environmental Schemes” (responsible of research group)
  • 2004-07: EU FP6 Project “MEACAP: Impact of environmental agreements on the CAP” (responsible of research group)
  • 2004-08: EU FP6 Coordination action “Nostrum-Dss: Network on gOvernance, Science and Technology for sustainable water ResoUrce management in the Mediterranean. The role of DSS tools” (coordinator)
  • 2005-09: Research Project of the EU DG-Research FP6 “NEWATER: New Approaches to Adaptive Water Management under Uncertainty” (responsible of research group)
  • 2005-09: EU FP6 Project “Brahmatwinn: Twinning European and South Asian River Basins to enhance capacity and implement adaptive management approaches” (responsible of research group)
  • 2007-11: EU FP6 Coordination action “SPLASH: European Water Initiative – Era-Net; Coordination of Member State research programmes in water science and technology for the developing world” (responsible of research group)
  • 2008-11: EU Alpine Space Programme: “ClimAlpTour: Climate Change and its impact on tourism in the Alpine Space” (responsible of research group)
  • 2010-12: EU Era-Net on Integrated Water Resources Management: “ICARUS: IWRM for Climate Change Adaptation in Rural Social-Ecosystems in Southern Europe” (coordinator)
  • 2010-13: EU FP7 Project: “KULTURisk: Knowledge-based approach to develop a cULTUre of Risk prevention” (responsible of research group)
  • 2012-14: EU Alpine Space Programme: “C3-Alps: Capitalising Climate Change Knowledge for
  • Adaptation in the Alpine Space”  (responsible of research group)
  • 2012-16 EU Tempus Project CLIMADAPT: “Building CLIMate change ADAPTation capacity in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia”  (responsible of research group)
  • 2015-2017: EU H2020 Coordination and Support Acation PLACARD: “PLAtform for Climate Adaptation and Risk reduction” (responsible of research group)
  • 2016-18: EU Alpine Space Programme AlpES: “Alpine Ecosystem Services – mapping, maintenance, management” (responsible of research group)
  • 2015-17: Veneto Region Project on the Common Agricutlturl Policy after 2020 “Outlook PSR (responsible of research group)
  • 2018-20: Veneto Region Project on the support to new regional agricutltural policy “CORASVE (responsible of research group)
  • 2020-: Enel FOundation Project on Introducing climate proofing in investments and spatial planning (project coordinator)

Collaborations and consultancies:

  • 2007-08: World Bank: A Pilot Study on Payment for Ecological and Environmental Services in Lashihai Nature Reserve, China
  • 2008-12: Agriconsulting: Evaluation of Rural Development Plans of the Veneto and Lombardy regions in Italy
  • 2010: FAO and World Bank: Albania water resources and irrigation project. Prioritization of Investments in Reservoir Rehabilitation
  • 2010-12: IPCC: Review editor of the voulme “Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX)”
  • 2013: World Bank: consultancy services for project preparation and feasibility study for Ferghana valley (Uzbekistan) water resources management phase-ii project
  • 2014-15: USAID-NASA (MSI): Evaluation of the impacts of SERVIR Project Applications (development of project assessment procedure based on social network analysis)
  • 2015: UNESCO-WWAP and the Arab Gulf Programme for Development: Training and writing materials for the programme  “Capacity Development of Workers in the Water Sector”
  • 2016-: Co-Chair of the SDGs Assessment Core Group of the Sustainable Water Future Program, within the Future Earth a 10-year initiative to advance Global Sustainability Science
  • 2018-19: World Bank: Feasibility study on methodology of quantification of indirect financial losses from natural disasters (case studies in Morocco and Bangladesh)

 

© Ca'Foscari 2012