Green infrastructure and ecological corridors: a regional study concerning Sardinia

We propose a methodological approach to identify a multifunctional green infrastructure (GI) on the basis of four values (conservation value, natural value, recreation value and anthropic heritage) that represent as many functions (biodiversity conservation, supply of ecosystem services, recreation, identity building) performed by the landscape. By taking the Italian region of Sardinia as a case study, we argue that the methodology can support the making of landscape plans as understood in the European Landscape Convention. Moreover, we propose and implement a methodology to identify ecological corridors (ECs) connecting Natura 2000 sites (N2Ss), based on the prioritization of functional land patches related to their suitability to ecosystem services delivery, paying particular attention to biodiversity maintenance and enhancement, taking Sardinia as spatial regional context. The methodology consists of two steps: i. identifying the most suitable patches to be included in ECs on the basis of their accessibility, that is, on their negative attitude towards contributing to landscape fragmentation; ii. assessing, through a discrete-choice-model, the ECs identified through point i in terms of their suitability to be included in a regional GI, starting from the territorial taxonomy based on biodiversity characteristics related to N2Ss, habitat suitability, and recreational and landscape potentials.