Raffaele Giordano

Italian National Research Council | CNR · Institute of Water Research IRSA

Several modeling tools commonly used for supporting flood risk assessment and management are highly effective in representing physical phenomena, but provide a rather limited understanding of the multiple implications that flood risk and flood risk reduction measures have on highly complex systems such as urban areas. In fact, most of the available...

This chapter summarizes the lessons learned in NAIAD concerning the role of risk perception and stakeholders’ engagement in NBS co-design and implementation. Specifically, this work describes the efforts done for overcoming two barriers hampering NBS implementation, i.e. lack of stakeholders’ engagement and lack of collaboration among different dec...

This chapter summarizes the main findings from the book in relation to the conceptual framework centered on the linked but separate concepts of assurance and insurance value of nature, to then highlight the key methods developed namely physical assessments, co-design, and a full integrated economic assessment model that incorporates the value of av...

Five decades of intensive groundwater exploitation have brought important economic, social and environmental changes in Medina del Campo Groundwater Body (MCGWB). Declining piezometric levels have worsened water quality, increased the costs of water supply and abstraction, and drained connected wetlands and rivers. This chapter presents the differe...

This chapter provides the context of water security for ecosystem-based approaches, notably nature-based solutions (NBS) operationalized in natural assurance schemes (NAS). The huge potential and value of nature-based solutions to both mitigate the effect of water while providing large and important co-benefits is addressed in this book and for thi...

This chapter describes the research conducted in the Lower Danube case study to understand the role of natural assurance schemes in complex natural, economic and social contexts. In order to improve the accuracy, replicability and the scalability of the natural assurance scheme to be developed and potentially implemented, we have concentrated our e...

This chapter discusses the methodological approach for natural assurance schemes (NAS). We developed and applied methodologies and strategies to increase the readiness in technology (TRL), institutions (IRL) and investment/financing (IVRL) and illustrated them in contrasting case studies. To assess how readiness is crafted to effectively green wate...

Urban flooding is an increasing hazard and expected to aggravate with climate change. The opening of a piped urban river in Copenhagen is explored to mitigate urban flooding as a result of a rising groundwater table. In the Copenhagen case study, a hydrological model has been used to calculate the effect of reopening a currently piped river to its...

Based on the highest pre-identified risk of flooding in the Glinščica catchment, our case study focused on identifying the benefits and opportunities of ecosystem services emerging from fully functioning ecosystems working as a natural assurance system arising from Nature-based solutions (NBS) through the implementation of a participatory approach....

The present work provides an insight into the emergency preparedness and coping capacity of Italian water utilities, based on the results of two ongoing research projects. Specific attention is given to the role that Water Safety Plans (WSPs) may have in this framework. The results of an online survey completed with a wide sample of Italian water u...

The resilience assessment is crucial for many infrastructures, including water supply and distribution networks. In particular, the identification of the ‘critical’ components (nodes or pipes) whose failure may negatively affect network performances and system resilience is a key issue, with a direct relevance for decision-makers involved in planni...

The present work provides an insight into the emergency preparedness and coping capacity of Italian Water Utilities, based on the results of two ongoing research projects. Specific attention is given to the role that Water Safety Plans (WSP) may have in this framework. The results of an online survey completed with a wide sample of Italian Water Ut...

Nature based solutions are proposed as integrated solutions to transform the current water intensive economic model to a more balanced model, where water is considered as an eco-social asset. We analyse the logic of action and underpinning belief systems, values, and norms of these evolving economic (and underpinning value) systems, through a conce...

Several barriers still hamper the effective implementation of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). Among the others, this work focuses on collaboration barriers. NBS implementation claims for effective collaboration among different decision-agents. However, ambiguity in problem framings, which is ineradicable in multi-agents’ decision environments, could...

There is a growing interest worldwide on the potential of nature-based solutions (NBSs) as measures for dealing with water-related risks while producing multiple co-benefits that can contribute to several societal challenges and many of the sustainable development goals. However, several barriers still hamper their wider implementation, such as mai...

The provision of critical services, such as drinking water, is crucial both in ordinary and in emergency conditions due to either natural (e.g. earthquakes, droughts, etc.) or man-made hazards (e.g. contamination). Although several models and tools have been developed to support decision-making in ordinary operations, such as e.g. for scheduling or...

The contribution of Nature Based Solutions (NBSs) for supporting climate change adaptation and water-related risks reduction is becoming increasingly relevant for policy and decision-makers, compared to 'grey in-frastructures', thanks to their capability to jointly deal with a multiplicity of societal and environmental challenges , producing severa...

The contribution of Nature Based Solutions (NBSs) for supporting climate change adaptation and water-related risks reduction is becoming increasingly relevant for policy and decision-makers, compared to 'grey in-frastructures', thanks to their capability to jointly deal with a multiplicity of societal and environmental challenges , producing severa...

