Legal definition of forest into Italian law

Abstract

This article explains, in a clear and systematic way,the legal definition of forest in the Italian law system. After a brief historical analysis, the Author examines the definition of forest given by the state legislature with Article 2 of Legislative Decree May 18, 2001,n. 227, as amended by Article 26 of the Law n. 35, 4 April 2012, and compares it with some forest definitions in Regional laws. The concept of forest is discussed in relation to a brief review of the most recent laws and to a detailed analysis of the forest definition given by FAO (FRA 2000, FRA 2005 and FRA 2015), ISTAT, the Italian Academy of Forest Sciences and the Italian National Forest Inventory.