Multifunctional and integrated forest management in Italy: policy failures and possible solutions.

The Italian forestry sector counts for very little in the national economy, despite the vast expanse of domestic forests. This marginal contribution to the economy is the result of technological and entrepreneurial backwardness, and several policy and administrative issues, such as inappropriate governance reforms and strong command-and-control regulations. More recently, the review of public spending has further weakened the link between practitioners in the field and public governance institutions. As a result, multifunctional and integrated forest management has been adopted only sporadically thus far. Moreover, national and forest law, policies, and regulations, along with international ones, appear uncoordinated, inefficient, or ineffective. To better highlight these trends, three regions with very different socioeconomic, administrative, and environmental features were selected as case study areas: Veneto, Molise, and Sicily. Interviews were carried out with local forest stakeholders, and collected information triangulated with data from secondary sources and other qualitative information. The paper argues that the absence of conflicts in the allocation of forest resources is the main problem from which the Italian forest sector suffers. Possible actions to overcome these issues are also discussed, particularly referring to the promotion of voluntary and market-based mechanisms applied to products and services others than wood provision.