Analisi percettiva della Gestione Forestale Sostenibile (GFS) attraverso l’impiego delle mappe cognitive

Abstract

Abstract: Perceptive analysis of the Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) through the cognitive maps. SFM is the current paradigm in forest management. This paradigm has mixed the principles of multifunctionality with the concept of sustainable development. Despite the association between SFM and public participation, the sustainable management of forest resource can be achieved from the technical point of view both with a top-down approach, where a low number of social actors are involved in the decision making process, and a bottom-up approach, where the number of social actors and interests is broad. Following this second approach, a preliminary stage is the construction of the scenario perceived (mapping of stakeholders and analysis of the hierarchy of preferences and interests). This analysis, achieved through the construction of individual and collective cognitive maps, improves the cognitive framework and supports the facilitator in the decision making process. The cognitive maps of the stakeholders are the starting point of the participatory forest management. The paper focuses on the implementation of a method, based on the cognitive maps, aimed to identify and analyse the perception and the hierarchy of interests of the stakeholders with respect to the SFM. The method was tested in a case study characterized by rural vocation where the primary sector has a key role from both social and economic point of views (Alto Matese, Molise Region).