10. Mountainous region case study.

This study was carried out in 4 mountainous provinces Belluno, Vincenza, Treviso, and Verona in the Veneto region (northern part of Italy). The first objective of the survey was to collect detailed information on the characteristics of the forest estates, the features of its owner/owners and the forest management practices in place. These are the basic prerequisites to understand the potentialities of forest areas in the region to provide ecosystem services. The second objective was to collect information on revenues and costs of the forest management practices in place. The third objective of the survey was to explore more in detail the causal-effect relationships between the forest management practices in place and the provision of the four NEWFOREX externalities, namely Recreation, Biodiversity, Water (including also aspects linked to erosion control, very important in a mountainous context, where the slopes are steep) and Carbon sequestration. Finally, the survey wanted to collect information on forest owners’ awareness (and knowledge) of the ‘externality’ concept, attitudes and expectations towards possible changes on his/her forest management objectives in the view of shifting towards producing forest ecosystems.