Διαδικτυακή Πύλη Συνεργασίας Για Τα Δάση

In Mediterranean Europe, society seems to have lost the capacity to generate value from large portions of the landscape. This leads to land abandonment and the expansion of unmanaged forests. Landscapes are increasingly dominated by continuous, high density young forests, an extremely favourable setting for the rapid propagation of high intensity fires. The cumulative effects of global warming, fire-prone landscapes, changes in urbanisation patterns as well as the lack of perceived value from local populations and the high number of fire ignitions, create the perfect storm for catastrophic forest fires. The situation is now exceeding fire suppression capabilities in many countries, including those with sophisticated aerial and ground equipment, well-prepared fire brigades and substantial budgets. The cost of fire mitigation and control amounts to several billion euros each year and jeopardizes forest policy implementation in Southern Europe. Forests have become a sink for already tight public resources. Under the current approach, maintaining suppression effectiveness levels will require significant additional resources. A new paradigm is needed. The focus must be shifted towards resource management in order to reduce fuel loads and fuel continuity at large, landscape scales. Only then will suppression efforts become feasible. This can be made possible through the creation of functional value chains based on wood, non-wood products, agroforestry and ecosystem services. Developing the bioeconomy vision in the Mediterranean not only has the potential to reduce fire risk, but also to help convert forests into a source of income. 

The aim of the study is to analyze different forest management practices (selective and traditional thinning) in black pine peri-urban forest in Central Italy, by investigating their contribution in terms of provisioning (wood production), cultural (rec­reational benefits) and regulating (climate change mitigation) ES. For each management option was performed: (1) a biophysical assessment of selected ES by using primary data and calculating indicators for wood production with special regard to biomass for energy use (living trees and deadwood volume harvested), recreational benefits (tourists’ preferences for each for­est management practice),  climate change mitigation (carbon sequestration in above-ground and below-ground biomass), and (2) an economic valuation of wood production, recreational benefits and climate change mitigation ES using direct and indirect methods (environmental evaluation techniques). The results show that the effects of the selective thinning on ES are higher that the effects of the traditional thinning. The economic value of the three ES provided by traditional and selective thinning are respectively: bioen­ergy production 154.2 € ha-1 yr-1 and 223.3 € ha-1 yr-1; recreational benefits 193.2 € ha-1 yr-1 and 231.9 € ha-1 yr-1; carbon sequestration 29.0 € ha-1 yr-1 and 36.2 € ha-1 yr-1. The integrated (biophysical and economic) assessment of ES in addition to the trade-off analysis can provide multi-perspective insights for forest policy makers and can be included as a part of the local forest management plans.

Coppice is the oldest form of sustainable forest management and is still abundant throughout Europe today. Its unique characteristics contribute to rural livelihoods, the bio-economy, environment and cultural heritage. Coppice forests have become neglected in recent history, leaving an enormous untapped potential. Experts from 35 countries, involved in COST Action FP1301 “EuroCoppice”, urge EU policy-makers to seize this opportunity by specifically addressing and supporting coppice within EU strategy, policy, R&D programmes, and structural funds.

Coppice is a forest regenerated from vegetative shoots that may originate from the stump and/or from the roots, depending on the species. In contrast to forests originating from seed (the so-called high forest), the rotation period of coppice forests can be significantly shorter (approx. 5-30 years, depending on the type of coppice system). In 2000, about 16% of the productive forests in Europe were managed as coppice, covering a total area of about 23 million ha. All European coppice forests consist of broadleaved tree species. Among them, eucalypts, a non-native species, is a bit of an outlier in terms of the environmental concerns discussed in this document. Even though eucalypts can be managed to be highly productive and cost-effective, they can have major detrimental effects to the environment such as soil depletion and fire risk. Willows, poplars and black locust are treated as short-rotation coppice (SRC), which is usually regarded as part of agricultural-production systems. There are different forms of coppice forests: simple coppice, coppice with standards, coppice selection, pollarding and short rotation coppice.