Application of indicators network analysis to support local forest management plan development: a case study in Molise, Italy

Forest management plans and Criteria and Indicators are the most important tools to support sustainable forest management. Due to the important role of forests in contributing to humans' well being through the numerous ecosystem services they provide, in the last two decades many efforts have been made to develop new forest management tools at different scale levels. Territorial Forest Plan and Criteria and Indicators for SFM are considered as the innovative tools to support forest management. A participatory approach, providing a better knowledge of social framework conditions and trends on local markets, is considered the focus of new forest management tools. Territorial Forest Plan allows to identify the main function of forest stands at territorial level, based on both forest type and stakeholders' opinions. On the other hand, the Indicators Network can be helpful to support forest management because it allows to identify the main causal paths and crucial linkages involving the indicators and to offer decision makers the opportunity to manage the forest ecosystem in a more holistic way. In this work, an application of indicators network analysis to support Territorial Forest Plan development in the Nature 2000 site has been studied. Based on the results obtained, an integrated use of both approaches may provide an added value to sustainable forest management.