“The real challenge for Italian forests is to increase forest planning” (Annalisa Paniz, AIEL)

Behind the forest expansion: abandonment and fragmentation

Italy's forests now cover almost 12 million hectares, about 40% of the country's territory, according to Paniz. For the first time in 2025-2026, forest area has become equal to agricultural area, a milestone that had never been reached before.

“But this expansion shouldn't necessarily be read as positive,” Paniz cautioned. Forest cover has roughly doubled since the post-war period, largely because it has spread onto land once used for agriculture and grazing. “The growth of Italy's forest area is therefore also a symptom of land abandonment, one that points to the need to make better use of this resource,” she argues.

This abandonment, she explains, stems first of all from strong forest fragmentation: plots are often very small, sometimes located in hard-to-reach mountain areas, and many are part of family inheritances where it's difficult even to trace the owners. “Most forest land in Italy is privately owned and split into fragmented parcels,” she notes. “One of the actions envisaged by the national forest strategy is precisely to find ways of consolidating forest ownership, because owning a few hectares, or less than one, makes it difficult to manage, use and maintain the land."

The cascade principle: energy comes last

Paniz also highlighted that, under the EU's RED III directive, the use of biomass for energy represents “the final step in the cascade principle that underpins sustainable forest management”: higher-value uses, both economic and ecological, must be satisfied first.

Construction is one example, since wood used in building also provides long-term carbon storage. Only when a forest stand cannot be used in any other way, Paniz added, should it go toward energy production, drawing on residues and materials such as firewood.

“Since forest resources are precious, they need to be used in the best possible way: to produce heat, or electricity through high-efficiency cogeneration, typically using wood chips,” says Paniz. “Producing electricity alone, through purely dissipative plants, is a type of supply chain that doesn't make much sense.”

The core issue: lack of planning

“Planning is fundamental because it tells you what assortments the forest can yield,” Paniz says. She stresses that woodland's multifunctionality is central to this: forests carry ecosystem services tied to how they're managed, and planning should preserve all of a forest's functions, not just the productive one, which matters more in some contexts than others.

She points to the 2018 Consolidated Forestry Act (Testo Unico sulle Foreste, or TUF) as the most significant recent legislation to give direction to forest management. One outcome of the TUF, she notes, was the National Forest Strategy, published in 2020, which lays out actions for making better use of forest land, with consolidation and planning as central themes.

Turning to wildfires, she notes that they are often tied to a lack of management: unplanned, overgrown stands are more prone to spreading fire. Most fires, she adds, are started deliberately, so the fire itself usually can't be prevented, but “planning and sustainable management are crucial in containing how fast it spreads”.

The EUDR's impact on Italian forestry: "bureaucratic rather than operational"

Both the EUDR and the regulations that preceded it are, in Paniz’s view, essential pieces of legislation for forest management, "regardless of what's happening at European level, with delays to the entry into force." She adds that the deforestation regulation has clarified something many already suspected: "deforestation, in general, is not caused by forest utilisation, but by other supply chains that drive the felling of woodland."

Under the EUDR, she explains, any felling must be geolocated so the origin of the wood can be traced, a requirement especially relevant for timber from countries where oversight of felling practices may be weaker.

Italy, she notes, is already among the more rigorous countries when it comes to national forestry, as clear-cutting has been banned since the early 1980s. As a result, the EUDR's main impact on Italian forest management has been bureaucratic rather than operational: an added administrative burden for smaller businesses, but one that has formalised practices already in place. On actual work quality, she sees little room for improvement, since Italy was "already starting from a privileged position."

A supply-chain-wide perspective

In order to make the most of woody biomass's potential, Paniz argues, the whole supply chain needs to be considered together: forests, the timber industry, the energy sector, and local territories. This requires a shift in mindset, she says, moving away from thinking in “watertight compartments” toward a holistic view where every element matters. "It's essential to invest in sustainable forest management and in planning, because without this it isn't possible to protect woodland or ensure the economic development of local areas," she says.

Paniz also points out that logging businesses are often small and need investment in training and professional development, as well as better access roads and logistics. She says: "Consolidation remains the most important theme, alongside the upskilling of operators and technological innovation across every segment of the supply chain."

Closer dialogue between the Ministry and the regions matters too, Paniz adds, and every player in the chain needs to be linked and connected. But above all, she stresses, "what's needed is a supply-chain-wide perspective: every actor involved has to play their part."