Ricerc@Sapienza

Human actions are causing the fabric of life to unravel, posing serious risks for the quality of life of people, thus more ambitious conservation efforts are needed to stop the global degradation of ecosystems and the extinction of the species that comprise them. With this work we want to combine spatially explicit global map of conservation priorities in order to identify a smaller set of priorities that maximize the preservation of synergies between biodiversity conservation and the achievement of other societal goals. A fundamental Nature Contribution to people is crop pollination which has long been recognized as an ecosystem service of huge economic value and priority importance to human food security and well-being. Since a large number of food crops depend upon pollination, it is important to identify where pollination is most critical to agricultural production in order to prioritize important biodiversity areas for pollinator conservation. The assessment of Nature's Contribution to People (NCP) is a relevant strategy for decision-making given the increasing need to reconcile biodiversity and human society with conservation. Through our study, we aim to advance the understanding of the synergies between the conservation of nature and the neglected role of wild pollinators in the agricultural systems. This will be achieved by measuring pollination service across landscapes combining a monetary and a non-monetary approach, developing a method that uses open access data sets to remotely estimate the relative provision of pollination service delivery provided across important areas of biodiversity value.