Il bosco e la custodia del territorio: il ruolo della selvicoltura

The increase in total economic value of forests contrasts with their widespread cultivation abandonment. If on the one hand this abandonment is positive because it will allow Italian forests to enhance over time their degree of naturalness, on the other the suspension of wood harvesting is determining the increase in stand growing stock and density and, as a result, will hinder natural regeneration, increase the risk of windthrow due to extreme weather events, accentuate in the Mediterranean areas the water stress and the risk of fire due to the greater summer drought. All these phenomena can compromise in many cases, at least in the short to medium term, the ability of the forest to perform the required social and environmental functions. These problems can be effectively dealt with by silviculture, which must be seen as an instrument whose first aim is to guarantee the biological functionality, the perpetuity and the use of the forest