Payments for forest environmental services: organisational models and related experiences in Italy

Abstract

© 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...

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