The renaturalisation of forest systems: conceptual aspects

Abstract

The meaning of the term «renaturalisation» is examined in the light of the new conceptions in ecology and natural resources management. The classic paradigm in ecology, connected to the concept of the climax community, has been overcome by the new paradigm that implies a dynarnic view of nature and the awareness that ecosystems are complex systems characterised by unpredictable reactions and multiple retroactions. In this new approach the author proposes to conceive the renaturalisation of forest systems not as the search for a pristine, «natural» state, but as an action aimed at favouring the restoration of self regulating an d self perpetuating mechanisms, and at increasing the system's resistance and resilience. The renaturalisation of forest plantations, the spontaneous recolonisation of abandoned agricultural land and the relationship between forest system renaturalisation and the landscape, are analysed in this new view.