Policy context
Forest policy (Matera)
| Authors: | Angelo Nolè, Giuseppe Mancino, Luca Salvati |
| Coordinating authors: | Agostino Ferrara, Ruta Landgrebe, Sandra Nauman, Marit de Vries |
| Editors: | Alexandros Kandelapas, Jane Brandt |
Editor's note 6Jun14: Sources D342-3
Forest policy in Italy is organized and regulated on the basis of the existing administrative and constitutional structures following the constitutional modifications, which in the 1970s transferred most of the legislative power in the forest sector to the regional level.
Currently, the national level administration is responsible for drafting the general guidelines and general policy frameworks for regional legislation. For example, the actual strategic objectives of the national forest policy are based on the legislative decree no. 227/2001 "Orientation and modernization of the forest sector". At a regional level, Basilicata and other administrations are usually directly involved in the drafting and implementation of specific regional laws. The local administrative level is represented by the municipalities, which are responsible for direct implementation. They act as public owners of forest resources (in Italy, the municipalities own most of the public forest property) and are thus responsible for the management of forest resources, primarily through the implementation of Forest Management Plans.
Policies, measures and instruments, results and impacts
| Policy | Policy measures and instruments | Results and impacts of the policy |
| (National) Constitutional Law requiring reorganization of the State Administration |
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| (National) Royal Decree n.3267/1923 and the following Regulations for implementation (R.D. 16.5.1926, No.1126) |
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| Regional Law no. 42 of 30 November 1998 "Regulations on the forests" |
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| Regional Law n.13/2005 ‘Regulations for the prevention of forest fires’ | Triennial Plan for Forest Fires incl. measures such as:
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Source: Authors
Forest policy regulation
At the national level, forest policy is regulated by:
- Constitutional Law no. 281/1970 which transferred legislative power to regions with the objective of understanding territorial sensibilities and more effectively control the use of environmental resources. Decree no. 11/1972, transferred property and management of state public forests to the regions, with the exception of forests with special functions (e.g. some natural reserves, coastal forests, seed forests, etc.).
- Royal Decree (R.D. 30/12/1923 no. 3267) on: “Legislative reorganization and reform in matters of mountain forest and lands” is still in effect for all matters that have not been updated by regional laws. According to this Decree, the aim of the forest policy was primarily to address general issues such as soil erosion, forest production, forest hydrological protection, quality of forest cover and a reduction of forest fragmentation. The law also acknowledges the overall goal of the forest policy to protect soil and water, through the implementation of hydro-geological restriction(s) for areas that were likely to be denuded or to lose their water balance. In addition to its overarching goal, the Royal Decree introduces the following objectives:
- to acknowledge the role of forests to protect soil and water;
- to implement active protection measures such as reforestation, the development of controlled grazing and proper management of reforested areas by landowners;
- to better manage forest and mountain territories by drafting and adopting Forest Management Plans (mandatory for public forests) and by drafting of Forestry Regulations and general address for Forest Police activities at the province level (Prescrizioni di Massima e di Polizia Forestale, PMPF);
- to reduce hydro-geological risks by defining the restrictions that strongly affect the management of forests and the management of mountainous areas, in general.
Other relevant laws of interest for the forest policy at the national level cover mountain areas (Laws no. 991/1952 and no. 97/94), “Funds for agriculture and forest sector” (EU Council Regulation no. 2080/1992) and forest fires (Law no. 353/2000),
Decree no. 227/2001 “Orientation and modernization of the forest sector” provides a new general framework for actions to be implemented primarily at the local level by regions. It gives the regions the task of establishing guidelines for the protection, conservation and development of forestry through the drafting and revision of Regional Forest Plans. It also provides, intera alia, several rules which are important for reducing the risk of desertification in forest lands, such as prohibitions to convert forests to other land useswithout compensatory afforestation and restoration of forests where there is a serious degradation process. The Financial Law for 2008 (Law no. 296/2007) establishes a “Framework Programme for the Forest Sector” which is coordinated by the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies and the Ministry for Environment, Territory and Sea. The FPFS identifies four priorities within a ten-year period (2009-2019):
- land and environmental protection via an enhanced protective function of forests;
- maximization of their potential for carbon fixation;
- preservation of the integrity and health of forest ecosystems;
- conservation and improvement of biological and landscape diversity.
