About

the Manifesto of FFI

  1. The FFI is a foundation that stewards forests with the purpose of preserving biodiversity and fostering the natural evolution of habitats. This is a long-term commitment rooted in responsibility. For us, stewarding a forest means using private ownership to ensure that no human intervention alters its natural ecological dynamics.
    1. The FFI’s choice is clear and permanent: to conserve and restore natural habitats, to refrain from commercial logging, and to minimise human disturbance.
    2. The management of FFI forests is therefore guided by the principle of free and natural biological evolution.
    3. The FFI stewards forests for the benefit of the Community, which benefits from their ecosystem services. Forests are protected for everyone — above all for future generations. The FFI derives no economic benefit from its stewardship.
    4. FFI’s stewardship is made possible by the Community: forests are donated by private citizens, institutions and companies, or purchased through their donations.
    5. The FFI does not transfer acquired land and does not trade COâ‚‚ credits or any other form of carbon offset.
  2. In its forests, the FFI conserves and restores natural habitats because it believes that healthy, natural forests can develop their ecological relationships more effectively and provide the resulting ecosystem services that are essential for life — not only human life.
    1. Destructive human actions in forests, such as periodic tree felling, cause disruption or even interruption of natural evolution. Avoiding them encourages spontaneous rewilding processes and allows the restoration of natural habitats that are favourable to the vast majority of animal and plant species.
  3. In its forests, the FFI conserves and restores natural habitats because it believes that trees, being a key factor in combating climate change, are today more valuable alive than dead.
    1. The FFI supports the scientific consensus on climate change as explained by the majority of the world’s scientists (as represented by the IPCC — www.ipcc.ch): that climate change is the result of the accumulation in the oceans and atmosphere of enormous amounts of solar energy not reflected back into space due to the greenhouse effect caused by excessive greenhouse gases (primarily carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) now present in the atmosphere.
    2. The FFI supports the explanation that the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases is a consequence of the use of fossil fuels, whose combustion releases them in enormous quantities. It is no coincidence that experimental data show that the sudden increase in atmospheric CO₂ concentration over the past few centuries began precisely with the start of the Industrial Revolution — a period in which no astronomical or volcanic phenomena are known to have significantly affected atmospheric CO₂ levels.
    3. It is evident that the only truly effective way to reduce atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations would be to reduce the use of fossil fuels. However, it is difficult to imagine this happening soon, given that most of the world’s economy is based on their use and on continuously growing consumption.
    4. If human greenhouse gas emissions cannot be reduced, then it is essential to make full use of all available systems to remove them from the atmosphere.
    5. Nature provides a cost-free system for reducing atmospheric COâ‚‚: the living tree. Through photosynthesis, plants absorb COâ‚‚ from the atmosphere and convert it into carbon, which becomes part of the wood. Quantitatively, approximately half the weight of wood consists of carbon derived from atmospheric COâ‚‚.
    6. Using wood for energy production through combustion — for example in biomass power plants — instantly releases back into the atmosphere all the CO₂ that trees had accumulated over decades or centuries.
    7. Furthermore, forests are capable of positively influencing precipitation and climate across the entire planet, both locally and globally.
  4. The FFI does not carry out productive logging in its forests because it believes that timber is now an insignificant resource compared to all the other benefits that natural, as-intact-as-possible forests provide to the land and the Community.
    1. Forest cover on hillsides and mountains intercepts rainfall, allowing water to reach the ground without causing erosion or soil instability. Like a sponge, an intact, multi-layered forest with substantial leaf litter absorbs rainfall, which is then slowly transferred to the subsoil, replenishing aquifers and springs with pure water essential for life.
    2. The moisture that trees and the entire forest ecosystem transfer to the atmosphere moderates temperature and reduces air aridity during the hottest seasons. With their canopies, trees provide shade, slow the wind, filter the air of dust and toxic substances, and supply oxygen and beneficial volatile compounds that support our wellbeing.
    3. With their variety of environments, mature forests untouched by heavy human use host a multitude of ecological niches occupied by thousands of life forms in close mutual relationship. The reciprocal benefits derived from this ensure the continuity and evolution of the forest system over time.
