Bosco Serv.E., Forest as a function of ecosystem services and biodiversity

His name is Bosco Serv.E. (Forest as a function of ecosystem services and biodiversity) and is a pilot project which has as its objective the experimentation and obtaining new certifications on the planted woods of Amiata.

The activities are aimed at certifying the state of health of the Amiata woods and relaunching increasingly sustainable forestry , also through innovative management techniques, which make it possible to increase the biodiversity of the woods and the ecosystem services they produce, in addition to timber, therefore, competitiveness including tourism in a market increasingly dominated by foreign contributions.

Taken off on Monte Amiata in mid-2021, the project was born for the innovation of the forest supply chain which aims at an evolution of forest management systems, re-evaluating and monitoring the production process of the woods, starting from planning and active management, with an innovative perspective of the ecosystem services that they can provide and in particular those linked to biodiversity.

Different subjects collaborate in a synergistic way, starting from Pefc Italia, Wba Project and the CSQA certification body , Studio Agricis, which deals with the coordination of activities with the forestry doctor Giovanni Alessandri, the Dafne Department of the University of Tuscia, Viterbo with professor Rodolfo Picchio and the Amiata forestry consortium with forestry doctors Paolo Franchi and Cristiana Contri.

Financed by the Economics and Finance Document (Defr) 2020 of the Tuscany Region - Regional Project 6 - Call for tender "Interventions to support the processes of organizational innovation of the production process in the agricultural cooperation sector and in forestry consortia", Bosco Serv.E. it is divided into precise and coordinated actions for obtaining two new forest certifications, the Pefc Ecosystem Services and Tourism and the Biodiversity Friend Forest.

It is worth mentioning that the Amiata Forestry Consortium was the first Italian body to have its forests certified Pefc, in 2003 and after 19 years at the end of 2022 it obtained an extension of the Pefc certificate to ecosystem services of well-being and tourism.

In particular, the Amiata Forestry Consortium has obtained Pefc certification for three areas in the Amiata beech forest, suitable for "Forest Bathing" , i.e. therapeutic immersions or baths in the woods. The forest welfare activity is the new frontier between tourist activity and wellness, or rather a new ecosystem service that the forest provides free of charge and in particular that of beech.

Precisely because of the sustainable management of the Amiata beech forest by the Forestry Consortium, with targeted cuts and very high respect for the forest system, the Amiata woods are considered a model on a national level and perfect for certifying new, environmentally friendly tourist practices such as bathing in the woods.

The WBA and CSQA technicians (Nicola Tormen, Davide Troncon, Gianfranco Caoduro and Fabio Cogo) are currently testing a new certification, namely the one that certifies the biodiversity of the Amiata woods (Biodiversity Friend Forest), possible thanks also to the contribution of the scientific entity which is precisely the Dafne department of the University of Tuscia. "The University of Viterbo is working on several fronts and in particular on the soil and the macrofauna - recalls Professor Rodolfo Picchio -: very interesting things have emerged from the first surveys, forest soils very rich in microfauna and also surprises from the macrofauna, such as the confirmed presence of the Wildcat, thanks to camera trapping".

Then there are actions of an operational nature for the verification of the biodiversity parameters introduced by the certification bodies which have taken part for these first certification trials.

The objective is to create a replicable model to give life to an audit system capable of certifying the degree of biodiversity of the woods and in particular guaranteeing that the cultivation activities of the woods do not lead to a loss of biodiversity.

"The new forest certifications that arise from this project are very important - explains Dr. Giovanni Alessandri - as they have a double impact, both from a tourist point of view, as a guarantee of sustainability of our forests, and by providing higher scores to the area than others for PSR tenders and thus guaranteeing the financing of many projects".

No less important are the dissemination actions, put in place by the Amiata Forestry Consortium. “With far from negligible potential, with great innovation, Bosco Serv.E aims to relaunch the economy of the forestry sector of Amiata - concludes Dr. Paolo Franchi , of the Amiata Forest Consortium -, modernizing it and making it competitive in future scenarios, also taking into account the climate changes underway and the new trends in the use of the woods; highlighting how only with the contribution of innovation can the controversies linked to the use of the woods and their forest management be overcome, favoring local economies and reducing the ever-increasing tendency to abandon mountain areas, due to the scarcity of income”. (Source: https://www.grossetonotizie.com /)