Forest management planning at different geographic levels in Italy: hierarchy, current tools and ongoing development

This paper examines the current status of forest management tools and their pplication at different levels in Italy where the majority of land planning has been and is still being done at the “micro-scale”, meaning that specific local issues are dealt with locally. Starting from international European Union law, the authors review the forest acts that led from the National Forest Plan (NFP) to smaller scales, in relation to their geographic and territorial applicability. Scaling down from the NFP to the local level the various Italian forest programmes and plans are analysed according to a vertical logic (hierarchical mode): Regional Forest Programme (RFP), Territorial (i.e. sub-regional) Forest Plan (TFP), Local Forest Plans (LFPs). Then, in a horizontal logic, it is highlighted the importance of an intersectorial and harmonic relational frame among planning tools for the forest and other sectors of environmental planning. As a result of these analyses, the authors emphasize the need for a new systematic holistic approach to the management of forests and environmental resources in general, and in line with all the most important processes at international level on this matter.