An approach to public involvement in forest landscape planning in Italy: a case study and its evaluation

Abstract

In Italy, in the last decade, there have been both new social requests and an ever-increasing sensitivity towards the multiplicity of values attributed to forests. This has led to a profound revision of the structure of forest planning. This paper illustrates the planning system, characterised by a hierarchical approach, focusing on the upper level, that is Forest Landscape Management Plan (FLMP). At this level of planning, attention to the different needs and targets expressed by the population is considered of strategic importance and thus requires a participative attitude. In the first part of the paper the authors show the approach currently used in forest landscape planning, through a case study carried out in a rural area of the Appennine mountains, focusing in particular on the method established for the process of participation. In the second part, the quality of participation in the case study is analysed, after describing the methodology followed in order to identify a set of criteria for success, deemed particularly relevant