Establishing Forest Stakeholders' Associations to revitalize forestry in mountain areas. Contributions from EU rural development programmes: a case study from an Italian Region

Abstract

The lack of management in mountain forests is one of the most relevant problems affecting the Italian forestry sector. Several reasons can explain this situation. First of all, the high fragmentation characterising both private and public forest holdings and the lack of cooperation among the different forest stakeholders. A contribution to the revitalization of Italian mountain forestry could be offered by the establishment of Forest Stakeholders’ Associations (FSAs). A testimony of this is provided by what has been generated in the frame of a Measure implemented by Piedmont Region1 during the 2000-2006 Rural Development Policy (RDP) programming period. This Measure2 has supported the establishment of ten different associations that still actively contribute to the revitalization of the regional and mountain forestry sector. At present, the Reg. EC 1698/2005 disciplining the 2007-2013 RDP programming period, despite of the positive results obtained by the establishment of forest networks in several mountain areas, does not provide support for the establishment of forest stakeholders’ associations. This mismatch raises the need either to indentify new strategies for future RDP programming periods or to activate dedicated actions at national or regional level to revitalize mountain forestry. In this perspective, the paper aims to: a) highlight the positive elements generated by the Measure 1.5; b) stress the opportunity to forester the establishment of FSAs to revitalize forestry and to promote rural development processes in mountain areas