Online participation in climate change adaptation: A case study of agricultural adaptation measures in Northern Italy

Journal of Environmental Management

Volumn 157, Issue , 2015, Pages 8-19

  Bojovic, Dragana ^a,b   Bonzanigo, Laura ^a,b   Giupponi, Carlo ^a,b   Maziotis, Alexandros ^c  

^a CA' FOSCARI UNIVERSITY OF VENICE   (Italy)

^b CENTRO EURO MEDITERRANEO SUI CAMBIAMENTI CLIMATICI   (Italy)

^c FONDAZIONE ENI ENRICO MATTEI   (Italy)

Author keywords

Adapting farming practice; Decision support; EParticipation; Public engagement

Indexed keywords

AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE; CLIMATE CHANGE; COMMUNICATION; DECISION MAKING; DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM; INTERNET; PARTICIPATORY APPROACH; PERCEPTION; QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY;

ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR; AGRICULTURAL WORKER; AGRICULTURE; ARTICLE; BIOLOGICAL PEST CONTROL; CASE STUDY; CLIMATE CHANGE; CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION; DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM; ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE; FORECASTING; HUMAN; INFORMATION SERVICE; INTERNET; INVESTMENT; IRRIGATION (AGRICULTURE); ITALY; ORGANIC FARMING; POLICY; QUESTIONNAIRE; SOCIAL PARTICIPATION; TELEPHONE INTERVIEW; TRIANGULATION; WATER MANAGEMENT; ADULT; CONSUMER; ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING; ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION; EUROPEAN UNION; FEMALE; INFORMATION DISSEMINATION; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; PROCEDURES; REPRODUCIBILITY;

ITALY;

ADULT; AGRICULTURE; CLIMATE CHANGE; CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES; CONSUMER PARTICIPATION; DECISION MAKING, COMPUTER-ASSISTED; ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY; EUROPEAN UNION; FEMALE; HUMANS; INFORMATION DISSEMINATION; INTERNET; ITALY; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; REPRODUCIBILITY OF RESULTS; SURVEYS AND QUESTIONNAIRES;

EID: 84927520698     PISSN: 03014797     EISSN: 10958630     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.04.001     Document Type: Article

References (73)

