Soil salinization in agriculture: Mitigation and adaptation strategies combining nature-based solutions and bioengineering.

Soil salinization is among the most critical threats to agriculture and food security. Excess of salts adversely affects soil structure and fertility, plant growth, crop yield, and microorganisms. It is caused by natural processes, such as dry climates and low precipitations, high evaporation rate, poor waterlogging, and human factors, such as inappropriate irrigation practices, poor drainage systems, and excessive use of fertilizers. The growing extremization of climate with prolonged drought conditions is worsening the phenomenon. Nature-based solutions (NBS), combined with precision or conservation agriculture, represent a sustainable response, and offer benefits through revitalizing ecosystem services. This perspective explores NBS that can be adopted, along with their challenges and implementation limitations. We also argue that NBS could not be enough to combat hunger in the world's most vulnerable regions and fully achieve the Sustainable Development Goal - Zero Hunger (SDG2). We therefore discuss their possible combination with salt-tolerant crops based on bioengineering.

Heroic viticulture: Environmental and socioeconomic challenges of unique heritage landscapes.

Steep-slope agricultural landscapes cover a small fraction of global agricultural areas.1 Despite the limited coverage, they are relevant for high-quality food and wine production, history, and landscape value. On steep slopes, centuries of effort and tradition have created a unique cultural heritage to be preserved. Here, peculiar traditional local knowledge of soil and water conservation combined with agronomic practices (e.g., dry-stone wall terracing) has been handed down for generations. However, such landscapes are fragile and under threat.

Modeling windthrow effects on water runoff and hillslope stability in a mountain catchment affected by the VAIA storm.

Windthrows seriously affect forest landscapes, causing several issues in hydrological and geomorphological terms. In this regard, Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) topographic data recently increased the opportunity to investigate in detail physical processes at the catchment scale. Moreover, topographically based hydrological and geomorphological models allow quantifying runoff alteration due to windthrows-driven land cover changes and detect the occurrence of land degradative processes at the sub-catchment scale. In this connection, accurate investigations about windthrows role in varying local runoff regimes over time are still obscure, as well as the possibility of predicting terrain instabilities due to windstorm occurrence. This research aims to investigate the interaction between windthrows, runoff alterations and hillslope failures affecting a landslide-prone mountain catchment (northern Italy). Hydrological HEC-HMS and geomorphological RESS models were applied. Windthrows' role in altering runoff regimes and hillslope stability was investigated starting from the elaboration of ALS-derived points clouds acquired before and after the occurrence of the Vaia storm. Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) were elaborated for the two scenarios to compare daily runoff variations and predict the activation of terrain instabilities by looking at land cover changes driven by the blowdown event at the sub-catchment detail. Results attested the key role of windstorms in altering local runoff, with a maximum relative runoff increment equal to 2.56 % and a maximum runoff difference equal to 3.12 mmh-1, as well as in encouraging the activation of the observed shallow landslide. The correlation between windthrows occurrence and runoff alterations was validated by performing regression analysis (R2 = 0.76), while the accuracy of instabilities predictions was tested through the Distance to Perfect Classification (D2PC) index and True Skill Statistic (TSS) score, respectively resulted equal to 0.076 and 0.898. This research represents a valid tool for investigating similar issues at a wider scale, also providing suggestions for promoting interventions in wind-disturbed forest areas.

Future climate-zone shifts are threatening steep-slope agriculture.

Steep-slope agricultural systems are important for food production worldwide. Here we provide a high-resolution global map of steep-slope agricultural landscapes and their spatial distribution in the Köppen-Geiger climate zones for the present day (1980-2016) and future (2071-2100) scenarios. Our analysis demonstrates that steep-slope agricultural areas are much more affected by shifting climate zones than average global agricultural lands, especially by the expansion of arid zones.

Organic contaminants in Ganga basin: from the Green Revolution to the emerging concerns of modern India.

