New Italian Forest Law Great concern is arising around the new italian Forest Law that in a few days will be signed by the Government. International scientific societies are expressing doubts regarding the potential negative effects of this law on the Italian natural heritage so as on the Country’s ability of complying with the European climate change mitigation strategy. The Italian Government is going to issue the new Forest Law that was meant to update and improve the legislation while balancing the needs for conservation and at the same time for economic development. In spite of that, the Law shows many controversial aspects that may open the door to the irresponsible exploitation of the national natural resources. The decree seems indeed to be based on the principle of intervention and management, in order to properly preserve the natural environment, whereas it is widely recognized the importance of rewilding processes in supporting its ecological functions, and its consequential resilience. One of the most critical points of the new Forest Law draft is the lack of important definitions that may cause many misunderstandings. Very dangerous is for example the absence of a clear definition of “active forest management” even if the term is widely mentioned in the text. Moreover the above mentioned “active forest management” is seen as the only strategy in order to maintain the environmental functions not taking into account both the ecological and cultural value of forest ecosystems. Actually, the meaning of active forest management in many part of the text seems to be “to convert every woodland into a productive site”. Neglecting in this way its ecological value, the site becomes just a source of timber and fuel for industrial use. This statement is supported by the evidence that in the whole text there is no distinction between different types of woodlands, encouraging logging or deforestation even in protected areas (Parks, Reserves and Natura 2000 network sites). It is in fact impossible to find in the draft any reference to the zoning of the national forest heritage, while this is internationally recognized as an essential tool for a sustainable forest management (in conflict with the Forest Europe criteria and the Italian Constitution, ex multis). The new Forest Law seems also to be based on some assumptions not supported by any scientific evidence, as in the case of logging which is considered in the text and also reported in many interviews as a potential strategy against hydrogeological instability. Forests and woodlands are globally recognized as assets in the mitigation of climate change and the national environmental programmes in different European countries take into account the great importance of the rewilding processes which are considered important both for
keeping an acceptable level of biodiversity in the ecosystem both for preventing erosion and reducing slopes instability. In spite of that, the Law seems to consider trees as a mere good to be traded in order to improve the socioeconomic conditions of the Country, totally neglecting the complexity of forest ecosystems. The law results to consider national forests more as cultivated sites than as ecosystems. But forest cannot be considered only as a group of trees. Forests are complex ecosystems that do not need always human intervention. Logging can be useful just for human needs, of course not for saving ecosystem wilderness. Nevertheless, in the law draft logging practice is clearly linked to ecosystem conservation activities. For sure woodlands may be a mean of economic development and sustainable use of wood an important asset in the national economy but woodland exploitation should be always carried on considering in advance its environmental implications, a need which results to be completely ignored by the law draft actually promoted by the Italian Government. The general impression is that the Forest Law is overall designed to fulfill the private interests of a few, in spite of the real national needs. Another deeply controversial aspect is the equivalence of tree stands over their cutting cycle to abandoned agricultural lands, on the basis of which the Forest Law allows local administrators to take over private lands and use them as logging sites, disregarding in this way not only the concept of private property, submitted to economic interests of timber industries but also the right of the land owners to let their properties go through a spontaneous rewilding process. Another significant trouble of this draft is the shallow and confused definition of “coppiced woodlands”. Taking just one example, cultivated forests or orchards (e.g. chestnut cultivations) are in some cases considered as woodlands while in other cases they are just referred as cultivated sites. In addition to that, the Forest law seems to accept any use of the woodlands, as long as they ensure the renovation of the site, without considering their potential impact on the ecosystem. This means that there will be a payment through PES without guaranteeing the ecosystem services improvement or conservation in the coppiced or removed woodland. There is also great concern about the art. 8 focused on woodlands conversion. In the article the term “conversion” is intended as a mere removal of trees and shrubs that can be compensated by any kind of actions, included the realization of roads through forests, so risking to deeply damage the ecosystem without a correct environmental assessment. The
Forest Law draft seems therefore to disregard the international principles of conservation so threatening the global efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change. Finally, Italy shows an increasing emphasis given to the use of biomasses as energy source, often stated as the best way to quickly improve the economy of the Country, and the Forest Law draft seems to be completely in line with this trend, promoting an enhancement of their production and use, thus posing future risks on the health of the Italian population, considering that biomasses are considered among the most air polluting energetic sources. Instead of finding a balance between the need for biodiversity conservation and economic development, it allows therefore to sell off the Italian forest heritage to the best bidder, dooming the Country to a future of reckless exploitation of its natural resources, aggravating an already compromised situation. All the opinions here expressed are not moved by a mere conservation interest without considering the economic needs of the Italian Country. There is actually a deep concern about the real aim of this law which seems to be mostly focused on the logging industry interests, to the point where some representatives of such industries have been the first one to welcome with joy the upcoming approval of the law. The promotion of a so incomplete law shows the general will of Italian politicians who are inclined to sustain the economic interests of a minority, mainly represented by the timber industry, so neglecting most of the indications provided by the EU environmental legislation and first of all neglecting some of the fundamental principles of the Italian Constitution. Comitato TerrA- Territori Attivi