Consorzio Forestale dell'Amiata, first to certify the PEFC ecosystem services of Tourism and Suitability of the forest for forest well-being

CSQA completes the "triad" of the first certificates issued for PEFC Ecosystem Services.

After the Cansiglio Forest , certified in 2021 for Ecosystem Services for biodiversity and the Boschi Carnici Consortium , recently certified for Ecosystem Services for carbon storage , it is now the turn of the Amiata Forestry Consortium which was the first to intend to enhance tourism and well-being activities in the forest through this new certification.

The Amiata Forestry Consortium , in addition to being the first PEFC GFS certification issued in Italy, now also reaches the primacy at an international level for the certification of "suitability for forest welfare" and at the Italian level for tourism certification.

The certification of ecosystem services was obtained last November 2022 according to appendices 3 and 3.1 of version 0.3 of the PEFC standard with the aim of certifying the tourist-recreational function and the certification of the health function, i.e. the suitability of a forest to generate forest well-being.

Specifically, through the process that leads to the certification , three specific forest areas have been identified and made available for visits and fruition in addition to the traditional areas frequented on the Grosseto side of Monte Amiata which extend the offer of a healthy use of the forest.
These areas offer the user activities for health purposes that do not require particular physical preparation and can be practiced both independently and with a companion, as could happen in the case of forest bathing.

The forests managed by the Consorzio Forestale dell'Amiata, and in particular the beech high forests, are places of great beauty where nature offers itself to man to be experienced in its entirety. The extraordinary nature of the places protected and enhanced through sustainable forest management must be known and shared, becoming both an internal meeting place and a mere leisure and entertainment through promotional activities of the territory, interventions on accommodation infrastructures and common participation of the subjects involved in the offer.

The area lends itself perfectly to being a meeting place for tourism for resident citizens, who frequent the woods mainly for mushroom hunting and for skiing, but also for meeting opportunities in the picnic areas during the holidays, for sedentary tourists or families who mainly enjoy the activities in the most popular meeting places and hotel structures present within the certified area and the areas used for picnics or more active users who, on foot or by bicycle, can dedicate themselves to walk marked paths of different length and intensity according to one's abilities and training.

While the forest welfare areas are accessible to all people with sufficient motor skills even if they do not have specific physical training. (Source: Francesca Dini, https://www.pefc.it/ )

To see the Ecosystem Services certificate here