69 research outputs found

    Are non-industrial private forest owners willing to deliver regulation ecosystem services? Insights from an alpine case

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    As non-industrial private forest owners own a large share of forests in Europe, their management choices can largely affect the delivery of forest ecosystem services of different types: provisional, regulation and cultural. The literature is rich in studies exploring the delivery of both provisional services (timber or wood products) and cultural ones (recreation or amenity). However, fewer researches have addressed the delivery of regulation services like regulation of climate, carbon sequestration or preservation of habitats. The paper intends to contribute to this scarce literature with a Southern European case study. It analyses whether non-industrial private forest owners from an Italian alpine region would be willing to deliver additional (i.e. beyond legal requirements) quantities of regulation forest ecosystem services, whether they would do so with or without payment, and what affects such willingness. Three services are analysed: habitat improvement, soil conservation and carbon sequestration. Three multinomial logit models are estimated on a sample of 106 non-industrial forest owners. The results show, among others, that the willingness to deliver regulation forest ecosystem services is enhanced when the service impacts also on the property scale: this result concurs with the literature which shows that non-industrial private forest owners very often maximise not only their profit but also their overall utility by considering the self-consumption of services. The paper concludes by providing indications for targeting and tailoring active forest management policies focused on non-industrial forest owners of Italian alpine regions

    A preliminary review of forest care initiatives for health in italy: identifying models and success factors

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    INTRODUCTION: Forest Care Initiatives (FCIs) \u2013 meant as organized initiatives supporting active and passive interaction with forest ecosystems aimed at increasing levels of human wellbeing and quality of life- are becoming increasingly popular in many countries. On the one side FCIs can be a cost-effective solution to the increasing societal demand for health and well-being services; on the other they can be an opportunity for valuing forest resources and supporting development and social innovation in marginal areas. While the positive effects of contact with trees and forest ecosystems on health are increasingly studied and confirmed by scientific literature, there is a general lack of knowledge about the FCIs management models and their economic and institutional framework. In order to contribute filling this gap, this paper considers the Italian context, where FCIs have been recently introduced and are rapidly growing. The paper aims to present a review of the FCIs for health (FCIH), identifying different management models and the success factors of selected case studies, to support the development of future initiatives and inform policies. METHODS: Through an extended literature review encompassing scientific and grey contributions, formal and informal contacts with experts and practitioners, an updated state-of-the-art of the FCIH in Italy is developed, and representative case studies are selected. Quantitative and qualitative data are collected through interviews and participant observation. The contextual biophysical and institutional conditions and their interplay are presented through a conceptual framework, which helps identifying models and critical success factors (e.g. type and number of partnerships, type and number of services, type of forest ownership and management, target beneficiaries, business model, etc.). RESULTS: FCIH in Italy are quite recent -the first registered project was started in 2013- and still poorly coordinated. At present, the only example of network at national level is \u201cMontagna Terapia\u201d that keeps in connection dozens of different initiatives where forests are used as set for rehabilitation and social inclusion initiatives. Within analysed FCIH the role of forest resources ranges from a simple frame for the activities, to an \u201cactive\u201d instrumental function as a medium, and management activities vary accordingly. The target beneficiaries range from the general population, to people with very special needs and this heterogeneity reflects also on the organizational and business models. Common success factors among FCIH include the level of engagement of public sector agencies and key actors, and the value proposition. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding success factors, business models and the institutional context of FCIs is critical for the replicability and successful implementation of novel solutions. This paper represents a preliminary analysis of selected FCIH in Italy and a testing of the assessment conceptual framework. Although these first results are promising, further research and tests are needed to fine-tune the framework and facilitate the assessment and eventual transfer, up-scaling and innovation of successful models. While supporting the development of FCIs and benefiting the management of forest resource, research in this field might contribute to enhance stakeholders\u2019 awareness about FCIs and get informed about new opportunities for job creation and income diversification

    Exploring the willingness to pay for forest ecosystem services by residents of the Veneto Region

