Serre Park toward Sustainable Forest Management certification

The Serre Regional Natural Park has started the process of obtaining the certification of the Sustainable Forest Management according to the PEFC scheme, one of the leading international assurance systems for responsible forest management.

This is an important initiative not only from a technical point of view, but also from an institutional and cultural point of view: the Park intends to demonstrate, with verifiable and recognized tools, that the forest heritage entrusted to its management is taken care of according to criteria of environmental sustainability, administrative transparency, social responsibility and enhancement of the territory.

A regional forest heritage entrusted to park management

Not everyone knows that the Serre Regional Nature Park, in addition to carrying out the ordinary functions of protection, conservation and promotion of the protected area, is also Implementing body of the regional forestation.

This means that the Park is called upon to perform a very concrete operational task: to manage, care for and improve a part of the regional forest heritage entrusted to its responsibility, planning silvicultural interventions, maintenance, prevention actions and enhancement activities compatible with the protection of ecosystems.

The assets covered by the certification pathway affect about 866 hectares of cadastral forest area, falling within the province of Vibo Valentia, in the municipal territories of:

  • Gerocarne;
  • Serre San Bruno;
  • Spadola.

This is a forest complex located in the heart of the Serre Vibonesi, in a mountainous context of high environmental value, characterized mainly by chestnut coppices, which represent the largest component, flanked by artificial reforestations of conifers, with the presence of larch pine, Douglas fir, maritime pine and white spruce, as well as cores of beech, quercus species, black alder and other mesophyll broadleaf trees.

The Forest Management Plan: the first milestone achieved

The path to certification does not come out of nowhere. It is based on an essential technical-administrative step: the approval of the Forest Management and Management Plan of the Serre Regional Nature Park for the period 2021-2035.

The Plan was approved by the Region of Calabria – U.O.A. Mountain Policies, Forestry, Forestation and Soil Defense – by Executive Decree No. 12900 of September 14, 2023..

This represents a major achievement for the Park, because the Forest Management Plan is the tool to overcome episodic or emergency management of the forest, instead introducing orderly, verifiable and long-term planning.

Through the Plan are established:

  • The characteristics of the forest heritage;
  • The different types of forest present;
  • Eligible silvicultural interventions;
  • The ways in which biodiversity is protected;
  • Pest and fire risk prevention actions;
  • The management of the forest road system;
  • The relationship between forest uses, natural regeneration and landscape conservation.

In other words, the Plan makes it possible to manage the forest not simply as a woody resource, but as a complex living system capable of producing environmental, economic and social benefits for the area.

What is PEFC certification

PEFC’s Sustainable Forest Management certification is a voluntary system that allows independent checks to verify whether a forest is being managed according to recognized sustainability criteria.

The path taken by the Park refers to the PEFC Italy scheme and, in particular, to the ITA 1000:2025 standard, relating to the description of the Sustainable Forest Management certification scheme, and the standard ITA 1001-1:2025, relating to criteria and indicators for individual and group certification. PEFC Italy publishes national Sustainable Forest Management standards, including the ITA 1000:2025 and ITA 1001-1:2025 documents. (PEFC Italy)

For the park, obtaining certification means subjecting its management to an external, documented and periodic evaluation. Therefore, it is not enough to declare that you are managing the forest well: you need to prove it with acts, records, procedures, controls and measurable results.

The Park's Sustainable Forest Management Policy.

As part of the certification process, the park has approved its own Sustainable Forest Management Policy, which is the official statement of the Park Authority’s commitments.

With this choice, the Park commits itself to manage the entrusted forest estate according to certain basic principles:

  • To conserve the biodiversity and ecological functionality of forests;
  • Maintain the natural regeneration capacity of forests;
  • Protect soil, water, landscape, and habitats of wildlife interest;
  • Planning silvicultural interventions in an orderly and sustainable way;
  • Enhance the productive role of the forest without compromising its stability;
  • Ensure administrative transparency and traceability of decisions;
  • Involve stakeholders and local communities;
  • Progressively improve the management system.

Certification then becomes a tool for turning these principles into concrete, documented and auditable behaviors.

Why the park wants to certify itself

For the Serre Regional Nature Park, PEFC certification is not just a technical recognition. It is also a choice of public responsibility.

Obtaining certification in an individual form means qualifying the park experience as a model of sustainable, transparent and verifiable public forest management..

The goal is twofold.

On the one hand, the Park intends to further improve the management of the entrusted forest estate by strengthening the control over interventions, the quality of planning, the protection of ecosystems and the documentation of activities carried out.

On the other hand, the Park wants to offer itself as a reference experience for other public entities that own or manage forests, particularly municipalities, the region and other territorial entities that wish to initiate similar paths of sustainable and certified management.

In this sense, certification is not only an internal achievement, but also a message to the local area: public forests can be managed with seriousness, competence, transparency and long-term vision.

A managed forest means a safer and more vibrant forest

Sustainable Forest Management should not be confused with forest abandonment. On the contrary, a forest left untended can become more fragile, more prone to fire, more vulnerable to disease, crashes, disruption, and structural degradation.

Managing sustainably means intervening when needed, with correct technical criteria, respecting the forest’s timing, promoting natural regeneration, improving stand stability and conserving the elements of greatest ecological value.

Aged and vegetatively and phytosanitary compromised chestnut groves are also present in the heritage entrusted to the Park. In these cases, planned management makes it possible to recover vitality, reduce the risk of fire, promote forest reconstitution, and maintain active protective, productive and landscape functions.

A path open to the territory

The PEFC certification path requires administrative order, technical expertise and confrontational skills. This is why the Park has initiated a documented management system based on procedures, records, internal controls, verification of interventions and stakeholder involvement.

The certification will be subject to evaluation by an independent body, which is called upon to verify the compliance of the management system with PEFC standards.

For the Serre area, this path represents an opportunity to strengthen the link between environmental protection, good governance and local development.

The forest is not just a landscape to be admired. It is a living resource that protects the soil, preserves biodiversity, preserves historical memory, produces labor, contributes to the quality of the environment, and is an essential part of the identity of mountain communities.

With the start of the Sustainable Forest Management certification process, the Serre Regional Nature Park is taking a concrete step to guard this heritage and hand it over, stronger and better managed, to future generations.

Downloadable attachments: Management Policy, Summary PGAF, Stakeholder List, Complaint/Complaint Form

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