    4. The presence of frequent and well-distributed woodland formations across the landscape, as well as enhancing the scenic character of our villages, constitutes a valuable recreational resource for local communities and visitors. Interspersed with cultivated fields, forests provide food and shelter for species that contribute to agriculture that is respectful of both people and the environment.
  5. The FFI does not “clean up” its forests.
    1. In nature, there is neither disorder nor dirt — “tidiness” is a human concept, not an ecological one. With that said, the FFI recognises that the general public often uses the term “forest clean-up” to mean the removal of undergrowth. The FFI does not remove undergrowth from its forests because it is a vital part of the forest ecosystem — consider the flora and fauna it contains and sustains, as well as its role in retaining moisture and slowing and absorbing rainfall. As a rule, the FFI allows undergrowth to evolve naturally, just as it does the trees.
    2. Undergrowth has its own ecological functions within the forest and represents a stage in forest evolution. Cutting undergrowth or dead wood on the ground prevents the natural renewal of the forest.
    3. “Cleaning” forests is often proposed as a fire prevention measure, overlooking the fact that a mature, naturally structured forest is actually far less vulnerable to fire.
    4. At our latitudes, spontaneous combustion does not occur. Rare natural causes of fire include volcanic eruptions or lightning strikes during storms. Forest fires are therefore almost always caused by accidental, negligent or deliberate human behaviour.
    5. The FFI accepts that along roads and other public pathways, vegetation may be managed to prevent accidental ignition during the hot season.
    6. Obviously, no amount of undergrowth clearance can guard against deliberate acts of environmental arson.
  6. The FFI believes that forests that are not “cleaned up” and/or not logged do not die.
    1. The FFI believes this risk exists only for certain types of forests that resemble tree or agricultural crops — such as chestnut groves, poplar plantations and olive groves — but does not apply generally. In any case, should trees left to their own devices die, they will naturally be replaced by plants fully suited to that soil and climate, being native species. These will be capable of regenerating a natural forest — it is simply a matter of time.
    2. Since the FFI has no productive aims, it can allow forests to evolve freely, even when this involves a natural succession of tree species.
    3. Ceasing destructive human activities, such as periodic felling, allows rewilding processes to take place, with a possible — albeit slow — recovery of the natural balance that once existed.
  7. The FFI opposes indiscriminate riparian cutting.
    1. The FFI supports the scientific evidence that hydrological safety is directly linked to the ecological integrity of riparian forests, thanks to the vital role that vegetation along riverbanks plays in stabilising soil and regulating floods.
    2. The FFI recognises the important role of riparian forests in the natural purification of water. They act as buffer zones between river water and groundwater, as well as an ecotone between riparian vegetation and that of adjacent land.
    3. For these reasons, the FFI believes that riparian formations should be kept intact and allowed to evolve freely.
    4. The FFI believes that, except in rare and specific cases, interventions in riparian systems carried out on the basis of vague and generic safety justifications are unacceptable, and will therefore oppose — through legal means — any cutting of riparian vegetation on its properties.
  8. It is not the FFI’s aim to make its forests generally available for tourism, recreational or leisure use.
    1. FFI forests and land are natural places deliberately left in a wild and unequipped state. For this reason, although they are physically accessible as they are not fenced, anyone who enters does so at their own risk and responsibility, acknowledging that the foundation bears no liability towards them.
    2. The foundation undertakes to respect any third-party rights that may exist, and reserves the right to authorise activities compatible with the foundation’s purposes — such as recreational, health, educational and scientific activities — provided they have a low impact.
    3. Access by self-propelled mechanical vehicles must be specifically authorised.
  9. The FFI and hunting activities.
    1. Since hunting is incompatible with the free and spontaneous evolution and with the development and preservation of biodiversity in ecosystems — the foundation’s primary purpose — the FFI will, wherever possible and within the limits of applicable laws and regulations, restrict hunting on its properties.
  10. Collaborations with local associations.
    1. The foundation may establish collaborations with local associations in order to better monitor the condition of its forests and to regulate access in accordance with the provisions set out in point 8 above.
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FONDO FORESTALE ITALIANO

We preserve our forests untouched

leaving them to their free evolution, without cutting