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4
PRESENTATION
In Europe more than two thirds of the population lives in urban areas and is therefore at local scale
that policies for adaptation and mitigation of complex environmental changes taking place should be
encouraged and implemented.
These Guidelines for sustainable urban forestry, prepared by ISPRA with Roma Capitale, are an
important opportunity to emphasize that between the tasks of the Institute, which I chair, there are, in
addition to monitoring and environmental control, to provide scientific and technical support to the
decisions, so as to bridge the gap between science and policy that often prevents the proper
implementation of policies, especially at the local level, such as that at issue in the present publication.
And it is the urban scale that are focusing in recent years the emerging challenges in the environmental
field: hydrogeological, climate change, land use, biodiversity loss, reducing air pollution, transport and
mobility, quality of life. All key aspects to be addressed in an integrated manner if you want to
actually go the way of sustainable development.
Since 2004, the National System for Environmental Protection (ISPRA/ARPA/APPA) develops and
publishes a yearly report on the quality of the urban environment that - among others - is the issues of
climate change, biodiversity and the green in major urban areas of the country, through the collection
and evaluation of data useful to the population of some key indicators in collaboration with other
bodies and institutions (ISTAT, the Italian Academy of Forestry Sciences, Ministry of the
Environment, Land and Sea, etc.). ISPRA also conducts research and analysis on the diversity of green
spaces present in urban environments, on their ecosystem services and multi-functionality, the
instruments of planning and management of the green. It provides technical and scientific support to
the Committee for the development of public parks, corporate body established at the Ministry of the
Environment of the territory in accordance with the provisions of art. 3 of Law no. 10/2013 "Rules for
the development of urban green spaces."
Nature, even that in anthropic environments, is the capital of green infrastructure on which it will be
necessary to invest more and more in the future, for smarter and more resilient city, thanks to the
variety of ecosystem services provided. But climate change, consequence of increase of greenhouse
gas concentrations in the atmosphere, can lead to significant changes in the structure and function of
ecosystems, with negative consequences for biodiversity and associated ecosystem services.
Forestation measures to be taken should therefore focus on increasing the resilience of ecosystems, ie
their ability to absorb and offset the natural and anthropogenic pressures from outside, including the
effects of climate change. It is therefore crucial to orient the interventions of urban forestry to
sustainability principles that take into account the multifunctional role of forests (ecological role and
environmental, but also economic and socio-cultural) according to ecosystemic approach.
These Guidelines provide information targeted to the specific local context of the city of Rome, in
response to the bioclimatic, pedological and vegetation in which one operates. In the design and
implementation of new green areas are given special attention not only to the use of native soils (eg.
agriculture, industry), but also the intended end use (eg. urban park, wooded area, etc. .), and the
purpose of the forestation project (combating climate change, protecting biodiversity, or other), so as
to direct toward the selection of tree species best suited to different contexts.
Ultimate goal is to have a solid framework in terms of technical and scientific implementation and
monitoring of policies of urban forestation and increase the city's green areas, which are sustainable
both in terms of ecological and environmental social and economic development, and provide a
technical document of support to the decisions of the local government with respect to the design and
creation of new forests in urban and suburban areas.
President
of ISPRA
Prof. Bernardo De Bernardinis