Working language: English

Description:
Alps are considered “the Water towers of Europe”: a significant part of surface and groundwater outflows are directly or indirectly depending on the water accumulated in snow, glaciers and permafrost. This inestimable function is threatened by climate change. Changing patterns of rain and snowfall and higher summer temperatures causing ice melting are expected to generate dramatic change in outflow patterns, reduced winter stocking and exacerbation of extreme events. At the same time, demand trends are also putting significant challenges. Hydropower facilities are intensifying the use of water (hydropeaking, repumping) and affecting downstream flows. Concentration of touristic development in highlands multiplies summer and winter water demand in fragile environments. Artificial snow production adds further pressures upstream, while irrigated agriculture is pressing downstream.

While these challenges should not been exaggerated, they require adaptation measures, which should start from water governance

Speaker:
Antonio Massarutto
Antonio Massarutto (1964) is professor of applied economics at the university of Udine and research fellow of IEFE (Center for research of Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment), Bocconi University. His research activity has been dedicated to applied economic analysis of water and waste management. He is author of several international publications in both fields.

Introduced by:
Isabella Alloisio
Isabella Alloisio is senior researcher at Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) conducting research on climate and energy finance and the decarbonization of the energy system, and she is policy analyst and external relations manager at the International Center for Climate Governance (ICCG). She was project manager in the field of energy regulation at the Italian Authority for Energy. She holds a PhD in International Law and Economics from Bocconi University, and she was visiting scholar at the University of California at Berkeley and researcher at the Centre for Research on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy (IEFE) at Bocconi University, conducting research on renewable energy economics and policy. She has published her PhD thesis on the Policy Drivers of Photovoltaic Industry Growth in California, Germany and Japan. She holds a MPhil in International Relations from the University of Geneva, and worked in International Organizations, such as the United Nations and the European Parliament.