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Environmental vulnerability in Italian mountain areas and its socioeconomic drivers

Just Accepted
  • Aurora Cavallo,
  • Giovanni Cannata,
  • Luigi Mastronardi,
  • Luca Romagnoli
Aurora Cavallo
Universitas Mercatorum
Giovanni Cannata
Universitas Mercatorum
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/rea-16630

Published 2025-12-22

Keywords

  • Vulnerability,
  • Composite indicators,
  • Spatial analysis,
  • GWR model,
  • Planning

How to Cite

Cavallo, A., Cannata, G., Mastronardi, L., & Romagnoli, L. (2025). Environmental vulnerability in Italian mountain areas and its socioeconomic drivers. Italian Review of Agricultural Economics. https://doi.org/10.36253/rea-16630

Copyright (c) 2025 Aurora Cavallo, Giovanni Cannata, Luigi Mastronardi, Luca Romagnoli

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Mountain areas are exposed to multiple risks due to the complex interactions between environmental, social, and economic factors. This paper aims to assess the environmental vulnerability of mountain areas through a synthetic indicator and to identify the drivers of such vulnerability at the local level. It uses a multidimensional and spatial approach to define the main dimensions of vulnerability based on municipal data. Furthermore, a geographically weighted regression model is used to investigate the drivers of vulnerability. The results show that mountain areas are less environmentally fragile than lowland and hilly regions but have higher demographic, social, and economic vulnerability. However, southern mountains are more fragile due to the lower presence of protected areas and forest cover. The spatial model also reveals a trade-off between environmental preservation and demographic, social, and economic characteristics. These findings should be carefully considered in light of place-based planning strategies and policies in mountain areas, particularly in southern Italy.

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