"I read about Regions that want to incentivize new drones to map wildfire risks, some that want to hire new personnel for firefighting, some that want to purchase equipment, and some that are angry with the emergency management system. Yet it is strange that Italy, with so many institutional levels and political figures, only realizes it is a forested country with 12 million hectares of woodland when fires break out." This is the statement of Marco Bussone, president of Uncem (National Union of Mountain Municipalities, Communities and Bodies), of PEFC Italia (the association that promotes sustainable forest management) and Aiel (Italian Association for Wood Energy).
"We don't know what sustainable forest management, forest planning, and certification are," Bussone continues in a statement. "We only have 2 million hectares with planning in place, and not even all of those are managed. We have no trace of them — 10 million hectares of Italy have vanished from the radar, and we only notice them if and when they burn, landslide, implode, or collapse. It's insane. We have the best national forestry law and the best forest strategy in Europe, but then the Regions fail to update their very outdated regional legislation and spend little or nothing on forest planning."
"It would be enough to do what the current 2018 law states, by obliging the Regions," Bussone concludes, "to do their part. Not to buy equipment. To plan." But "talking about planning, managing, and certifying woodland is simply out of the question."
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