Environmental Quality and Sustainability in the Province of Reggio Emilia (Italy): Using Multi-Criteria Analysis to Assess and Compare Municipal Performance

Journal of Environmental Management (2001) 63, 117–131 doi:10.1006/jema.2001.0465, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on Environmental quality and sustainability in the province of Reggio Emilia (Italy): using multi-criteria analysis to assess and compare municipal performance Alessandro Ferrarini†, Antonio Bodini‡* and Massimo Becchi§ †Environmental Consultant, Via Luigi Longo1, 43100 Parma, Italy ‡Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 33/A, 43100 Parma, Italy §Legambiente of Reggio Emilia, Via Lusenti 9/A, 42100 Reggio Emilia, Italy Received 19 February 2000; accepted 23 April 2001 Sustainability has become an increasingly significant issue, although practical implementation remains difficult. In Italy, promoting sustainability is particularly problematic at the provincial and municipal level, where the lack of resources and expertise, and the effects of uncoordinated policies make it difficult to achieve minimum requirements to make sustainable policies operational. One essential requirement is knowledge of baseline environmental conditions in each municipality. In the province of Reggio Emilia (Northern Italy) Legambiente, an environmental association, launched an initiative called ‘Ecopaese’ aimed at gathering data on environmental conditions and stimulating local administrations to implement sustainable policies. To this end, the state of the environment in the 45 municipalities within the province has been monitored using 25 indicators. Their values have been used to rank the municipalities by multiple criteria analysis (MCA). The results of this comparative approach provide information about the level of sustainability attained in the province as a whole as well as in the single municipalities. It is hoped that it will provide the basis for direct action plans at the provincial level by identifying areas for remedial action, as recommended by Agenda 21, the declaration adopted by many countries attending the Rio Summit in 1992. 2001 Academic Press Keywords: Agenda 21, sustainability, multicriteria analysis, non-governmental organisations, environmental policy. Introduction elements in the transition towards sustainability (ICLEI, 1992). Local authorities are responsible for creating and maintaining economic and social Premise infrastructures and establishing local environmental policies. As the governmental level closest to Agenda 21, the declaration adopted by many coun- the population, they are in charge of the active tries attending the Summit at Rio in 1992, sets implementation of national and sub-national envi- out many of the policies and commitments neces- ronmental programs, and are responsible for their sary to ensure sustainability (Brady, 1992). While success or failure (ICLEI, 1997). there are clearly problems which require supra- In this framework, contrasting evidence emerges national monitoring and regulation, Agenda 21 between countries. Where local authorities have a emphasises the role of local initiatives as pivotal longer history of environmental responsibility, as in the UK (Marshall, 1993; Gibbs, 1994; UK Local Ł Corresponding author Email: [email protected] Government Management Board and Touche Ross 0301–4797/01/100117C15 $35.00/0 2001 Academic Press 118 A. Ferrarini et al. Management Consultants, 1994; but see Tuxworth, Objectives 1996), the implementation of EU and international recommendations is facilitated, and incorporating The initiative focused at both the provincial and criteria for sustainability into planning has been municipal levels and had two main objectives. The a relatively smooth process. In other countries, first was to use the results of the survey to identify by contrast, attempts to pursue sustainability at environmental conditions throughout the province the local scale are often hampered by the lack of and thus provide the basis for an environmental an adequate regulatory framework from central action plan. The second was to use the indicators authorities, resources, and necessary expertise to identify specific areas for remedial action at the (Bosworth, 1993; ICLEI, 1998). municipal level. Situation and problem General approach In Italy local policies emanate from a variety of Twenty-five indicators were selected, focusing on regional, provincial and municipal authorities. To those aspects for which sufficient data were avail- make sustainability operational these authorities able. A comparative approach seemed the most should work in a co-ordinated fashion, but such appropriate strategy. Differences and similarities, integration is still in its infancy because they necessary to highlight patterns of environmental have different, often