SilvaCuore, a tool for monitoring the health status of Italian forests

The health status of forests is becoming increasingly endangered by drought-induced climate change. In recent decades, widespread forest decline has been reported  worldwide in all biomes. The reports of forest mortality across Italy and the need to be better aware of the extent and magnitude of the phenomenon were the assumptions that led to the development of a web-application called SilvaCuore. A team of researchers from the University of Basilicata has carried out this project to safeguard Italian forests. The aim is to combine scientific research and active community participation (Citizen Science project) through the use of new technologies, in order to better monitor and manage Italy’s forest heritage. The SilvaCuore web-application seeks to census the declining forest sites located in Italy and to create a database that can be used as a basis to improve the forest management. SilvaCuore has been developed as a Progressive Web Application and can be accessed from smartphones, tablets and PCs due to its responsive user interface. The user, after registering in to the web-application, is guided by a user-friendly step-by-step procedure in the reporting process that, besides a brief description or more complex data, allows to take some photos and the GNSS position of the site. The report outcomes will be automatically collected in a cloud web database, immediately accessible to the research team. Verified reports will become publicly accessible from the same web-application, ready to provide a concrete insight into the health of our forests. The application is also linked to a website that provides additional information about the project, the rationale behind the app, and the research activities carried out by the SilvaCuore team. It is crucial to improve the citizen's approach to nature and environmental issues: a more aware citizen will be a citizen who cares more about the environment and its preservation. An case in point is the agreement with PEFC Italy (Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes): first, PEFC-certified forest owners will be able to utilize the web-application, in order to implement adaptive forest management and second, this will provide useful alert reporting. The challenge here is to be able to create a monitoring network that not only monitors the current state of forest health but also evaluates potential future dynamics, and becomes increasingly capable of responding to the threat of forest decline.