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    Forests produce a wide array of goods, both private and public. The demand for forest ecosystem services is increasing in many European countries, yet there is still a scarcity of data on values at regional scale for Alpine areas. A Choice Experiment survey has been conducted in order to explore preferences, uses and the willingness of the Veneto population to pay for ecosystem services produced by regional mountain forests. The results show that willingness to pay is significant for recreation and C-sequestration but not for biodiversity conservation, landscape and other ecosystem services. These findings question the feasibility of developing market-based mechanisms in Veneto at present and cast light on the possible role of public institutions in promoting policy actions to increase the general awareness of forest-related ecosystem services

    Review of policy instruments for climate-smart mountain forestry

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    Implementing the Climate-Smart Forestry (CSF) concept into practice requires interaction among key stakeholders, especially forest owners and managers, policymakers (or regulators in general), forest consultants, and forest users. But what could be the most effective policy instruments to achieve climate smartness in mountain forests? Which ones would be the most acceptable for forest owners? And for the local forest communities? Should they be designed and implemented with the use of participatory approaches or rather on a top-down basis? This chapter summarizes key policy instruments structured in three subsequent categories: commandand-control, voluntary market-based instruments, and community cooperation. It provides examples of their functioning in the forestry sector and discusses their suitability for the implementation of climate smart forestry. It appears that there are many policy instruments used with varying degrees of success such as forest concessions or voluntary certifcation schemes. A wide range of instruments are responding to direct regulation; this has been seen as insuffcient to deal with natural hazards and calamities.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    PESFOR-W: Improving the design and environmental effectiveness of woodlands for water Payments for Ecosystem Services

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    ABSTRACT: The EU Water Framework Directive aims to ensure restoration of Europe?s water bodies to ?good ecological status? by 2027. Many Member States will struggle to meet this target, with around half of EU river catchments currently reporting below standard water quality. Diffuse pollution from agriculture represents a major pressure, affecting over 90% of river basins. Accumulating evidence shows that recent improvements to agricultural practices are benefiting water quality but in many cases will be insufficient to achieve WFD objectives. There is growing support for land use change to help bridge the gap, with a particular focus on targeted tree planting to intercept and reduce the delivery of diffuse pollutants to water. This form of integrated catchment management offers multiple benefits to society but a significant cost to landowners and managers. New economic instruments, in combination with spatial targeting, need to be developed to ensure cost effective solutions - including tree planting for water benefits - are realised. Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are flexible, incentive-based mechanisms that could play an important role in promoting land use change to deliver water quality targets. The PESFOR-W COST Action will consolidate learning from existing woodlands for water PES schemes in Europe and help standardize approaches to evaluating the environmental effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of woodland measures. It will also create a European network through which PES schemes can be facilitated, extended and improved, for example by incorporating other ecosystem services linking with aims of the wider forestscarbon policy nexus

    Understanding forest owners’ propensity to the provision of ecosystem services: a survey in the Veneto Region of Italy.

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    Similar to other industrialised countries, Italian forests deliver, besides wood products, several ecosystem services (ES), mostly provided as public goods. The ES provision has been an important aspect in the Italian Legislative Framework since the early 1920s. However, up to now, the overall effect of the forest policies has been a slow and constant land abandonment, while a new demand of ES provision by forests has arisen. The paper presents the results of a survey undertaken in Veneto region (northeast Italy) to understand forest owners’ (FO) propensity to participate in active forest management for ES supply. The survey covers 30% of the forestland; about 200 FOs were interviewed. The characteristics of the forest estates, the FOs’ features and the forest management practices in place are examined together to the causal-effect relationships between forest management and ES provision. Few ES provision contracts were recorded and limited inclination towards ES supply was stated by FOs. Main reasons for this are the low awareness of ES potentials and the small size of forest estates. The paper also frames these results in the broader context of regional forest governance and suggests the implementation of ‘network contracts’ amongst FOs, as innovative tool for fostering ES provision
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