The Ganga basin includes some of the most densely populated areas in the world, in a region characterized by extremely high demographic and economic growth rates. Although anthropogenic pressure in this area is increasing, the pollution status of the Ganga is still poorly studied and understood. In the light of this, we have carried out a systematic literature review of the sources, levels and spatiotemporal distribution of organic pollutants in surface water and sediment of the Ganga basin, including for the first time emerging contaminants (ECs). We have identified 61 publications over the past thirty years, with data on a total of 271 organic compounds, including pesticides, industrial chemicals, and by-products, artificial sweeteners, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products (PPCPs). The most studied organic contaminants are pesticides, whereas knowledge of industrial compounds and PPCPs, among which some of the major ECs, is highly fragmentary. Most studies focus on the main channel of the Ganga, the Yamuna, the Gomti, and the deltaic region, while most of the Ganga's major tributaries, and the entire southern part of the catchment, have not been investigated. Hotspots of contamination coincide with major urban agglomerations, including Delhi, Kolkata, Kanpur, Varanasi, and Patna. Pesticides levels have decreased at most of the sites over recent decades, while potentially harmful concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organotin compounds (OTCs), and some PPCPs have been detected in the last ten years. Considering the limited geographical coverage of sampling and number of analyzed compounds, this review highlights the need for a more careful selection of locations, compounds and environmental matrices, prioritizing PPCPs and catchment-scale, source-to-sink studies.

Explicit the urban waterlogging spatial variation and its driving factors: The stepwise cluster analysis model and hierarchical partitioning analysis approach.

Urban waterlogging is a hydrological cycle problem that seriously affects people's life and property. Characterizing waterlogging variation and explicit its driving factors are conducive to prevent the damage of such disasters. Conventional methods, because of the high spatial heterogeneity and the non-stationary complex mechanism of urban waterlogging, are not able to fully capture the urban waterlogging spatial variation and identify the waterlogging susceptibility areas. A more robust method is recommended to quantify the variation trend of urban waterlogging. Previous studies have simulated the waterlogging variation in relatively small areas. However, the relationship between variables is often ignored, which cannot comprehensively reveal the dominant drivers affecting urban waterlogging. Therefore, a novel approach is proposed that combined stepwise cluster analysis model (SCAM) and hierarchical partitioning analysis (HPA) within a general framework and verifies the applicability through logistic regression, artificial neural network, and support vector machine. According to the dominant driving factors, different simulation scenarios are established to analyze waterlogging density variation. Results found that the SCAM provides accurate and detailed simulated results both in urban centers where waterlogging frequently occurs and urban fringe with few waterlogging events, which shows an excellent performance with a high classification accuracy and generalization capability. HPA detected that the impervious surface abundance (28.07%), vegetation abundance (20.80%), and cumulate precipitation (16.25%) are the dominant drivers of waterlogging. This result suggests that priority should be given to controlling these three factors to mitigate the risk of waterlogging. It is interesting to note that under different urbanization and rainfall scenarios, the urban waterlogging susceptibility has a considerable variation. The watershed spatial location and watershed characteristics are relevant aspects to be considered in identifying and assessing waterlogging susceptibility, which provides original insights that urban waterlogging mitigation strategies should be developed according to different local conditions and future scenarios.

Disentangling climatic and anthropogenic contributions to nonlinear dynamics of alpine grassland productivity on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

Alpine grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau are sensitive and vulnerable to climate change and human activities. Climate warming and overgrazing have already caused degradation in a large fraction of alpine grasslands on this plateau. However, it remains unclear how human activities (mainly livestock grazing) regulates vegetation dynamics under climate change. Here, alpine grassland productivity (substituted with the normalized difference vegetation index, NDVI) is hypothesized to vary in a nonlinear trajectory to follow climate fluctuations and human disturbances. With generalized additive mixed modelling (GAMM) and residual-trend (RESTREND) analysis together, both magnitude and direction of climatic (in terms of temperature, precipitation, and radiation) and anthropogenic impacts on NDVI variation were examined across alpine meadows, steppes, and desert-steppes on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The results revealed that accelerating warming and greening, respectively, took place in 76.2% and 78.8% of alpine grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The relative importance of temperature, precipitation, and radiation impacts was comparable, between 20.4% and 24.8%, and combined to explain 66.2% of NDVI variance at the pixel scale. The human influence was strengthening and weakening, respectively, in 15.5% and 14.3% of grassland pixels, being slightly larger than any sole climatic variable across the entire plateau. Anthropogenic and climatic factors can be in opposite ways to affect alpine grasslands, even within the same grassland type, likely regulated by plant community assembly and species functional traits. Therefore, the underlying mechanisms of how plant functional diversity regulates nonlinear ecosystem response to climatic and anthropogenic stresses should be carefully explored in the future.

