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- Stakeholders’ perceptions of appropriate nature-based solutions in the urban contextPublication . Ferreira, Vera; Barreira, Ana; Loures, Luís; Antunes, Dulce; Panagopoulos, ThomasThe concept of nature-based solutions (NBSs) has become increasingly popular among urban policymakers and planners to help them tackle the urban challenges arising from urban expansion and climate change. Stakeholders' involvement is a fundamental step, and stakeholders' perceptions and preferences can affect the development of NBS projects. This study aims to identify stakeholders' perceptions of the most critical urban challenges, the priority interventions, the preferred NBSs and the benefits of the NBSs, and to identify the determinants of these perceptions. A survey was administered to assess stakeholders' perceptions and views on implementing NBSs in two Portuguese cities with distinct urban, geographical, and socio-economic contexts. A binary logistic regression model was used to understand the determinants of the likelihood of the stakeholders' answers. According to the stakeholders, climate change is one of the main concerns in the urban context. It is usually associated with the incidence of heatwaves and water scarcity. Additionally, stakeholders are concerned about the low quantity and poor management of green spaces (GSs). They believe that it will be necessary to increase the GS, to recover some degraded areas, and to increase mobility. The preferred NBSs were planting more urban trees, making green shaded areas, and rehabilitating riverbanks. The main expected benefits were benefits for leisure and relaxation, reductions in air temperature, purer air, and improvements in public health. The results showed mostly coherent connections between the main concerns/priorities of the stakeholders and the perceived NBS benefits; however, some stakeholders did not present coherent connections, indicating low awareness of the current policy for implementing NBSs to overcome existing and future urban challenges.
- Relevance of ecosystem services and disservices from green infrastructure perceived by the inhabitants of two portuguese cities dealing with climate change: implications for environmental and intersectional justicePublication . Barreira, Ana; Andraz, Jorge; Ferreira, Vera; Panagopoulos, ThomasGreen infrastructure provides ecosystem services (ESs) and disservices (EDSs), although EDSs are understudied. By considering both, this study contributes to the literature. The inhabitants' perception of the importance of ESs/EDSs is assessed through a survey in two Portuguese cities facing extreme climatic events. "Heat reduction" and "contact with nature" are the most perceived ESs while "risk of fire" and "excessive water consumption" are the most perceived EDSs, respectively, in Elvas and Faro. Using rank-ordered logistic regression models, this study finds that the relevance of ESs/EDSs is perceived differently throughout the different areas of the cities, with Elvas revealing the highest signs of environmental injustice, since the importance of ESs is perceived differently by the inhabitants, specifically those inhabiting impoverished areas. The inhabitants perceiving heatwaves acknowledge less relevance to some ESs and more relevance to several EDSs. Gender, age, and income affect the perceived relevance of some ESs/EDSs, signalling intersectional injustice.
- Predicting soil erosion after land use changes for irrigating agriculture in a large reservoir of southern PortugalPublication . Ferreira, Vera; Panagopoulos, Thomas; Cakula, Anda; Andrade, Rita; Arvela, Andre; Barouchas, PE; Tsirogiannis, YL; Malamos, NThe construction of the Alqueva reservoir in a semi-arid Mediterranean landscape brought new opportunities for irrigated farming. Land use changes and climate change may alter the risk of soil erosion that was not predicted in the initial development plans and decrease the lifetime of the investment. A comprehensive methodology that integrates the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and geographic information system was adopted to study the effect on soil erosion of different land-uses of the Alqueva reservoir region. Analysing the soil erosion of each land-use it was obtained the following land use erosion vulnerability: Olive orchard>Vineyard>Montado>Alfalfa. The strong erosion variances that were observed in the study area show the importance of locating the 'hot spots' of soil erosion. Simulated scenarios for the entire area can be used as a basis for site-specific soil conservation plans, to promote sustainable land management practices and to facilitate localized erosion control practices and environmentally friendly farming. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
- Understanding attitudes towards the adoption of nature-based solutions and policy priorities shaped by stakeholders’ awareness of climate changePublication . Ferreira, Vera; Barreira, Ana; Pinto, Patrícia; Panagopoulos, ThomasClimate change is affecting cities worldwide. Accordingly, cities are required to find sustainable solutions to tackle climate change's effects, designing bottom-up policies to enhance their success. The involvement of stakeholders plays a central role in the definition of appropriate policies to tackle the challenges posed to cities by climate change. Nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly proposed to adapt to and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. This study aims to assess the coherence of the policies emerging from stakeholders' perceptions of urban climate challenges and their preferred NBS to tackle them. Indeed, it considers whether departing from different urban climate challenges, stakeholders' choices present a coherent articulation between priority interventions, proposed solutions and expected benefits. Using a survey applied to two Portuguese cities and the chi-squared automatic interaction detector (CHAID) algorithm, we analyse the answers provided by stakeholders. The stakeholders' perceptions and preferences were not significantly influenced by their hierarchical position in their institutions, their city's location and socioeconomic setting. Heatwaves and temperature rise together with drought and water scarcity are identified as future urban challenges in Portugal. Priority interventions, as well as preferred NBS and their expected benefits, are addressed. The results show that stakeholders may make decisions that form a coherent policy, in which acknowledgment of climate change's effects interconnects with related priority interventions, suitable NBS and their benefits.