Collective behaviors and participatory models could be hampered by the presence of ambiguity that reflects the multiplicity of interpretations that different actors bring to a modeling exercise. Despite commonly overlooked in modeling, how ambiguity in subjective problem frames is embraced determines the quality of the participatory modeling proces...

Water pricing has been identified as a generally valid water supply policy to help solve problems of water scarcity and competition. As for the non-agricultural sectors, in the last three decades water pricing has been widely discussed in and promoted with regard to the irrigation management, though in the actual practice its effectiveness is quite...

Abstract The lack of capacity for climate change adaptation at the subnational level has been highlighted as a key barrier to implementing the UNFCCC National Adaptation Plans. At the same time, the adaptive capacity of local governance is highly context sensitive, making a “one‐size fits all” approach inappropriate. Thus, a versatile methodologica...

Climate change and the overexploitation of natural resources increase the need to integrate sustainable development policies at both national and international levels to fit the demands of a growing population. In 2015 the United Nations (UN) established the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development with the aim of eradicating extreme poverty, reduci...

Evidence suggests that policies frequently fail due, on the one side, to a simplification of the uncertainty and complexity associated with stakeholders’ problem-understanding and, on the other side, due to the lack of methodologies for innovative generation of policy alternatives. This work describes a methodology based on the integration of Probl...

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly recognized as a valid alternative to grey infrastructures - i.e. hard, human-engineered structures - as measures for reducing climate-related risks. Increasing evidences demonstrated that NBS can reduce risks to people and property as effectively as traditional grey infrastructures, but potentially offe...

Collective behaviors and participatory models could be hampered by the presence of ambiguity that reflects the multiplicity of interpretations that different actors bring to a modeling exercise. Despite commonly overlooked in modeling, how ambiguity in subjective problem frames is embraced determines the quality of the participatory modeling proces...

There is an imperative worldwide need to identify effective approaches to deal with water-related risks, and mainly with increasingly frequent floods, as well as with severe droughts. Particularly, policy and decision-makers are trying to identify systemic strategies that, going beyond the mere risk reduction, should be capable to deal simultaneous...

The structure and connectivity of infrastructure systems such as water distribution networks (WDNs) affect their reliability, efficiency and resilience. Suitable techniques are required to understand the potential impacts of system failure(s), which can result from internal (e.g. water hammer) or external (e.g. natural hazards) threats. This paper...

The increasing frequency and magnitude of water-related risks is causing growing concerns but, at the same time, raising the awareness of decision-makers about the need to identify and implement innovative strategies for adaptation and risk reduction. Traditional approaches based on 'grey' infrastructures are being gradually integrated, or even rep...

There is a mounting international interest about how to address the implications of climate change for urban areas. The availability and sharing of “good” knowledge and information is a key prerequisite for a successful planning in cities. Urban planning for adaptation is largely considered as a collective process. This raises the importance of the...

Literature about public decision making experiences, including stakeholders’ engagement, offers best practices but also reports of unsuccessful case studies. Meaningful participation activities require direct integration of stakeholders into all the phases of the public decision process to unleash innovation. Often, policy making incorporates parti...

Evidences from flood risk management demonstrated that a deep understanding of the main physical phenomena to be addressed is often not enough but should be also integrated with stakeholders' knowledge and risk perception. Particularly, the effectiveness of flood risk management strategies is highly dependent on stakeholders' perception and attitud...

Irrigated agriculture plays a vital role for the socio-economic development of the Mediterranean area, although it has significant impacts on both water and energy resources. Therefore, in a context in which water resources are also experiencing increasing pressures, there is an urgent need for supporting their sustainable management. This may be a...

Evidences from flood risk management demonstrated that a deep understanding of the main physical phenomena to be addressed is often not enough but should be also integrated with stakeholders' knowledge and risk perception. Particularly, the effectiveness of flood risk management strategies is highly dependent on stakeholders' perception and attitud...

Historical land and water management practices focused on chanelling water from the land as fast as possible, which effectivelly rises flood risk downstream (O‘Connel et al., 2007). With the rising amount of scientific evidence, implementation of new, nature-based solution (NBS) measures has taken a leap forward. Europe defines these measures as ac...

Water management is a controversial environmental policy issue, due to the heterogeneity of interests associated with a shared resource and the increasing level of conflict among water uses and users. Nowadays, there is a cumulative interest in enhancing multi-stakeholder decision-making processes, overtaking binding mercantile business, in water m...

For most cities it is not straightforward what their information needs are when embarking in adaptation planning, and even for cities with experience in adaptation planning the sourcing of new climate information can be demanding in next phases of adaptation planning and implementation. Also questions such as from what source(s) to acquire climate...