Identifying dominant factors of waterlogging events in metropolitan coastal cities: The case study of Guangzhou, China.

Urban waterlogging disasters are affected by environmental conditions and human activities. Previous studies had explored the effect of land-use type on waterlogging in relatively small watersheds. Few, however, have comprehensively revealed the relative contributions of the environmental and anthropogenic factors to urban waterlogging concerning different scales of analysis. Indeed what is less known, are the dominant factors and the appropriate scale of analysis. To overcome this limitation, a novel method that integrates the stepwise regression model with hierarchical partitioning analysis is presented. The purpose is to investigate the complex mechanism of urban waterlogging by identifying the relative contribution of each environmental and anthropogenic factor and the stability linking waterlogging to influencing factors at multiple scales of analysis (i.e. 1 km, 2 km, 3 km, 4 km, and 5 km). We consider waterlogging events in the central urban districts of Guangzhou (PR China) from 2009 to 2015 as a case study. The results show that the spatial distribution of waterlogging events in the central urban area presents a strong agglomeration pattern. The waterlogging hot spots are mainly concentrated in the historical area of Guangzhou. Under all analysis scales, we find that the percent cover of urban green spaces (44.74%), percent cover of residential area (41.03%), and slope.std (36.85%) both have a dominant contribution to urban waterlogging, which suggests the importance of land cover composition in determining urban waterlogging. However, the relative contribution and dominant factors of waterlogging varied across different analysis scales, presenting a strong scale effect. Under a small analysis scale (1 km), the topography factors (slope.std and relative elevation) are confirmed as the dominant variables; however, with the increase of analysis scale, the influence of land cover composition (greenspace, residence area, grassland) and land cover spatial configuration (LPI, AI, Cohesion index) on waterlogging magnitude is greater than other factors. This finding provides additional insights that the urban waterlogging can be alleviated by balancing the relative composition of land cover features as well as by optimizing their spatial configuration. Since the optimal statistical scale for urban waterlogging studies only worked for specific influencing factors, the appropriate analysis scale for urban waterlogging study should be determined by the characteristics of study areas. This study has the capability to extend our scientific understanding of the complex mechanisms of waterlogging in the highly urbanized coastal city, providing useful support for the prevention and management of urban waterlogging.

Does terracing enhance soil organic carbon sequestration? A national-scale data analysis in China.

Terracing practice is expected to reserve soil organic carbon (SOC) pools, which are the key components for maintaining soil fertility and land productivity. In China such practice is widespread from center to south since ancient time. In this work, to reveal the spatial-temporal variation characteristics of SOC under different terraced sites in China, we conducted a meta-analysis on 78 studies regarding terracing effects on SOC sequestration. The between-group heterogeneity analysis indicated that terracing land use, age, climatic background, and slope gradient were critical factors for SOC sequestration, while terracing structure and soil depth were not. Overall, for China's landscapes, terracing increased SOC sequestration by 32.4% on average. Relative to other terracing structures, level ditches and half-moon terraces receive more rainwater and fertile topsoil from upper slopes due to their specific concave structures. Terracing in those areas with lower temperatures and less precipitation showed higher SOC sequestration. The extent of SOC sequestration due to terracing was primarily determined by land use type. Reforestation terraces could increase SOC sequestration markedly by eliminating water erosion and related soil carbon loss. The terracing aged 1-2 years leads to a decrease of 6.4% averagely on SOC sequestration, likely because the breakdown of soil aggregates through soil excavation and redistribution improves the decomposition of SOC. Furthermore, terracing aged over five years was more effective on SOC sequestration. Since this study offered a useful synthesis on multiple terracing factors affecting soil carbon in China, it can help to provide a wiser utilization and management of terracing to maximize SOC sequestration, and to make better terracing practices in the context of global change.

European agricultural terraces and lynchets: from archaeological theory to heritage management.

Terraces are highly productive, culturally distinctive socioecological systems. Although they form part of time/place-specific debates, terraces per se have been neglected - fields on slopes or landscape elements. We argue that this is due to mapping and dating problems, and lack of artefacts/ecofacts. However, new techniques can overcome some of these constraints, allowing us to re-engage with theoretical debates around agricultural intensification. Starting from neo-Broserupian propositions, we can engage with the sociopolitical and environmental aspects of terrace emergence, maintenance and abandonment. Non-reductionist avenues include identifying and dating different phases of development within single terrace systems, identifying a full crop-range, and other activities not generally associated with terraces (e.g. metallurgy). The proposition here is that terraces are a multi-facetted investment that includes both intensification and diversification and can occur under a range of social conditions but which constitutes a response to demographic pressure in the face to fluctuating environmental conditions.