1. Adams R.M., Hurd B.H., Lenhart S., Leary N. Effects of global climate change on agriculture: an interpretative review. Clim. Res. 1998, 11:19-30.
2. Anwar M.R., Liu D.L., Macadam I., Kelly G. Adapting agriculture to climate change: a review. J.Theor. Appl. Climatol. October 2012, 1-21.
3. Arciniegas G., Janssen R., Rietveld P. Effectiveness of collaborative map-based decision support tools: results of an experiment. Environ. Model. Softw. 2013, 39:159-175.
4. Bekkers V.J.J.M. Virtual policy communities and responsive governance: redesigning on-line debates. Inf. Polity 2004, 9(3/4):193-203.
5. Belton V., Stewart T.J. Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis: an Integrated Approach 2002, 370. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, Dodrecht, London.
6. Bindi M., Olesen J.E. The responses of agriculture in Europe to climate change. Reg. Environ. Change 2011, 11:151-158.
7. Bojovic D., Bonzanigo L., Giupponi C. Drivers of change in southern European agriculture: online participatory approaches for the analysis of planned and autonomous adaptation strategies in R. Seppelt. International Environmental Modelling and Software Society (iEMSs) 2012 International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software: Managing Resources of a Limited Planet: Pathways and Visions under Uncertainty, Sixth Biennial Meeting, Leipzig, Germany 2012, A.A. Voinov, S. Lange, D. Bankamp (Eds.).
8. Bond R.M., Fariss C.J., Jones J.J., Kramer A.D., Marlow C., Settle J.E., Fowler J.H. A61- million-person experiment in social influence and political mobilization. Nature 2012, 489:295-298.
9. Bonzanigo L., Bojovic D., Giupponi C., Maziotis A. The informative role of farmers' perceptions of change for the development of robust climate change adaptation policies - a case study from Italy. SISC 2013, First Annual Conference of the Italian Society for Climate Sciences 2013.
10. Bonzanigo L., Bojovic D., Giupponi C., Maziotis A. Agricultural policy informed by farmers' adaptation experience to climate change in Veneto, Italy. Reg. Environ. Change 2015, 01/2015. 10.1007/s10113-014-0750-5.
11. Boykoff M. Who Speaks for the Climate? Trying to Make Sense of Media Reporting on Climate Change 2012, CMCC Website, Available at:, (accessed 15.02.13.). http://www.climatescienceandpolicy.eu/2012/01/who-speaks-for-the-climate-boykoff-tries-to-make-sense-of-media-reporting-on-climate-change/.
12. Calenda D., Meijer A. Young people, the internet and political participation: findings of a web survey in Italy, Spain and The Netherlands, information. Commun. Soc. 2009, 12(6):879-898.
13. ComScore 2013, Available at:, (accessed 03.06.13.). http://www.comscore.com/.
14. Cornwall A. Beneficiary, Consumer, Citizen: Perspectives on Participation for Poverty Reduction 2000, Sida, Stockholm.
15. Castells M., Cardoso G. The Network Society from Knowledge to Policy 2005, Center for Transatlantic Relations, Washington DC.
16. Denzin The Research Act: a Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods 1970, Aldine, Chicago.
17. Dyson R.G. Strategic development and SWOT analysis at the University of Warwick. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 2004, 152:631-640.
18. European Commission (EC) European eParticipation Summary Report 2009, European Commission, DG Information Society and Media, eGovernment Unit, Available at:, (accessed 03.06.13.). http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/egovernment/docs/reports/eu_eparticipation_summary_nov_09.pdf.
19. European Commission (EC) An EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change. Impact Assessment - Part 2 2013, 132 final, Brussels.
20. European Commission (EC) Guidelines on Developing Adaptation Strategies - Commission Staff Working Document. Accompanying the Document: an EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change 2013, 134 final, Brussels.
21. European Commission (EC) An EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change - Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions 2013, COM (213). 216 Final. Brussels.
22. Figueira J., Roy B. Determining the weights of criteria in the ELECTRE type methods with a revised Simos' procedure. J.Oper. Res. 2002, 139:317-326.
23. Giupponi C., Camera R., Fassio A., Lasut A., Mysiak J., Sgobbi A. Network Analysis, Creative System Modelling and Decision Support: the NetSyMoD Approach 2006, NOTA DI LAVORO 46. FEEM Italy.