conflicting, priorities. The first conditions at the provincial level, could emerge level of integration involves the smallest admin- only through a comparison of the environmental istrative units, the municipalities. Co-ordinated performance of the municipalities. Also, the factors efforts require that common goals are defined at responsible for bad or good performance could be the provincial scale, and that municipalities set up identified, suggesting areas for remedial action at their policies accordingly. To this end it is neces- the municipal level. sary to know the state of sustainability reached Multiple criteria techniques were used. In gen- by every municipality, and to use this informa- eral, these tools are used in decision-making sce- tion to highlight similarities and differences in the narios, when a solution must be selected from a way the municipalities have come to grips with set of alternatives. In Ecopaese there were no the challenge of sustainability. This approach may real alternatives, as the idea was to compare help to define reasonable thresholds and common environmental conditions; nonetheless, the values minimum requirements so that all the municipali- assumed by the indicators could be seen as the ties can actively participate in the implementation result of alternative approaches to environmental of Agenda 21. sustainability. From this perspective, the use of Sustainability is a multidimensional concept these techniques was legitimate. Also, because the with economic, social and environmental aspects indicators described different aspects of the real (Redclift, 1994; Walter and Wilkerson, 1994), world, the comparison had to be conducted using a and any attempt to define coherent sustainable set of heterogeneous measures that differed from policies must consider all of them. In the 45 one another both in terms of scale and measure- municipalities belonging to the province of Reggio ment. The main features and principal outcomes Emilia (RE) in northern Italy, attention has are presented and discussed in this paper. focused mainly on the economic and social aspects of sustainability, and detailed knowledge about environmental conditions is presently lacking. Study area Such knowledge is essential to make sustainability operational (Parker and Hope, 1992), and RE is now facing the urgent problem of remedying RE is located in northern Italy, in Emilia Romagna this (Ministry of the Environment, 1993; ANPA, (Figure 1). It extends over about 2292.9 km2 and 1999). sustains a population of 438 500 inhabitants. Legambiente is a non-governmental organisation The province can be subdivided into three established to protect the environment and apply parts, based on topography. The southern part is pressure about environmental issues at both the mountainous (northern Apennines) and contains national and local level. In 1997 it launched an 10 municipalities (M7, M12, M14, M16, M19, M25, initiative, called Ecopaese, designed to document M31, M41, M42 and M45). The central part is hilly environmental conditions in all the municipalities. and contains nine municipalities (M1, M3, M4, Environmental quality and sustainability in Reggio Emilia 119 M1 Albinea M2 Bagnolo M3 Baiso M4 Bibbiano M5 Boretto M6 Brescello M7 Busana M8 Cadelbosco di Sopra M9 Campagnola M10 Campegine M11 Canossa M12 Carpineti M13 Casalgrande M26 M14 Casina M24 M33 M6 M5 M M35 M15 Castellarano 23 M21 M29 M16 Castelnovo Monti M10 M28 M34 M17 Castelnovo Sotto M13 M22 M17 M37 M8 M2 M18 Cavriago M20 M9 M38 M19 Collagna M27 M12 M20 Correggio M36 M39 M4 M21 Fabbrico M43 M30 M40 M22 Gattatico M1 M13 M23 Gualtieri M11 M11 M24 Guastalla M14 M15 M25 Ligonchio M42 M26 Luzzara M3 M12 M27 Montecchio M16 M31 M28 Novellara M7 M11 M29 Poviglio M19 M45 M30 Quattro Castella M25 Ligonchio M31 Ramiseto (M25) M32 Reggio Emilia Reggio Emilia M33 Reggiolo (M32) 600 M34 Rio Saliceto Mean height M35 Rolo a.s.l. 1000 M36 Rubiera M37 S. Ilario d' Enza 500 200 M38 S. Martino in Rio 100 M39 S. Polo d' Enza M40 Scandiano M41 Toano M42 Vetto M43 Vezzano sul Crostolo M44 Viano M45 Villa Minozzo N Figure 1. Study area. The province of Reggio Emilia and its 45 municipalities within the boundaries of the region Emilia Romagna. The map at the bottom shows the height gradient of the province. M11, M15, M30, M39, M43, M44). The northern to agriculture employs 25 000, while mechani- part is flat (Po river plain). cal industries employ around 20 000 (Anceschi, In this latter area the main economic activ- 1995). ity is agriculture. Industrial activity is con- In the south, tourism is a considerable source of centrated in five municipalities in the east- income. Its wildlife attracts numerous tourists in ern part of the province: Casalgrande (M7), summer, and its ski slopes are popular in winter. A Castellarano (M17), Rubiera (M36), Scandiano regional

Load more