Use of multiple indicators to compare sustainability performance of organic vs conventional vineyard management.

The wine sector is paying more attention to sustainable wine production practices, but this topic is highly debated because organic viticulture aims to a reduction of environmental impacts, while conventional viticulture ensures an increase of yield. This work provides an economic and environmental comparison using different indicators whereas no previous studies on viticulture have faced on both aspects of sustainability. Two distinct vineyards within the same case study farm were considered, where conventional and organic viticulture practices were applied for 5 years. For each type of production, we calculated the economic benefit and environmental indicators such as the Water Footprint, Carbon Footprint, and an indicator of environmental performance associated with the vineyard phase ("Vineyard Management" or "Vigneto" indicator part of the Italian VIVA certification framework). This latter considers six sub-indicators investigating pesticides management, fertilizers management, organic matter content, soil compaction, soil erosion, and landscape quality. The multi criteria approach is a novel framework assessing sustainability on vineyard management using environmental indicators from VIVA calculator and the economic aspect. Main results showed that organic management in viticulture can be applied without having economic losses and with the benefit of better preserving the natural capital.

Ecological water conveyance drives human-water system evolution in the Heihe watershed, China.

Watersheds are coupled with human-water systems where human, and water resources interact and coevolve with each other. Restoration management not only affects the ecosystem itself but also alters the mutual feedback relationship between humans and water, resulting in additional effects and impeding the ecological restoration process. Taking the lower reaches of the Heihe River as an example (Inner Mongolia, PR China), this study investigated the evolution of the human-water system after the implementation of ecological water conveyance using multiple data sources (e.g., remote sensing data, hydrological data, field data and socioeconomic data). We found that (1) after the implementation of ecological water conveyance, vegetation recovered in the last 15 years with an NDVI increasing from 0.10 to 0.13 across the region except some degraded areas near the river; (2) besides restoring the target ecosystem, ecological water conveyance also promoted socioeconomic development and affected the water resources utilization; (3) after 15 years' water conveyance, the coupled human-water system changed from the early ecological water deficit to the present ecological-socioeconomic water-use trade-off with negative impact resulted from agriculture expansion and water usage conflict between the middle and the lower reaches. These effects impeded the restoration of the ecological environment and aggravated the conflicts of water resources utilization within the whole Heihe watershed, consistent with of the hypothesized disturbance effect transmutation. Our results highlighted that analysis on the mutual feedback effect in the coupled human-water system, and dynamic adjustments for restoration measures are needed for sustainable watershed management.

Estimating soil degradation in montane grasslands of North-eastern Italian Alps (Italy).

Grasslands cover a large portion of the terrestrial ecosystems, and are vital for biodiversity conservation, environmental protection and livestock husbandry. However, grasslands are degraded due to unreasonable management worldwide, i.e., soil erosion indirectly due to the damage of overgrazing on vegetation coverage and soil texture. An in-depth investigation is necessary to quantify soil erosion in alpine pastures, in order to manage grasslands more sustainably. In this work, we collected freely available satellite images and carried out intensive field surveys for the whole Autonomous Province of Trento (Northeastern Italian Alps) in 2016. The area (and volume) of soil erosions were then estimated and shown in maps. The average of the depths of soil erosion measured in field was used as a reference for estimating soil erosion of the entire study area. High-resolution DEMs difference in soil surface conditions was also computed in two representative areas between pre- and post-degradation to estimate the volume and the average depth of eroded soils. The degradation of soil in the study areas has been estimated in 144063 m2 and an estimated volume of 33610 ± 1800 m3. Results indicate that our procedure can serve as a low-cost approach for a rapid estimation of soil erosion in mountain areas. Mapping soil erosion can improve the sustainability of grazing management system and reduce the risk of pastureland degradation at large spatial scales.

Comparison of Water-focused Life Cycle Assessment and Water Footprint Assessment: The case of an Italian wine.

