In the context of the worldwide increasing interest on the role of forests for global warming and biodiversity targets, there is a growing tendency to promote not only the extension of forests, but also their degree of naturalness. These indications often result in the limitation of traditional silvicultural methods, orienting forest management towards more natural forests structures without taking into consideration the origins of these forests and their cultural values. Human influence has affected extension, density, structure, and species composition of most of Mediterranean forests, but “cultural forests” are reducing their extensions together with the material and immaterial heritage associated to them. These forests have a crucial importance for biodiversity and for our cultural heritage, and they could also represent important touristic destination as well as providing by-products that could contribute to diversifying the economy of rural areas. Considering the third pillar of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) in Europe, the one on “social and cultural values”, defined by MCPFE in 2003, it is necessary to highlight the multifunctional role of “cultural forests” for the better understanding of their features and for the identification of the values to be considered for an effective Sustainable Forest Management.
The main aim of the session is to disseminate knowledge and recent findings related to the social and cultural dimension of Mediterranean forests, with particular regard to the identification of new challenges, opportunities and solutions related to cultural forests. Abstracts from scholars and researchers working on cultural values related to forests and on traditional forest-related knowledge in Mediterranean environments are welcome.
Abstracts (max 3000 characters with spaces including optional references, title, name and affiliations of the authors) must be sent in PDF format to info@agriculturalheritage.com.
The deadline for submitting abstracts is January 31st.
Proponent and moderator of the session:
Dr. Antonio Santoro – Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI), University of Florence, Italy. Email: antonio.santoro@unifi.it
Partners of the session:
• IUFRO – International Union of Forest Research Organizations. Group 9.03.00 on Forest history and traditional knowledge
• ESEH – European Society for Environmental History)
• IALE Europe (International Association for Landscape Ecology) WG on Historical Landscape Ecology
More info at: https://vii-med.forestweek.org
Download the CfA here: MFW session - call for abstracts