Disentangling the Diversity of Forest Care Initiatives: A Novel Research Framework Applied to the Italian Context

In the effort of advancing the knowledge and disentangling the diversity of emerging forest-based initiatives for wellbeing, we propose (i) an umbrella definition – i.e. Forest Care Initiatives (FCIs), (ii) a custom-made repository to collect and systematize information on FCIs in Italy, (iii) and discuss a categorization scheme to cluster initiatives into three main categories according to target users, substitutability of the forest ecosystem and the specificity of the health contributions they aim to. We analysed 232 initiatives, showing a lively panorama of Italian FCIs mainly provided by privates and civil society. FCIs development appear to be occasions for, but not only, rural and marginal areas to deliver inclusive wellbeing services to a wide target of users and business opportunities. However, due to the novelty of this area of investigation, further research is needed to account for benefits, opportunities, and increase the knowledge on enabling forest environments.