Disentangling the diversity of forest care initiatives and their contribution to local rural development: an Italian case study
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In the light of studies assessing the positive impact wellbeing of the contact with the forest and woodlands ecosystem, and the increasing societal demand for accessible and inclusive experiences in the forest, we are witnessing a growing number and typologies of forest-based initiatives for wellbeing. From forest bathing and healing forests in Asia, these initiatives are expanding throughout Europe next to other practices such as forest kindergartens, forest museums and social forestry. We argue that such initiatives provide a wide range of socio-behavioural/cultural ecosystem services and might represent an opportunity to revitalize the forest sector and create green jobs. The problem faced is a generalized lack of information on the initiatives, no tools that help to collect and standardize the information. Research efforts are currently focused on a limited range of initiatives and services and no clear terminology and definitions have been set yet. There is the need to understand better the development and organizational patterns of such initiatives so to identify their potential contribution to local rural development. We therefore propose (i) an umbrella definition – i.e. Forest Care Initiatives (FCIs), (ii) a framework characterizing initiatives into four categories according to target users, substitutability of the forest ecosystem and the specificity of the health contributions they aim to, (iii) and a repository to collect and systematize information on the initiatives. We used the repository to investigate the development of FCIs within the Italian case-study area, analysing a total of 232 initiatives. Results shows a lively panorama of FCIs providing multiple services and activities for a wide range of users. Privates and civil society can be a driver for FCIs development, creation of new partnerships, new business opportunities andgreen jobs. Further research is needed to account for such benefits and increase the knowledge on enabling environment.
Keywords: Forest Care, health and wellbeing, innovation, Forest therapy, local development
ID: 3486914