Urban Areas and Watershed Services: Strategies for Ecosystem Management and Urban Risk Reduction

7 Pages Posted: 30 Mar 2014

See all articles by Yaella Depietri

Yaella Depietri

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM)

Lorenzo Guadagno

International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Margaretha Breil

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei

Date Written: March 27, 2014

Abstract

Under scenarios of increasing unplanned urban expansion, environmental degradation and hazard exposure, the vulnerability of urban populations needs to be tackled through novel, integrated solutions. Basing our analysis on the concept of ecosystem services, we suggest that urban areas would benefit from a shift in perspective recognizing the connections between urban areas and watersheds. By integrating an ecosystem approach into the management of water-related services, urban management policies could take a first step towards fostering an improvement of the health of upstream and downstream areas of the watershed, activating environmentally sound practices and economic strategies which aim at guaranteeing the sustainable and cost effective supply of services. From our analysis it results that, through the recognition of the primary role played by watershed ecosystems, cities can benefit from an enlarged set of policies, which can help strengthen the supply of essential environmental services, while reducing the vulnerability of its population and contributing to the maintenance of healthy ecosystems.

Keywords: Urban watersheds, Ecosystem services, Water supply and Sanitation, Disaster risk reduction, Valuation

JEL Classification: I14, Q01, Q25, Q54, Q57

Suggested Citation

Depietri, Yaella and Guadagno, Lorenzo and Breil, Margaretha, Urban Areas and Watershed Services: Strategies for Ecosystem Management and Urban Risk Reduction (March 27, 2014). Review of Environment, Energy and Economics (Re3), March 2014, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2417318

Yaella Depietri

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) ( email )

Campo S. M. Formosa, Castello 5252
Venezia, 30122
Italy

Lorenzo Guadagno

International Organization for Migration (IOM) ( email )

17, Route des Morillons
Geneva 19, 1211
Switzerland

Margaretha Breil (Contact Author)

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei ( email )

Campo S. M. Formosa, Castello 5252
Venezia, 30122
Italy
+390412711453 (Phone)
+39 0412711461 (Fax)

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