Forest Products Industry

In June 2026, FSC Italy hosted the inaugural General Assembly of Italian Forests at the Presidential Estate in Castelporziano. Forest managers, owners, national and local institutions, NGOs, and other stakeholders gathered to discuss the future of responsible forest management. Source: Timberbiz The impacts of climate change have revealed the interconnectedness of people and places, with far-reaching consequences spreading through social and natural networks. That same interconnectedness applies to preparing for and responding to climate change, especially when it comes to the governance, ownership, and sustainable management of forests worldwide. Safeguarding our forests requires effective coordination among multiple interconnected stakeholders. This spirit of unity was a guiding principle for the General Assembly of Italian Forests, a new regular event organized by FSC Italy. The event took place in the symbolic setting of the Castelporziano Presidential Estate – one of the most significant forest areas in the Lazio region and coincided with both World Environment Day and the 25th anniversary of FSC Italy’s foundation. The Castelporziano Presidential Estate achieved FSC certification in 2025. Giulia Bonella, Director of the estate, was proud to host the meeting. “Accepting FSC Italy’s proposal to host the General Assembly of Italian Forests during World Environment Day consolidates a shared path and encourages us to build a long-term vision together,” she said. Italy is home to 11 million hectares of forests, about 27% of the country’s land area. The area has grown steadily since the end of World War II, primarily as a result of depopulation and subsequent abandonment of inland rural areas. Currently, only about 10% of forests are managed according to strict environmental, social, and economic sustainability criteria. The theme of this inaugural Assembly was Managing Complexity, chosen to address the contemporary challenges of handling increasing pressures on vulnerable forest ecosystems while building the resilience of local communities through a shared vision. Official institutional sessions, where representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests and national NGOs like WWF shared their visions for future woodlands, were interspersed with community-driven moments. For example, during the Stories from the Woods session, nine FSC-certified forest managers and owners presented their management models and offered practical insights from their firsthand experiences. This first edition of our General Assembly of Italian Forests represents a turning point for certified forest management in Italy,” Maria Rita Gallozzi, President of FSC Italy said. She described the event as both a marker of FSC’s 25 years in the country and an opportunity to plan ahead amid what she called the “climatic, social, economic and political complexities” facing Italian forestry. During the event, FSC Italy signed an agreement with the Italian Federation of Parks and Nature Reserves (Federparchi) to establish a working relationship between forest certification bodies and protected natural areas. The Assembly offered an example of how to convene a fragmented sector around a shared table, bringing together institutional reach and grassroots participation. She described the event as both a marker of FSC’s 25 years in the country and an opportunity to plan ahead amid what she called the “climatic, social, economic and political complexities” facing Italian forestry. During the event, FSC Italy signed an agreement with the Italian Federation of Parks and Nature Reserves (Federparchi) to establish a working relationship between forest certification bodies and protected natural areas. The Assembly offered an example of how to convene a fragmented sector around a shared table, bringing together institutional reach and grassroots participation.

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The long-anticipated El Niño is here, and already it’s living up to the hype. In the spring, climate scientists had forecasted an El Niño to develop in the central Pacific region. Source: CBC As the months progressed, more and more of the models forecasted a particularly strong or “super” El Niño, as some people like to call it. But scientists also warned that it was too early to know for sure. In its monthly update in June, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), issued an El Niño advisory, confirming that the warmer conditions had developed in the specific part of the Pacific Ocean known as Niño 3.4. In order to be considered an El Niño, temperatures in that zone need to be 0.5 C above the average. Ocean temperatures are now close to 2C above average. And we’re not even close to the peak yet. This is the warmest on record that region has ever been at this time of year. “In the sort of traditional Nino 3.4 region, we’re a bit above 2 C, which is generally seen as the threshold for a very strong or, some people don’t like this term, but a super El Niño,” said Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist with Berkeley Earth, a non-profit climate analysis organization. “So, effectively, we’re already touching a very strong El Niño conditions, and it’s early July still.” El Niño and La Niña are part of a larger, natural cyclical cycle called the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which occurs in a specific part of the Pacific Ocean. La Niña brings cooler temperatures in that region while El Niño brings warmer temperatures. Hausfather said some forecasts currently expect the peak of the El Niño to occur in October, though the bulk of available models suggest it’s more likely it will peak in November or December. “So, we have a long way to go. We’re already brushing super El Niño territory, and we may well be in uncharted waters later this year,” he said. The strongest El Niño in recent years was the one in 2015-2016, where the ocean temperature anomaly was roughly 2.75 C. It’s believed that there was a comparable one in 1877-1878. Nat Johnson, a meteorologist at NOAA’s geophysical fluid dynamics laboratory, said the transition from a La Niña to El Niño has been very quick. “We were in a La Niña last winter, which was cooler than average conditions in the eastern equatorial Pacific. And now if we have a very strong El Niño forecast. That’s a very rapid change over the course of one year,” he said. “So why are we seeing such a big change this year? I think it’s still an open question.” Hausfather said that, when models first showed the potential of an El Niño being as strong as 4C above average, he thought that they couldn’t be right. But now, months later, it does seem to be a greater possibility. “The very fact that models right now are predicting a peak of around 3.6 C when the strongest El Niño in history, including arguably the one in the late 1800s, was only 2.75 C, is kind of mind boggling.” Could this be due to climate change? Johnson said that, while there have been fewer neutral years in the Niño 3.4 region, and there have been bigger swings between El Niños and La Niñas, it’s not clear if or how climate change could be playing a role. “It’s still a topic that I think we haven’t quite reached scientific consensus yet.” One impact that concerns Hausfather, particularly in light of ongoing geopolitical issues, is food security in tropical regions — which are expected to be affected by drought in coming months.

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