Handbook for recognising and planning green infrastructure
nature need to be provided for the production of a pergola and an air conditioner, as well as an area for production and energy. These three things, again, reduce the total stocks of ecosystem services (Figure 3), which supports the continuation of the non-sustainable development of the economy. To bridge the above, economic approaches in this area have been introduced for some time globally. Based on the “polluter pays” principle, these approaches make those who damage the environment (emissions of pollutants, nutrients, heat, CO2, etc.), also pay for the damage. Thus, the economy is motivated to include in their development and operations, the plans for reducing the burdens on the environment. In a similar fashion, approaches are being developed in the area of evaluating, preserving and renewing ecosystem services that would promote the preservation of the ecosystem services in an environment at the economic development and area usage. Of course, comparable or increased competitiveness of such an economic development and operations must be made possible for those acting responsibly, compared to the economic entities who are ignoring these measures (Figure 2). One of the projects that develops such approaches is also ECO-SMART (the marketplace of ecosystem services for advanced policies of protecting the NATURA 2000 areas, the Interreg V-A Italy-Slovenia 2014-2020 cooperation programme). The Italian partners of the project include the Veneto region, which is also the leading partner, the municipality of Tržič, and Padova university. Slovenian partners include the Koper regional development centre (RRC Koper) and the Mediterranean Institute for Environmental Studies of the Science and Research Centre Koper (MIOS, ZRS Koper).
The aim of the ECO-SMART project is to develop useful tools that will promote the usage of payments for ecosystem services (PES) as an innovative system of financial incentives, through which they could improve the means of managing and monitoring the consequences of climate changes at Natura
Photo 4: The edge of a fragile cliff above Moon Bay. A protected coastal area that forms an important backbone of green infrastructure in the Gulf of Trieste. 51
