Agri‐environmental measures play an important role in Italian rural areas, as shown by the financial commitment to the Rural Development programmes. However, in contrast with other European Union (EU) countries, policy‐makers still have limited experience on how farmers approach environmental incentive schemes. This paper casts new light on this issue from a northern Italian perspective. The rationale of the farmers’ decision‐making process is explored using two multinomial models. The first explains the probability of non‐participation or participation in one of three specific agri‐environmental measures. The model outcomes show that labour‐intensive farming types and high dependency of household income on farming activity constrain farmers’ participation, whereas previous experience, easy‐to‐implement environmentally friendly farm practices and adequate compensation of extra costs encourage participation. The second model explores the effect of farmers’ attitudes and beliefs on their predispositions towards participation in any of the schemes. The results highlight that, besides income factors, the farm's future in the business, and the relationship with neighbouring farmers and their opinions on environmentally friendly practices all have significant effects on adoption of agri‐environmental measures. The paper concludes by suggesting that farmers’ attitudes and beliefs, as well as the local behavioural influences, have to be taken into account when designing and communicating agri‐environmental measures.

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Research Highlights: This review gives an overview of existing literature on the emerging topic of human wellbeing-forest contact nexus and provides a preliminary framework linking forests to wellbeing by highlighting key variables affecting this relationship. Background and Objectives: Existing literature reveals the psychological, physiological and social wellbeing benefits of contact with forest ecosystems; however, the role of forests in this relationship remains largely unexplored. The objectives of this review are twofold: (i) to provide an overview of the contributions of forest experiences to human wellbeing and the related interplay with forest ecosystems and (ii) to identify knowledge gaps to inform future research and systematize information available for forest managers and planners to support the development of effective forest-based initiatives. Materials and Methods: A scoping review was performed with a five-phase method integrating a systematic approach on Scopus, Web of Science and PubMed databases and snowball search. Studies were analyzed using a descriptive-analytical method. Results: Overall, 93 papers were included in the review. These are mainly from health-related sciences providing limited information for forest managers, planners and practitioners. Four main underlying variables of the forest-wellbeing relationship are identified: interaction, forest features, sensorial dimension of the forest and individual traits and reactions. Conclusions: Forest-based initiatives provide good opportunities for supporting public health and time spent in contact with forests seems to have a “health-bonus”. Whether and to what extent forest management can contribute to this is still poorly investigated. There is the need to better study causal relationships between specific forest features, type of interactions, frequency and “dose” of experiences, individual reactions and needs and wellbeing effects to maximize benefits from forest-based initiatives.

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© iForest -Biogeosciences and Forestry IntroductionAt the dawn of third millennium, the Italian forestry sector indubitably calls for innovation, both in management and organisational models, as is happening in other European countries (Rametsteiner et al. 2006). Many and diverse driving forces propel the scenario changes. With the strong competition on the global markets for timber products, and the globalisation of forest issues and the related policy context where decisions are taken, forest entrepreneurs are constantly reducing their market power in influencing prices and factors allocation. Locally, southern European forest owners are affected by long-standing structural problems -highly fragmented forest estates, exposure to natural hazards (fires, difficulties with natural regeneration), low market access -all factors resulting in low levels of profitability for wood production (Palahí et al. 2008). On the other hand, the demand for Non Wood Forest Products and environmental services has grown rapidly in the last decades, highlighting the need for a more multifunctionally-oriented forestry but also fuelling conflicts amongst the different objectives and stakeholders (Solberg & Miina 1997, Hellström 2001, Niemelä et al. 2005, Janse & Ottitsch 2005. Finally, timber and forests are nowadays perceived not only as important natural resources, but also as part of the historical and cultural heritage of one country (Parrotta et al. 2006) and this in turn broadens the number and the type of stakeholders involved in the decision-making processes (Buttoud 1999, Appelstrand 2002, Buttoud et al. 2004.In this complex scenario, new forest policy instruments are needed that can remunerate in an efficient way those forest owners and managers providing forest collective values and conserving forest multifunctionality. Moving away from the traditional "command and control" approach, these instruments should be soft and participative, characterised by an innovative multi-relationship environment and inspired by a bottomup approach. In other words, they should embody the most-advocated shift from "government" to "governance" in the management of forest resources (Buttoud 2006, Shannon 2006. In recent years, research on environmental and forest policies has rapidly progressed, and a full set of new and different tools has been proposed in order to achieve multifunctional forestry objectives in a sustainable manner (Merlo & Briales 2000, Cubbage et al. 2007). Among these tools, the so-called Payments for Environmental Services (PES) have received a great deal of attention, and many applications and case-studies are now available, especially in developing countries (see, e.g., the well-documented reviews by Perrot-Maître & Davis 2001, Landell Mills & Porras 2002. The rationale behind PES is the commoditisation of public goods by means of market creation, in which beneficiaries/consumers directly pay the producers for the product or service provided. The idea looks quite simple and appealing in its theoretical formulation, but s...