SIENA. Legambiente Siena intervenes in the discussion in the accessories in the last on the rules that regulate the management of the forest heritage of our region, highlighting the following:

– the decision of December 2021 by the Tuscany Region to simplify the work of those who work in areas currently subject to the national landscape constraint where the constraint does not derive from particular needs for the protection of the wooded heritage appears to be a choice motivated by two shared considerations: – to have the competent Ministries in the matter pronounce once and for all on a very complex issue; – to avoid that normal interventions for the cultivation of forests (already regulated by Article 47 bis of the regional forest law) were subjected to a bureaucratic burden that did not enter into the merits of the related interventions themselves (given the limited technical competence on the subject by the Superintendencies).

– the same decision, however, is to be considered risky for various reasons:

1) following other similar decisions which, starting from 2018, reduced the landscape constraint on the regional forest heritage (on those lands that became agricultural but which were placed were agricultural forests, on those lands adjacent to the existing infrastructures, etc). This is to accommodate the growing demand for biomass which are also useful within the “ecological transition”, but which cannot be considered a priority on which to focus;

2) The level of checks on the territory has dropped significantly in recent years, both in terms of quality and frequency. The transfer of the CFS to the Arma de Carabinieri has seen a strong wave of retirements of experienced staff who have not been replaced. The one currently active is often not able to intervene promptly in places where there is a failure to observe the rules in force for some time, especially at the beginning of the works;

3) all this is added to the massive use of external Tuscan firms, whose managers do not know well the legislation they are required to comply with, and whose workers often do not have adequate training. And if something goes wrong too many companies fail or are unavailable.

Public bodies must therefore undertake to invest more in controls, prevention and training of forestry sector workers, which plays an economically important role, which is equally (if not more) strategic. And to promote more decisively the certifications of sustainable forestry (PEFC and FSC).