An economic assessment of marine ecosystems and economic scenario analysis at 2020

The marine environment and its preservation in a "good status" are essential to Italy. On one side the sea hosts and supports direct economic activities, on the other hand it provides a number of services that, though they do not give rise to market transactions, however, they contribute to the human well-being. The first stage of this research (Section I and II) deals with quantifying the direct and indirect economic value of marine and coastal ecosystems in Italy.  It defines the economic weight of the so-called "sea cluster" and include economic factors related to non-market services and the existence value associated to the marine ecosystems. The second stage of this research (Section III) proposes an economic scenario reference at 2020 for fisheries, tourism and maritime transport that jointly account for about 80% of the economic value of the overall sea cluster. The third and final stage of the research (Section IV), starting from the reference economic scenario, aims to estimate the potential marine environment degradation costs through the effects that these damages can cause to fishing and tourism.

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