Role of afforestation and windbreaks to combat desertification with reference to the Italian situation

Abstract

The paper summarises the role of afforestation in Italy, the evolution of the concept of re-establishment of forest cover and the main systems by which the new forests were carried out and managed. The acquired experience shows that relaunching afforestations as a mean to combat land desertification in the Mediterranean area needs to face not only technical questions but also social and economical constraints: that is essential to fully exploit the potentialities of afforestation in terms of wood production, biodiversity, landscape and labour employment. Similar considerations are valid for windbreaks too.