At the regional level, the forest sector in the Basilicata Region is regulated by Regional Law no. 42 of 30 November 1998 "Regulations on the forests" (and its subsequent implementing regulations) with the aims:
- to develop the territory, the environment and agro-forestry resources and pastoral ecosystems;
- to implement rational forest management to ensure the maintenance and improvement of the ecological balance and the optimal completionof the productive, landscape, tourist and recreational functions of forests;
- to prevent hydrological regime disorder;
- to protect the natural environment;
- to restore the balance of nature on marginal lands;
- to protect forests and woodlands;
- to create works for the enhancement of public green areas;
- to optimize employment levels in the forest sector t
- o promote the drafting of the Regional Forest Map and Regional Forest Inventory.
Other relevant laws of interest for forest policy at the regional level are:
- Regional Law no. 13/2005 ‘Regulations for the prevention of forest fires’.
- Deliberation of the Regional Council no. 613/2008 ‘Guidelines for the preparation and implementation of forest management plans’ (mandatory).
- Deliberation of The Regional Council no. 956/2000 "Forest Cutting Practices Regulation" (mandatory).
- Regional Law no. 21/2000 for the institution of the Ecologic Voluntary Guards.
At the municipality level, the transfer of competencies from the national to regional level did not change any of the duties regarding the management of forest resources as a public owner, with the exception that the new legislation and the adoption of measures and regulations derived directly from regional forest policy. In particular, the local forest sector is regulated by the Forest Management Plans, which are mandatory for public administrations.
Main actors involved in forest policy
At a national level the main actors involved in the forest policy are the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies and the Ministry for Environment, Territory and Sea. The Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies is responsible for drafting the strategic objectives for forest policy through the activities of the Department of European and International Policy and the Department of the Competitive Policies of the Rural World and of the Quality. The Ministry for Environment, Territory and Sea is responsible for environment, ecosystems, pollution, protection of marine resources, environmental impact assessment (EIA), Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) the integrated environmental authorization (IPPC) and implementation of the Kyoto Protocol (National Register of Carbon Sinks). The Ministry of Environment contributes to forest policy through the activities of the General Secretariat for the Protection of Land and Water Resources.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance is the executive body responsible for economic, financial and budget policy, planning of public investments, coordination of public expenditure and verification as well as for revenue policies and the taxation system.
The State Forestry Corps (CFS) is an agency of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry which acts as a territorial force with policing functions for the protection of natural and environmental resources. The CFS is also responsible for the protection of the countryside, rural and natural ecosystems, national parks and national forests. Before the transfer of the competences between the state and its respective regions, CFS was responsible for the control of forest resources through forest policy activities and was also involved in the drafting and implementation of Forest Management Plans. Its competence has shifted towards controlling the implementation and management of forest policies and forest policing.
Other policy actors are the research institutions such as Universities, the Italian National Research Council, the Agricultural Research Council, the National Institute of Agricultural Economics, and the non-governmental organizations such as the World Wildlife Foundation or Legambiente, etc.
At the the regional level in Basilicata the main policy actors are:
- Basilicata Regional Council - approves regional laws proposed by Councillors or by the Regional Council.
- Basilicata Regional Administration (Department of Environment and Territory) - involved (in some cases with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Areas Development and the Department of Infrastructures, Public works and Mobility) in the management and protection of environmental resources, water conservation and desertification issues in general and in all forest activities.
- The State Forestry Corps (CFS) - acts as forest police and is active in prevention, and fighting against wildfires with the Regional Department of Civil Protection
- The National Fire fighter Corps - supports the CFS in fighting wildfires occurring in the wild land/urban interface.
- The intermediate level administrations such as provinces and mountain communities, basin authorities, the Fund for the Development of Southern Italy (CASMEZ) and the Land Reclamation Syndicate represent an interface between regional and municipal administrations. They are responsible for the local implementation of the Forestry Regulations and forest policing activities, annual and triennial forest plans, fire prevention plans, evaluating annual forest cutting requests and the management and direction of forest activities.
- Municipality administrations - involved with Regional Administration in the drafting of Forest Management Plans, Forest Fire Prevention Plans and Civil Protection Municipality Plans.
- University institution, the National Institute of Agricultural Economics and other research institutions – serve as consultants for the regional administration. In particular, they contribute technical support to the commissions of the Regional Department of Environment for the approval of the Forest Management Plans.
- Local and regional level agencies such as the ARPAB (Regional Agency for Environmental Protection), the ARBEA (Regional Agency for the Funds Provision in Agriculture Sector), the APEA (Province Agency for the Energy and Environment), Basilicata Basin Authority and ALSIA (Regional Agency for the Innovation and Development of Agriculture) Irrigation Development Body.
- Private land owners with a forest extension greater than 100 ha are eligible for the implementation of the Forest Management Plan.
- Forest workers - employed for the implementation of the Triennial Forest Plan and Fire Protection Plan.
