Sustainability threshold for multiple ecosystem services in the Venice lagoon, Italy

Approximately 53% of the Venice lagoon's surface is exploited beyond a proposed 'sustainability threshold,' indicating unsustainable conditions that threaten its capacity to provide ecosystem services. This finding highlights the need for intervention to alter patterns of ecosystem service (ES) use and promote long-term sustainability. The study introduces a novel approach to analyze ES bundles, determining their degree of sustainability based on balances between ES capacity and flow, as well as between regulating ES and those mediated by human activities. Using multivariate analysis on spatially explicit ES maps, the research derives a zonation reflecting different ES bundles, offering potential directions for more sustainable management of this critical social-ecological system.

Rova, S., Stocco, A., & Pranovi, F. (2023). Sustainability threshold for multiple ecosystem services in the Venice lagoon, Italy. Ecosystem Services, 64, 101568. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2023.101568