In recent decades, the debate on how to implement and measure sustainability in food production gained increasing importance and interest for agriculture. In the wine sector, producers are increasingly pursuing sustainable practices, including measures for water preservation from degradation and overuse. But methodologies for assessing and communicating the impacts on water resources need to be understood in detail to guide the selection of the most appropriate management practices, support environmental labelling and promote environmental-friendly products to consumers. This work focuses on the impacts on water resources associated with the production of Italian wine by comparing two methodologies: the Water-focused Life Cycle Assessment and the "Water" indicator included in the Italian "VIVA" certification framework, which is based on the Water Footprint Assessment. The two methodologies address the impact on freshwater consumption and degradation from a life cycle perspective. VIVA is based on a water balance method that reflects a volumetric measure of water consumption, while the LCA-based approach investigates both the freshwater consumption and depletion using different impact indicators. The study goal is to compare the two methodologies to understand how their outcomes can support and improve the management of water-related issues in wine production. One main conclusion is that the WATER indicator within VIVA framework can provide more precise recommendations for the optimal management of water use during the vineyard phase, while LCA approach highlights impact hotspots related to both direct and indirect use of water resources (e.g., it points out the relevant contribution of the bottling stage to different impact indicators). The comparative application of both methodologies can provide useful insights into the water-related impacts of different wine production processes and stages and support a comprehensive assessment of the best management practices, unless the differences in the methodological approaches and goals are well understood by assessors.

Floods, landscape modifications and population dynamics in anthropogenic coastal lowlands: The Polesine (northern Italy) case study.

It is widely recognized that the complex relationship between humans, soil, and water has become increasingly complicated due to anthropogenic activities, and is further expected to worsen in the future as a result of population dynamics and climate change. The present study aims at shedding light on the multifaceted links between floods, landscape modifications, and population dynamics in anthropogenic coastal lowlands, using a large flood-prone area (the Polesine Region, northeastern Italy) as a significant case study. Based on the analysis of historical events and the results of hydraulic modeling, it is shown that human interventions on both the landscape and the subsoil have substantially altered the flood dynamics, exacerbating hydraulic hazard. Furthermore, the combined analysis of people and assets exposure to inundation reveals that flood risk is not properly taken into account in land-use planning, nor it is properly understood by people living in areas subject to low-probability, high-impact flood events.

The Role of Gender in Preparedness and Response Behaviors towards Flood Risk in Serbia.

Adverse outcomes from 2014 flooding in Serbia indicated problematic response phase management accentuated by a gender imbalance. For this reason, we investigated the risk perceptions and preparedness of women and men regarding these types of events in Serbia. Face-to-face interviews, administered to 2500 participants, were conducted across 19 of 191 municipalities. In light of the current findings, men seemed to be more confident in their abilities to cope with flooding, perceiving greater individual and household preparedness. By contrast, women displayed a deeper understanding of these events. Perhaps owing to a deeper level of understanding, women demonstrated more household-caring attitudes and behaviors and were more prone to report a willingness to help flood victims at reception centers. Emergency management agencies and land planners should account for these differences in gender awareness and preparedness. Based on these findings, doing so may increase citizen participation and shared responsibility under flood hazard scenarios.

Grazing exclusion by fencing non-linearly restored the degraded alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau.

Resilience is an important aspect of the non-linear restoration of disturbed ecosystems. Fenced grassland patches on the northern Tibetan Plateau can be used to examine the resistance and resilience of degraded alpine grasslands to grazing and to a changing climate. To examine the non-linearity of restoration, we used moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) as a proxy for productivity during a ten-year restoration by fencing. Degraded alpine grasslands exhibited three restoration trajectories: an equilibrium in meadows, a non-linear increase across steppes, and an abrupt impulse in desert-steppes following a slight increase in productivity. Combined with weather conditions, the ten-year grazing exclusion has successfully enhanced the NDVI on the most degraded steppes, but did not do so efficiently on either meadows or desert-steppes. Warming favors the NDVI enhancement of degraded meadows, but higher temperatures limited the restoration of degraded steppes and desert-steppes. Precipitation is necessary to restore degraded alpine grasslands, but more precipitation might be useless for meadows due to lower temperatures and for desert-steppes due to limitations caused by the small species pool. We suggest that detailed field observations of community compositional changes are necessary to better understand the mechanisms behind such non-linear ecological restorations.

