Timber Production and Landscape-Scale Decision Support: Evidence from a Nationwide Assessment of Italian Wood Markets

Forested landscape is a highly complex socio-ecological system, wherein timber production and trade is a very important factor in local economies as well as in the well-being of the region. The management of forested landscapes requires multi-stakeholder interventions and decision support tools that can address ecosystem services, risks, and uncertainties at the landscape scale. This study requires the use of a National level database to support the development of a Decision Support System (DSS) linking forest growth, timber supply, and wood quality with marketing mechanisms across nine Italian regions. Data collected were to evaluate first timber market methods across four dimensions, which comprise the following metrics for economic efficiency: prices, net revenue to forest owners, transaction costs, price variability and payment timing. Market access and demand efficiency are assessed through bidder participation, geographical distribution of buyers, timber volumes, administrative constraints, extent of market access, and the allocation of timber for energy use, industrial, functional use, and premium use according to the cascade use principle.  The indicators of operational efficiency include sale duration, harvesting start and duration, logistics of sale responsibility, quality of information, and sustainability certification. Governance and transparency are assessed through regulatory clarity, e-platforms of sales, traceability and EUTR traceability and compliance, conflict incidence, systems of control and enforcement of timber trades, and limitations of protected zones and land use. These findings are used for developing an integrated DSS that is capable of performing multi-criteria analysis, assessment of disturbance scenarios, and visualizing trade-offs among timber production, timber market and biodiversity. This study emphasizes that institutional support and market development will contribute to increasing the value and sustainability of timber and its carbon sequestration capacity, whereas organizational constraints continue to limit market development for central, southern, and island regions. In conclusion, these observations provide support for further development of DSS on Italian forest landscapes, which focuses on dealing with issues of sustainable timber production efficiency, sales, and market efficiency, as well as ecosystem services provision.