Evidence demonstrate that the effectiveness of flood risk management measures depends on human decisions, actions and interactions. Action choices are not neutral, but commensurate with the perspectives and frames held by the actors making the decisions. The problem is that when these frames do not overlap or are incompatible, they potentially lead...

Cities are highly dynamic systems, whose resilience is affected by the interconnectedness between“hard”and“soft”infrastructures. “Hard infrastructures” are the functional networks with physical elements providing goods or services.“Soft infrastructures” (culture, governance, and social patterns) encompass the social networks, make the hard infrastr...

Management of water supply systems under shortage conditions due to drought requires computational tools able to relate the past precipitation regime over different time scales to future water resources availability. This work proposes a modelling framework to address the occurrence of shortage for water supply systems whose resource is constituted...

The availability and the quality of drinking water are key requirements for the well-being and the safety of a community, both in ordinary conditions and in case of disasters. Providing safe drinking water in emergency contributes to limit the intensity and the duration of crises, and is thus one of the main concerns for decision-makers, who operat...

This paper proposes a conceptual framework to systematize the use of Nature-based solutions (NBS) by integrating their resilience potential into Natural Assurance Scheme (NAS), focusing on insurance value as corner stone for both awareness-raising and valuation. As such one of its core goal is to align research and pilot projects with infrastructur...

Differences in problem framing and understanding are unavoidable in multi-actor decision-making processes, deeming ambiguous problem definitions and actions. The presence of ambiguity may have diverse implications. On the one hand, a diversity in frames can enhance the co-production of knowledge offering opportunities for innovative solutions. On t...

There is growing awareness that fast response to emergency situation requires effective coordination among several institutional and non-institutional actors. The most common approaches, based on innovating technologies for information collection and management, are not sufficient to cope with the increasing complexity of emergency management. This...

A water allocation model at farm-scale was developed to interpret water allocation patterns in an intensive agricultural district of Southern Italy, supplied by groundwater and surface waters (from reservoir) with variable costs and distinct management regimes. The model aims at evaluating the impact of farm-scale water costs on water resources man...

The present work describes a model developed to interpret water allocation patterns in an intensive agricultural district of Southern Italy, supplied both by groundwater (at farm-scale) and surface water (managed by a local authority) with variable costs and specific operation. The model aims at evaluating the impact of some drivers (mainly the wat...

The present research activity proposes an assessment of drinking water supply system reliability through the integration of multiple tools and related metrics. The methodology was basically conceived to be used in emergency management phase by Civil Protection Authorities, but it can be also profitably adopted by water utilities in preparedness pha...

Disasters impacts on urban environment are the result of interactions among natural and human systems, which are intimately linked each other. What is more, cities are directly dependent on infrastructures providing essential services (Lifeline Systems, LS). The operation of LS in ordinary conditions as well as after disasters is crucial. Among the...

The complexity of the interaction network among the different actors involved in flood risk management makes it difficult for risk managers to fully understand the different interconnections among the key elements, i.e. actors, knowledge and tasks. Due to their limited understanding of the network, the risk managers fail to strengthen the social ca...

This paper describes a study conducted on a coastal agricultural area of southern Italy to assess the impending risk of aquifer degradation related to intensive groundwater pumping by farmers with the aim of offsetting the poor irrigation delivery service provided by the local water management agency. The study area is intensively farmed by small l...

Water demand for food has been growing in the last decades due to improving economic conditions particularly in BRICS countries; the role of agriculture is vital for socio-economic conditions in the Mediterranean region providing food products also for Europe. This correspond to an increasing energy consumption on one hand and increasing pressure o...

The concept of resilience is becoming increasingly important for societies, particularly as far as critical infrastructures are concerned. It is helpful for expressing the ability of complex systems to anticipate, absorb, adapt to and/or rapidly recover from a disruptive event. Fostering resilience of such systems supports in facing disasters, redu...

The present work summarizes the theoretical development process and the preliminary results of a research activity oriented to the definition of a Decision Support System (DSS) to be used for managing drinking water systems exposed to different hazard classes. The core of such DSS is a probabilistic vulnerability assessment tool based on Bayesian B...

Drinking water security is a life safety issue as an adequate supply of safe water is essential for economic, social and sanitary reasons. Damage to any element of a water system, as well as corruption of resource quality, may have significant effects on the population it serves and on all other dependent resources and activities. As well as an ana...

Resilience is the ability of complex systems to anticipate, absorb, adapt to and / or rapidly recover from a disruptive event. The concept of resilience is becoming increasingly important for societies, particularly as far as critical infrastructures are concerned. Fostering resilience significantly helps in reducing the impacts of natural and anth...

This paper presents results from a research and modelling work conducted on an irrigated agricultural area of southern Italy to assess the risks of soil and aquifer degradation occurring as indirect consequence of poor irrigation delivery performance by a water supply system. The area is intensively farmed with high-value market-oriented horticultu...

