0000000000145297
AUTHOR
F. Maetzke
The cork oak forests management in Sicily: current situation and potentiality
The economic importance of cork forests is mainly attributable to the role of provisioning non-timber forest products that they have played and still play in the Mediterranean region. In Sicily, according to the latest regional forest inventory (IFRS, 2010), the surface covered by cork forests amounts to 14,732 ha; the 52.4% of this area is not affected by cultural practices, while in the 41.3% of cases productive cultural practices are adopted. In fact, the prevailing silvicultural system type is the peculiar one aimed at the cork production. The cultural abandonment of many cork oak stands threatens their survival because of the close link between the conservation of cork stands and its u…
Project LIFE11 ENV/IT/0002215 ResilForMed - Resilience of Mediterranean Forests to Climate Change
Forest and pre-forest ecosystems of Sicily are characterized by a high structural simplification and fragility, reduced species diversity, high density, pest and diseases that are expected to worsen according to the ongoing anthropogenic climate change. In this work we present the achievements of the project LIFE ResilForMed (Resilience of Mediterranean Forests to climate change), as Sicilian response on adaptation and mitigation to climate change. ResilForMed project is co-funded by the LIFE Initiative (2007-2014) and started June 1st 2012 with an expected conclusion on June 30th 2017. The project consortium involves: (i) the Department of Rural and Land Development of the Sicilian Region,…
Training activities
We have implemented a training program addressed to the forestry experts of the Sicilian Region Rural and Territorial Development Department, to the students of the Forestry and Environmental Sciences at the University of Palermo, to the professionals members of the Forestry and Agronomy Doctors Association, to all those interested and working in the forestry field in Sicily. All these activities aimed at improving the whole system capacity to manage forests in order to apply the sylvicoltural good practices developed by the project. During the project last two years, 500 experts and 200 forestry sciences students have been trained. The training activities have been focused on the sylvicolt…