- Environmental non-governmental organizations such as the WWF or Legambiente Italia - usually act as advisors for environmental issues such as for biodiversity conservation in the regional commissions or as a pressure group, which reports and complains about any activities related to the overexploitation and mismanagement of natural resources.
- The Voluntary Ecological Guards established by Regional Law no. 21/2000, that are involved supporting the State Forestry Corps activities.
At the local level, the municipalities serve as forest owners and are thereby are directly responsible for forest management via the implementation of Forest Management Plans. Local administrations are also responsible for the implementation of regulations of the pastoral activities and in general for the use of the forest resources on public property by local communities. The municipal activities also relate to the use of wood and non-wood products and services provided by forest resources (e.g. cutting, environmental protection, touristic use, grazing, etc.). For example, the main local legislation addressing LEDD issues in the Gorgoglione Municipality regards the: a) Forest Management Plan; b) the rules on the pasture rights, harvesting tree rights and arable land rights; c) permission to start quarrying.
Main policy instruments and procedures relating to the organization of the forest sector
At the national level, the main policy instruments and procedures related to the general organization of the forest sector are mainly represented by the Constitutional Law and the “Environmental Code” (Decree no. 152/2006), which establishes Environmental Regulations to merge the former environmental legislative items.
At a regional level, the policy instruments are the annual and triennial Forest Plans, the Forest Management Plans and the Forest Cutting Requests (the latter follow different procedures depending on the extent of silviculture practices).
At the municipality level, the main instruments of forest policies are a) the Forest Management Plans that, after the approval by Regional Administration, have the same effect as a law and whose provisions are mandatory, b) the common use rules that gives the following rights to all citizens who have permanent residence in the territory: pasture, tree harvesting and arable land rights. All of these rights shall be exercised upon payment of a fee and commensurate to the needs of the family.
Implementation, impacts, effectiveness of forest policy
The transfer of competencies and responsibilities for the forest sector among different levels of administration has been a long process which has, in the Matera study site, lasted for around three decades. Currently, the administrative assets and relation between the national and regional levels in terms of environmental policies has been completely cleared and defined, leaving the national level to coordinate the policies and the regional level with all direct legislative competencies.
Regarding the main policy instrument for the forest sector (RD 3267/1923 and following laws for the national level and RL 42/1998 and following laws for the regional level), it can be emphasized that the first has been drawn up at the national level with the involvement of the main the implementation actors, such as the local government bodies (Municipalities and Prefectures) and the State Forestry Corps (SFC) (for the Matera study site). In this ambit, the SFC was commissioned to develop and implement the Hydro-geological Risk Maps for each municipality and the Forestry Regulations at the prefecture level. These documents contain all of the measures and regulations for forest harvesting and managing in forest areas and/or under hydro-geological restrictions. They also define practices to adopt for woods, shrubs, cultivated areas in order to prevent landslides, soil erosion and degradation and to ultimately improve the environment and forest lands. Specific measures include, inter alia, timing of cut for coppices and high forests; regulations of cut for coppice and high forests; minimum rotation age for different coppice types; minimum rotation age for different high forests types; cutting types; administrative fulfilments.
At the regional level, the regional administration has the responsibility to develop and implement the measures proposed in the different regional laws through triennial/annual Forest Plans (currently formulated for 10 years), which further integrate and specify the different areas of intervention. The regional administration also has the responsibility to develop and implement the triennial Plan for Forest Fires whose main areas of implementation relate to fire risk prevention and to the identification and recovery of burned areas. Other implemented activities are the guidelines for the preparation and implementation of forest management plans, the regulation for the cutting of forests, the regulation for grazing on public land and, recently, the local yield tables for regional forest planning and management.
The administrative responsibility for the implementation of the forestry regulations is given to the municipalities and, in part, the prefecture authorities; previously this also included the mountain communities. These regulations also provide rules for forest harvestings in small private areas (which have different rules), while public forests require the implementation of a Forest Management Plan (usually drawn up by the municipality) for the management and utilization of forest resources and areas.
The presence of regional territory experts (many of whom have a PhD) in forestry has increased the quality of the forest planning activities. Specifically, the establishment of Basilicata University in 1982 with specific courses in Forest and in Soil sciences provided high levels of specialists, both for forest planning activities and for administrative public offices and departments in the Basilicata region, provinces, municipalities, etc. This addressed a strong need, as these kinds of specialization were almost totally absent in previous decades, resulting in a lack of understanding of the importance of correctly managing forest areas.
The transferral of most of the administrative functions from the state to individual regions has resulted in several different impacts on the forest sector. The regional administrations were not initially prepared to deal with the increased responsibilities and activities connected with the forest sector. The lack of administrative organization, low level of specific know how, lack of forest experts and regional laws and rules negatively characterized the implementation of this change in competencies. The transition lasted several years, even decades. The result was a reduction in administrative planning, support and control of forest activities and consequently negative impacts on the forests and on environment management (institutional impact).