24. Giupponi C. Decision support systems for implementing the European water framework directive: the MULINO approach. Environ. Model. Softw. 2007, 22(2):248-258.
25. Grofman B., Owen G., Feld S.L. Thirteen theorems in search of the truth. Theory Decis. 1983, 15:261-278.
26. Goodhue D.L. Understanding user evaluations of information systems. Manage. Sci. 1995, 41:1827-1844.
27. Hajkowicz S.A. Supporting multi-stakeholder environmental decisions. J.Environ. Manage. 2008, 88:607-614.
28. Hare M. Forms of participatory modelling and its potential for widespread adoption in the water sector. Environ. Policy Gov. 2011, 21(6):386-402.
29. Hooghe M., Vissers S., Stolle D., Maheo V. The Potential of Internet Mobilization: an Experimental Study on the Effect of Internet and Face-to-face Mobilization Efforts 2010, vol. 27(4):406-431. Routledge.
30. Involve The True Costs of Public Participation 2005, London: Involve/together we can. Available at:, (accessed 03.06.13.). http://www.involve.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/True-Costs-Full-Report2.pdf.
31. IPCC Climate Change 2001: the Scientific Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2001, 881. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. J.T. Houghton (Ed.).
32. IPCC Climate change 2007: climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden, C.E. Hanson (Eds.).
33. ISTAT Censimento Generale Dell'Agricoltura 2010 2012, data warehouse can be accessed on the ISTAT website, (accessed 15.12.13.). http://dati-censimentoagricoltura.istat.it/.
34. ISTAT 2013, Available at:, (accessed 15.02.13.). http://noiitalia.istat.it/index.php?id=7%26user_100ind_pi1%5Bid_pagina%5D=86%26cHash=6c8089e674dee3073c9c8cfb3ea1dd6a.
35. IWS Website of Internet World Statists, Usage and Population Statistics 2012, Available at, :, (accessed 07.02.13). http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm.
36. Jensen J.L. Virtual democratic dialogue? Bringing together citizens and politicians. Inform. Polity: Int. J. Gov. Democr. Inform. Age 2003, 8(1/2):29-47.
37. Kelly M., Ferranto S., Lei S., Ueda K., Huntsinger L. Expanding the table: the web as a tool for participatory adaptive management in California forests. J.Environ. Manage. 2012, 109:1-11.
38. Leclère D., Jayet P., Noblet-Ducoudré de N. Farm-level autonomous adaptation of European agricultural supply to climate change. Ecol. Econ. 2013, 87:1-14.
39. Lopez-Marrero T. An integrative approach to study and promote natural hazards adaptive capacity: a case study of two flood-prone communities in Puerto Rico. Geogr. J. 2010, 176:150-163.
40. Luyet V., Schlaepfer R., Parlange M.B., Buttler A. Aframework to implement stakeholder participation in environmental projects. J.Environ. Manage. 2012, 111:213-219.
41. Lyle G. Understanding the nested, multi-scale, spatial and hierarchical nature of future climate change adaptation decision making in agricultural regions: a narrative literature review. J.Rural Stud. 2015, 37:38-49.
42. Macintosh A., Coleman S., Schneeberger A. eParticipation: the research gaps. eParticipation 2009, 1-11. LNCS, 5694. A. Macintosh, E. Tambouris (Eds.).
43. Meijer A., Burger N., Ebbers W. Citizens4Citizens: mapping participatory practices on the internet. Electron. J. e-Govern. 2009, 7(1):99-112.
44. McIver J.P., Carmines E.G. Unidimensional Scaling 1981, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
45. Munda G. Social multi-criteria evaluation for urban sustainability policies. Land Use Policy 2006, 23(1):86-94.
46. Nature Reach Out about Climate 2012, Editorial online 481, 5 (05 January 2012), Available at:, (accessed 10.01.12.). http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v481/n7379/full/481005a.html, 10.1038/481005a.
47. Niles M.T., Lubell M., Brown M. How limiting factors drive agricultural adaptation to climate change. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 2015, 200:178-185.
48. Norris P. Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide 2001, Cambridge University Press.
49. Olsen W. Triangulation in social research: qualitative and quantitative methods can really be mixed. Developments in Sociology 2004, Causeway Press. M. Holborn, Ormskirk (Eds.).
50. Olesen J.E., Trnka M., Kersebaum K.C., Skjelvåg A.O., Seguin B., Peltonen-Sainio P., Rossi F., Kozyra J., Micale F. Impacts and adaptation of European crop production systems to climate change. Eur. J. Agron. 2011, 34:96-112.
51. Panopoulou E., Tambouris E., Tarabanis K. Success factors in designing eParticipation initiatives. Inf. Org. 2014, 24:195-213.
