Catchment Laboratories
Author(s): Andrea Baggio Compagnucci
Andrea Baggio Compagnucci
PhD, MSc
Andrea Baggio Compagnucci
PhD, MScScientist Environment/Hydrology
Physical environmental sciences
Forest Research, Northern Research Station, Roslin, Midlothian, EH25 9SY
About Andrea Baggio Compagnucci
Andrea holds a BSc in Geology, an MSc in Hydrogeology, and a PhD in Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity Management. From 2012 to 2020, Andrea worked as a scientist at the James Hutton Institute, contributing to the RESAS Scottish Government programme. This work focused on the impact of land use and climate changes on ecosystem services, particularly nutrient and sediment retention. In the last three years, Andrea has served as a Woodland Creation Officer for the Forestry Service, successfully delivering over 40 woodland creation projects. Andrea possesses technical skills in working with R and a wide range of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for modeling environmental elements. He has a keen interest in carbon and water, recognizing them as critical elements at risk that need to be protected and secured for future generations.
What Andrea does
Andrea is leading the Catchment Laboratories project which aims to enhance understanding of woodland creation benefits and create the evidence to support the development of a Woodland Water Code (WWC) as a crediting mechanism to encourage private investment in trees for improving the freshwater environment. This is embedded and sustained by England Trees Action Plan (ETAP) funded by the UK Government through DEFRA’s Nature Climate Fund programme. We will collaborate with Forest Services, private project partners, and stakeholders to identify and prioritize areas for woodland creation to address water pressures in UK catchments. Andrea is currently working in evaluating candidate catchments, applying predictive models, and assess monitoring feasibility. Project short-term goal is to shortlist the top 5-10 catchments based on suitability for interventions and potential water benefits. The project will secure partner agreement, develop study designs, and submit funding proposals for monitoring water elements starting in priority catchments to gather baseline data.
Affiliations
Institute of Chartered Foresters, EGU
Other Research
Topics include: Ecosystem Services, Modelling, Land Use Change, Climate Change, Forestry, Ecology, Data analysis, Stakeholder engagement.
Other Publications
Gimona A, McKeen M, Baggio A, Simonetti E, Poggio L, Pakeman RJ. Complementary effects of biodiversity and ecosystem services on spatial targeting for agri-environment payments. Land Use Policy. 2023 Mar 1;126:106532.
Baggio-Compagnucci A, Ovando P, Hewitt RJ, Canullo R, Gimona A. Barking up the wrong tree? Can forest expansion help meet climate goals?. Environmental Science & Policy. 2022 Oct 1;136:237-49.
Hewitt, R. J., Compagnucci, A. B., Castellazzi, M., Dunford, R. W., Harrison, P. A., Pedde, S., & Gimona, A. (2020). Impacts and trade-offs of future land use and land cover change in Scotland: spatial simulation modelling of shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) at regional scales. Preprint https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/fc6he
Burton, V.; Baggio Compagnucci, A.; Brown, C.; Moseley, D.; Gimona, A.; Poggio, L.; Metzger, M., (2020). Diversified land management and empowered communities support achievement of Scottish stakeholder’s land system visions and woodland expansion targets. Preprint.
Hewitt, R.J.; Bradley, N.; Baggio Compagnucci, A.; Barlagne, C.; Ceglarz, A.; Cremades, R.; McKeen, M.; Otto, I.M.; Slee, B. (2019) Social innovation in community energy in Europe: a review of the evidence. Frontiers in Energy Research, volume7, p. 31.
Verhagen, W.; Van Teeffelen, A.J.A.; Compagnucci, A.B.; Poggio, L.; Gimona, A.; Verburg, P.H., (2016) Effects of landscape configuration on mapping ecosystem service capacity: a review of evidence and a case study in Scotland., Landscape Ecology, 31, 1457-1479.