However, the recent enactment of modern Regional forest laws and regulations, has greatly improved the implementation of forest control and management instruments. By implementing the main instruments (i.e. the Hydro-geological Risk Map, the Forestry Regulations and Forestry Police Activities, the Forest Management Plans, etc.), the structural, functional and management conditions of the forests (which were heavily compromised in previous decades) have been improved during the past few years. The hydro-geological capabilities of the forest mountain areas has also been improved, leading to a reduction in landslides, soil erosion and flood risks from rivers (environmental impact).
According to the recent Regional Forest Inventory provided by the Basilicata Region Forest Map, the increment of forest cover between 1984 and 2010 is about 20%. This forest cover increment reflects the general improvement of biodiversity and environmental conditions.
A key tool provided by these policies was the Forest Management Plan (FMP) for the management of forest resources owned by the municipalities defining the sustainable use of forest resources.
At the regional level, the implementation of regional forest laws positively impacted the regional forest resources through the:
- improvement of the forest structural conditions and therefore of the efficiency in terms of forest productivity and ecophysiological conditions;
- improvement of hydro-geological conditions with projects for reforestation and environmental protection that have significantly improved hydrological and soil conditions;
- reduction of forest fragmentation and the increase of the biodiversity; regional laws have a particular focus to preserve the accompanying species of the main stands which were previously continuously removed during thinning and to preserve the overstory trees with cultural and ecological value (mainly old growth);
- reforestation activities and the prohibition of intervention on forest stands that may represent ecological corridors for animal species which have led to a reduction of fragmentation;
- development of forest sector trough the implementation of FMPs that increased both planning activities and forest utilization with an employment increase;
- improvement of the administrative structure with the setting up of specific and highly qualified units and administrative rules to support these activities;
- drafting of Basilicata Region Forest Map;
- setting up Nature 2000 Network Conservation Measures and Management Plans.
The complete transfer of competence to the regions resulted in increased efficiency of the forest policies, and greatly improved policy effectiveness at the institutional level. Administrative structures were reorganised in order to reduce bureaucratic processes, and the regional administration cooperate with the university for the drafting of regional laws and the evaluation of Forest Management Plans.
Royal Decree no. 3267/1923 establishing the State Forestry Corps has also been very effective. The SCF became the main referral institution for all forest-related activities until the transferral of these competencies to the respective regions. The Decree also allowed the drafting of the Hydro-geological Restriction Maps and the Italian Forestry Regulations and Forestry Police Activities (PMPF), still holding great importance in forest management. In other respects, however, it proved weak. The application of the Forest Management Plans due to costs and poorly defined rules resulted low initial interest. Additionally, Hydro-geological Risk Maps defining areas subject to special management rules did not include crucial forest types, such as the degraded scrub (Mediterranean macchia), leading to unsustainable clearing for crops or grazing.
At the Basilicata regional level, the implementation of the Forest Management Plans made possible by the regional policies (R.L. no. 42/1998 and subsequent) represents one of the most important results in term of environmental effectiveness of the forest policies. This is particularly noteworthy considering that in the past, the implementation of Forest Management Plans has been practically unattended in many Italian region including the Matera study site due to difficulties in raising funds and, probably, the lack of technical skills for their drafting and implementation.
The new evaluation and approval procedures of forest plans betted up by the law and the provided system of funding represent the key factors for forest policy implementation. The administrative procedure leading from the drafting of forest plans to their application has proven to be very efficient and fast as compared to the past decades.
Weaknesses in forest management plans implementation persist, particularly with regard to market demand. The low market price of forest products (such as fuel wood) represents a limit for the harvesting companies that do not participate in the public calls for the assignment of forest cuts, thereby resulting in lacking incomes for forest owners, reduced employment opportunities and a mismanagement of forest resources.
With regard to the goals of the Basilicata Region forest policies (i.e. increasing of the sustainability and quality of forest management), the adoption of Forest Management Plans has produced positive effects on the structural condition of the forests, including conservation of biodiversity and reduced landscape fragmentation
At the ecosystem level, the forest policy is expected to positively impact the main LEDD issues in the long-term by reducing soil deterioration via a reduction of soil erosion and desertification risks, reducing the hydrological risk through the reforestation implemented by mountain communities at the basin scale. Also, the pastoral areas regulated by the Forest Management Plans and by specific plans showed an improvement. Forest grazing is regulated on the basis of the quantity and type of animals and grazing intensity, taking into account the actual animal load per hectare.