The Role of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and of DPSIR Model in Ligurian Coastal Zone Management

A. Picollo (1), D. Verardi (2), G. Albertelli (1), S. Bava (1), S. Coppo (3)

(1) DIPTERIS - University of Genova (IT)
(2) R.S.T.A. Scrl Genova (IT)
(3) Regione Liguria (Liguria Regional Government), Genova (IT)

Sustainable development is by nature hundred per cent temporal as implied by the term 'development'. Whether sustainable or not, development by nature also is hundred per cent spatial or territorial, since all development takes place at certain spot on Earth, which can be represented by x, y (and z) co-ordinates. Thus, for a region, whether a municipality, country, transboundary region, continent or the whole world, there can be important spatial heterogeneity or differences, which in many cases deserve special attention. Surprisingly, the spatial dimension has often been neglected or been given low priority by groups preparing environmental or sustainable development indicators. The reasons for this are several. One main reason is missing or low capacities and skills to handle georeferenced data and information among those in charge of indicator work. This is increasingly becoming a reduced concern with the advent of more user-friendly GIS software, and also with the increasing tendency of merging traditional GIS software with commonly used 'office type' software.

The aim of this paper is to develop a conceptual methodology for a coastal zone environmental management system applied to Ligurian coastal areas.
The implementation of this methodology is based on GIS technology using the indicators and indexes supported by the DPSIR model suggested by Italian Environmental Protection Agency(APAT). The DPSIR model organizes information in five different compartments: Driving forces, Pressure, State, Impacts and Responses. Driving forces, are the underlying causes of environmental problems. They refer to the needs of individuals and institutions which lead to activities that exert Pressures on the environment. For example, the human need for food is a driving force that motivates fishing that implies the harvest of fish resources. The "intensity" of the pressure depends on the nature and extension of the driving forces and also on other factors which shape human interaction with ecological systems. These pressures modify the State of the environment (e.g. change in water quality, fish populations, and these modifications may have an Impact on ecosystems and on human well being. Undesirable impacts lead to a Response from society that results in the formulation of an environmental policy. The policy responses lead to changes in the DPSIR chain. This methodology although applied in this study to Ligurian coastal areas, can be applied to any coastal zone and is used for the assessment of environmental conditions, elaboration of management plans and design of specific restoration/conservation actions to be carried out by the responsible institutions like regional governments.

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