Rainfall simulation and Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry for the analysis of soil water erosion in Mediterranean vineyards.

Soil water erosion is a serious problem, especially in agricultural lands. Among these, vineyards deserve attention, because they constitute for the Mediterranean areas a type of land use affected by high soil losses. A significant problem related to the study of soil water erosion in these areas consists in the lack of a standardized procedure of collecting data and reporting results, mainly due to a variability among the measurement methods applied. Given this issue and the seriousness of soil water erosion in Mediterranean vineyards, this works aims to quantify the soil losses caused by simulated rainstorms, and compare them with each other depending on two different methodologies: (i) rainfall simulation and (ii) surface elevation change-based, relying on high-resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) derived from a photogrammetric technique (Structure-from-Motion or SfM). The experiments were carried out in a typical Mediterranean vineyard, located in eastern Spain, at very fine scales. SfM data were obtained from one reflex camera and a smartphone built-in camera. An index of sediment connectivity was also applied to evaluate the potential effect of connectivity within the plots. DEMs derived from the smartphone and the reflex camera were comparable with each other in terms of accuracy and capability of estimating soil loss. Furthermore, soil loss estimated with the surface elevation change-based method resulted to be of the same order of magnitude of that one obtained with rainfall simulation, as long as the sediment connectivity within the plot was considered. High-resolution topography derived from SfM revealed to be essential in the sediment connectivity analysis and, therefore, in the estimation of eroded materials, when comparing them to those derived from the rainfall simulation methodology. The fact that smartphones built-in cameras could produce as much satisfying results as those derived from reflex cameras is a high value added for using SfM.

The immediate effectiveness of barley straw mulch in reducing soil erodibility and surface runoff generation in Mediterranean vineyards.

Soil and water loss in agriculture is a major problem throughout the world, and especially in Mediterranean areas. Non-conservation agricultural practices have further aggravated the situation, especially in vineyards, which are affected by one of the highest rates of soil loss among cultivated lands. Therefore, it is necessary to find the right soil practices for more sustainable viticulture. In this regard, straw mulching has proven to be effective in other crop and fire affected soils, but, nonetheless, little research has been carried out in vineyards. This research tests the effect of barley straw mulching on soil erosion and surface runoff on vineyards in Eastern Spain where the soil and water losses are non-sustainable. An experiment was setup using rainfall simulation tests at 55 mm h(-1) over 1h on forty paired plots of 0.24 m(2): twenty bare and twenty straw covered. Straw cover varied from 48 to 90% with a median value of 59% as a result of the application of 75 g of straw per m(2). The use of straw mulch resulted in delayed ponding and runoff generation and, as a consequence, the median water loss decreased from 52.59 to 39.27% of the total rainfall. The straw cover reduced the median sediment concentration in runoff from 9.8 to 3.0 g L(-1) and the median total sediment detached from 70.34 to 15.62 g per experiment. The median soil erosion rate decreased from 2.81 to 0.63 Mg ha(-1)h(-1) due to the straw mulch protection. Straw mulch is very effective in reducing soil erodibility and surface runoff, and this benefit was achieved immediately after the application of the straw.

Assessment of energy potential from wetland plants along the minor channel network on an agricultural floodplain.

Renewable energy sources such as biomasses can play a pivotal role to ensure security of energy supply and reduce greenhouse gases through the substitution of fossil fuels. At present, bioenergy is mainly derived from cultivated crops that mirror the environmental impacts from the intensification of agricultural systems for food production. Instead, biomass from perennial herbaceous species growing in wetland ecosystems and marginal lands has recently aroused interest as bioenergy for electricity and heat, methane and 2nd-generation bioethanol. The aim of this paper is to assess, at local scale, the energy potential of wetland vegetation growing along the minor hydrographic network of a reclamation area in Northeast Italy, by performing energy scenarios for combustion, methane and 2nd-generation ethanol. The research is based on a cross-methodology that combines survey analyses in the field with a GIS-based approach: the former consists of direct measurements and biomass sampling, the latter of spatial analyses and scaling up simulations at the minor channel network level. Results highlight that biomass from riparian zones could represent a significant source of bioenergy for combustion transformation, turning the disposal problem to cut and store in situ wetland vegetation into an opportunity to produce sustainable renewable energy at local scale.