Can Planning Policies to Counter Hydro-Geological Hazard be Grounded on Ecosystem Service Assessment? Suggestions from a Sardinian Case Study

This study focuses on the relations between the definition and implementation of regional green infrastructure (RGI or GI, in the general case) and environmental hazard, identified by flooding and landslide phenomena. The implementation of GI within planning policies could improve the effectiveness of policies aimed at promoting landscape and environmental protection. GIs are spatial structures supplying a wide range of ecosystem services, which entail interactions with areas characterized by different levels of environmental hazard. GI is considered in this study as a provider of ecosystem services related to the following aspects: nature, natural resources and conservation and enhancement of biodiversity; landscape, culture and recreation; agricultural and forestry production; local climate regulation; and, climate change impact mitigation through capture and storage of carbon dioxide. A methodological framework is defined and implemented into a subregional spatial context located in the coastal zone of Eastern Sardinia. The methodology is aimed at assessing the relations between GI and environmental hazard through inferential analysis based on dichotomous-choice Logit models in order to increase the understanding and interpretation of the role that could be played by GI as regards control of environmental risk, and to identify policy recommendations thereof.