"Over 8,000 hectares of Italian forests have been proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site, demonstrating the richness and uniqueness of our country's natural ecosystems and the effectiveness of conservation actions in national protected areas".
This was announced by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, explaining that it was decided today by the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee which, on the occasion of the works held in Fuzhou in China, recognized "the peculiar ecological characteristics of further ancient Mediterranean beech trees in the parks national parks of Aspromonte, Gargano and Pollino ".
Il Mite explains that the World Heritage Committee has accepted "the favorable recommendation expressed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)" for the extension to the new forest complexes of Pavari-Sfilzi, Pollinello and Valle Infernale. "Unesco today extends the largest and most complex forest site and network on the continental level of which Italy is the absolute protagonist, demonstrating the excellence of our natural heritage and the widespread knowledge of our managers and foresters", comments the Minister of Ecological Transition Roberto Cingolani. Italy "is among the few countries that have obtained, first from the assessment body and from the Unesco committee today, a fully favorable judgment on all the proposed extensions,without specific recommendations on its management or on the state of conservation ", observes Mite.
This is a recognition "that seals the international initiative followed by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, with the operational coordination of the Lazio, Abruzzo and Molise National Park, in cooperation with other European countries (Bosnia-Herzegovina, France, North Macedonia, Montenegro , Poland, Czech Republic, Serbia, Slovakia, Switzerland), for the extension of the natural transnational site of the Ancient European beech forests - explains the dicastery - The extension, in fact, allowed the inclusion in the Unesco serial site of forest ecosystems Mediterranean dominated by beech located in the southernmost sectors (Aspromonte), Mediterranean / subalpine gold (Pollino) and more at low altitude (Sfilzi) of the network of 'Old European Beechwoods' ". Thanks to the protection action "guaranteed by the integral reserves of the national parks in close synergy with the forest police - explains the ministry - in these beech woods the natural cycles of life of the trees are preserved unaltered, making the ancient forest more resistant to global changes: these forests represent, in fact, real natural laboratories where trees live, adapted to overcome drought hot summers, thus contributing to the mitigation of climate change ".real natural laboratories where trees live, adapted to overcome drought hot summers, thus contributing to the mitigation of climate change ".real natural laboratories where trees live, adapted to overcome drought hot summers, thus contributing to the mitigation of climate change ".
