Il 21 March of each year occurs the International Day of Woods and Forests, established to raise public awareness of this precious resource in danger at the planetary level and which offers man important vital functions. Unfortunately, the situation of our forests is worsening worldwide from year to year for the problem of deforestation of equatorial and tropical areas, for widespread fires, for demographic pressure and for its impoverishment in general. In fact, it is estimated that 12 million hectares of forest are lost every year worldwide. Problems further amplified by climate change, which makes our forests even more vulnerable to changed local conditions, is in turn accentuated by the deforestation itself as the ability to storing CO2 with photosynthesis.
The reduction of forests and woods contributes to increasing the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in the order of 12-20% of the total causes. To empower and engage nations in combating forest decline, there have been various international conventions - including the most recent on climate (2015 Paris Agreement) - which recognize the fundamental role of protecting existing forests and increasing their growth to protect man from the environmental problems caused by climate change. Something has also been done at European level with the Green Deal, which addresses the forest issue through the “Biodiversity Strategy 2030”.
This provision provides for actions to protect and protect vast European natural areas, the restoration of degraded surfaces and the planting of 3 billion new trees. All these interventions and actions are clearly important and essential on a global and continental level, however it is necessary to go down to the local level and evaluate on a case-by-case basis. what are the policies to be put in place for the various forest realities. The situation is in fact different between the European continent and tropical areas. Italy in particular is in this regard an emblematic case in this sense: in contrast to the rest of the world, as the wooded areas have been increasing continuously for several decades. In fact, from ISTAT data (2020) it appears that in our country there are 11,4 million ha of forest areas, which is equivalent to about 40% of our surface.
What is surprising about this figure is its constant increase: in the last 5 years the woods have increased by 2,9% while in the last 30 years they have increased by as much as 25%. In practice, we have reached such an extensive forest area that has not been found for some centuries. Unfortunately, these data cannot be read fully positively as most of these increases in wooded areas are due to natural reforestation resulting from the abandonment of as many agricultural territories. Agricultural areas that are often abandoned in the most marginal areas of our territory such as the hills and mountains. These latter areas are already heavily wooded and which with the abandonment of man also risk the loss of cultural identity, landscape and also of environmental variety and consequent biodiversity, as well as causing consequent social problems due to the loss of employment and territorial protection.
The mountain pastures are considered valuable areas, often included in the sites Natura 2000 and therefore need to be preserved over time. On the other hand, an increase in new wooded areas would be desirable in other national territories, for example the lowland and suburban areas, where they are often missing or very little represented. All our woods, on the other hand, deserve adequate management that enhances their environmental and functional aspects and at the same time also encourages the wood economy, which in our country is certainly little developed and sustained. Only with careful silviculture can the functionality and profitability of our forests be best exploited. Finally, all the multiple functions of a forest must be enhanced and among these there is certainly the faunal resource.
In the forest ecosystem, its wildlife component cannot be neglected as it is fully part of it and follows all its cycles. We remember in fact that the anthropic interventions in the woods they directly influence the categories of forest fauna and therefore silviculture itself cannot help but consider them in the context of management choices. There are also legal obligations that require active interventions for the protection of species of community interest in the wooded areas of Rete Natura 2000, but there are also faunal categories that affect the evolution of the forest (such as ungulates) and therefore must be evaluated. adequately. What we hope is that our forests are always considered and evaluated in their integrity as constructive components, as only a forest rich in all its components, including wildlife, can be defined as such.