52. Parry M.L., Rosenzweig C., Iglesias A., Livermore M., Fischer G. Effects of climate change on global food production under SRES emissions and socio-economic sce- narios. Glob. Environ. Change 2004, 14:53-67.
53. Phang C.W., Kankanhalli A. Aframework of ICT exploitation for E-participation initiatives. Commun. ACM 2008, 51(12):128-132.
54. Pickton D.W., Wright S. What's SWOT in strategic analysis?. Strateg. Change 1998, 7(2):101-109.
55. Reidsma P., Ewert F., Lansink A.O., Leemans R. Adaptation to climate change and climate variability in European agriculture: the importance of farm level responses. Eur. J. Agron. 2010, 32:91-102.
56. Roco L., Engler A., Bravo-Ureta B., Jara-Rojas R. Farm level adaptation decisions to face climatic change and variability: evidence from Central Chile. Environ. Sci. Policy 2014, 44:86-96.
57. Rogers M., Bruen M. Choosing realistic values of indifference, preference and veto thresholds for use with environmental criteria within ELECTRE. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 1998, 107:542-551.
58. Roy B. ELECTRE III: un algorithme de classement fondé sur une représentation floue des préférences en présence de critéres multiples. Cahiers Centre d'Etudes REch. Opér. 1978, 20(1):3-24.
59. Sæbø O., Rose J., Nyvang T. The role of social networking services in eParticipation. eParticipation 2009, 46-55. LNCS, 5694. A. Macintosh, E. Tambouris (Eds.).
60. Sæbø O., Rose J., Flakm L.S. The shape of eParticipation: characterizing an emerging research area. Gov. Inf. Q. 2008, 25:400-428.
61. Sanchez-Nielsen E., Lee D. eParticipation in practice in Europe: the case of "Puzzled by policy: helping you be part of EU". 46th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) 2013, 1870-1879.
62. Schröter D., Cramer W., Leemans R., Prentice I.C., Araújo M.B., Arnell N.W., Bon- deau A., Bugmann H., Carter T.R., Gracia C.A., Vega-Leinert A.C.D.L., Erhard M., Ewert F., Glendining M., House J.I., Kankaanpää S., Klein R.J.T., Lavorel S., Lind- ner M., Metzger M.J., Meyer J., Mitchell T.D., Reginster I., Rounsevell M., Sabaté S., Sitch S., Smith B., Smith J., Smith P., Sykes M.T., Thonicke K., Thuiller W., Tuck G., Zaehle S., Zierl B. Ecosystem service supply and vulnerability to global change in Europe. Science 2005, 310:1333-1337.
63. Shanian A., Milani A.S., Carson C., Abeyaratne R.C. Anew application of ELECTRE III and revised Simos' procedure for group material selection under weighting uncertainty. Knowledge-Based Syst. 2008, 21:709-720.
64. Simos J. Evaluer l'impact sur l'environnement: Une approche originale par l'analyse multicritere et la negociation 1990, Presses Polytechniques et Universitaires Romandes, Lausanne.
65. Sutherland L., Burton R.J.F., Ingram J., Blackstock K., Slee B., Gotts N. Triggering change: towards a conceptualisation of major change processes in farm decision-making. J.Environ. Manage. 2012, 104:142-151.
66. Tompkins E.L., Adger W.N., Boyd E., Nicholson-Cole S., Weatherhead K., Arnell N. Observed adaptation to climate change: UK evidence of transition to a well-adapting society. Glob. Environ. Change 2010, 20:627-635.
67. UN e-Participation and e-Government: Understanding the Present and Creating the Future 2007, Department of Economic and Social Affairs Division for Public Administration and Development Management, United Nations, New York.
68. Vargas-Amelin E., Pindado P. The challenge of climate change in Spain: water resources, agriculture and land. J.Hydrol. 2014, 518(B):243-249.
69. Vicente M.R., Novo A. An empirical analysis of e-participation. The role of social networks and e-government over citizens' online engagement. Gov. Inf. Q. 2014, 31(3):379-387.
70. Veneto Region Raporto Statistico 2011- il Veneto si racconta, il Veneto si confronta, Regione del veneto 2011, Direzione sistema statistico regionale.
71. Veneto Region (VR) Programmazione Sviluppo rurale 2014-2020, Progetto di studio, analisi e supporto tecnico-scientifico 2012, Istituto nazionale di Economia Agraria, Regione del Veneto, Allegatoa1 alla Dgrn. 2929 del 28 dicembre 2012.
72. Wenkel K.-O., Berg M., Mirschel W., Wieland R., Nendel C., Köstner B. LandCaRe DSS- an interactive decision support system for climate change impact assessment and the analysis of potential agricultural land use adaptation strategies. J.Environ. Manage. 2013, 127(Suppl.):S168-S183.
73. Young H.P. An axiomatization ot Borda's rule. J.Econ. Theory 1974, 9:43-52.