Drinking water quality and availability is a life safety issue, being essential for economical, social and sanitary reasons. The damage or the malfunction of any element of a water system, as well as the corruption of the resource quality, could therefore determine significant effects on the served population and on all the other dependent resource...

EXTENDED ABSTRACT This article presents preliminary findings of the CATALYST project's Think Tank on best practices and capacity development needs for improving Drought Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) in the European Mediterranean (EUM) region. Where available this article illustrates these findings with examples f...

In water management, conflicts of interests are inevitable due to the variety in quality demands and the number of stakeholders, which are affected in different ways by decisions concerning the use of the resources. Ignoring the differences among interests involved in water resources management and not resolving the emerging conflicts could lead to...

According to the Hyogo Framework for Action, increasing resilience to drought requires the development of a people-centered monitoring and early warning system, or in other words, a system capable of providing useful and understandable information to the community at risk. To achieve this objective, it is crucial to negotiate a credible and legitim...

In many arid and semi-arid regions agriculture is the main user of GW, causing problems with the quantity and quality of water, but there are few institutional policies and regulations governing sustainable GW exploitation. The authors suggest an integrated methodology for enabling local GW management, capable of combining the need for GW protectio...

Water resource management is often characterized by conflicts, as a result of the heterogeneity of interests associated with a shared resource. Many water conflicts arise on a global scale and, in particular, an increasing level of conflicts can be observed in the Mediterranean basin, characterized by water scarcity. In the present work, in order t...

The increasing awareness of the complexity and uncertainty of environmental processes is changing the role of information production to support decision-making. Monitoring systems need to gather reliable information, adopting a multi-scale and integrated approach. Using exclusively technical monitoring methods to collect the information could resul...

Decision making in water resources management is widely acknowledged in literature to be a rational process, based on appropriate information and modeling results. Information plays a fundamental role in improving our understanding of the consequences of, and trade-off among, the alternatives in water resources management. Environmental monitoring...

A participatory integrated (social, economic, environmental) approach based on causal loop diagram, Bayesian belief networks and evolutionary multiobjective optimisation is proposed for efficient water resources management. The proposed methodology incorporates all the conflicting objectives in the decision making process. Causal loop diagram allow...

Empirical investigations in scientific literature have highlighted the differences between the stakeholders’ perceptions of a given drought phenomenon’s severity and the results of scientific - technical evaluation. This means that there can be several perceptions of the phenomenon, and the scientific models used to assess the drought’s severity do...

In the real world, environmental decision-making takes place in a highly interconnected environment, in which neither the decisional ramifications of a management action, nor the complexity of its impact, can be neglected. A fuzzy conflict measure is proposed in this contribution to support drought management. The proposed approach allows to detect...

The paper presents the preliminary results of a scientific initiative aiming at the definition and implementation of innovative management options to mitigate the environmental impacts of groundwater pumping in coastal aquifers. In fact seawater intrusion in such aquifers is very often caused by the over-exploitation of groundwater mainly due to th...

Participatory research has in recent years become a popular approach for problem-oriented scientific research that aims to tackle complex problems in a real management context. Within the European Union project NeWater, stakeholder processes were initiated in seven case studies to develop approaches for adaptive water management. The Uzbek part of...

The role of monitoring is changing due to the increasing awareness of complexity and uncertainty in environmental resources management. Monitoring systems are required to support critical reflection about the effectiveness of actions toward the achievement of management objectives. To this aim, monitoring should be based on a strong integrated and...

In the real world, environmental decision-making takes place in a highly interconnected environment, in which neither the decisional ramifications of a management action, nor the complexity of its impact, can be neglected. Thus, the role of decision support systems is changing. They are now required to facilitate the debate among the different acto...

In the real world, environmental decision-making takes place in a highly interconnected environment, in which neither the decisional ramifications of a management action, nor the complexity of its impact, can be neglected. This contribution focuses on drought management. Due to the high complexity of drought impacts and the ambiguity in drought per...

Drought and desertification are largely considered as the major and most complex natural hazards. This is mainly due to the complexity of the web of impacts that ripple through too many sectors causing serious economic, social and environmental consequences. Hence, a wide range of actors are interested by drought effects. Empirical investigations i...

A participatory integrated (social, economic, environmental) approach based on causal loop diagram, Bayesian belief networks and evolutionary multiobjective optimisation is proposed for efficient water resources management. The proposed methodology incorporates all the conflicting objectives in the decision making process. Causal loop diagram allow...

In the real world, environmental decision-making takes place in a highly interconnected environment, in which neither the decisional ramifications of a management action, nor the complexity of its impact, can be neglected. Thus, the role of decision support systems is changing. They are now required to facilitate the debate among the different acto...