Sustainable forest management and planning
We study how forest management and planning can maintain resilient, multifunctional forests under rapidly changing environmental and social conditions. We analyse trade-offs among timber production, biodiversity, carbon, protection, climate adaptation and other ecosystem services, translating ecological evidence into criteria that can be applied in management.
Research questions
- Which silvicultural strategies can reconcile multiple objectives?
- How do forest structure, productivity and ecosystem services change over the long term under different management scenarios?
- How can risk, uncertainty, biodiversity and climate change be integrated into forest planning?
Approaches and methods
We use stand inventories, sustainable forest management indicators, growth and landscape models, multicriteria analysis, management scenarios and GIS tools.
Related projects
ForBEST · SOSFOR · AGRITECH–LEAF · USEFOL · RiForestAzione · Regional Forest Programme · PAF criteria · Campo dei Fiori · Appennino Tosco-Emiliano · RSE · Modena · Cologno Monzese · Parco Agricolo Sud Milano
Selected publications
- Romanato F. et al. (2026). Functional Trade-Offs in Productive and Structurally Heterogeneous Forests: Insights from the Italian Alps.
- Vizzarri M. (2024). Managing Global Forests in View of Multiple Goals: An Evidence-Based Perspective.
- Nagel T.A. et al. (2025). Can triad forestry reconcile Europe’s biodiversity and forestry strategies? A critical evaluation of forest zoning.
- Paillet Y. et al. (2024). One to rule them all? Assessing the performance of sustainable forest management indicators against multitaxonomic data for biodiversity conservation.
- Vizzarri M. et al. (2017). The MIMOSE Approach to Support Sustainable Forest Management Planning at Regional Scale in Mediterranean Contexts.
- Vacchiano G. et al. (2018). Voluntary carbon credits from improved forest management: policy guidelines and case study.