Forest Management Plan

The forest is Lugano's most extensive natural heritage. With a total area of approximately 45.84 km², forested areas account for 61% of the municipal territory.

In the past, these areas were not subject to specific forest planning that included a classification of interventions, methods, and priorities to ensure proper forest management.

In Lugano, a Piano d'indirizzo forestale (Forest Management Plan) was adopted for the first time in Ticino, covering the municipal area. This plan bridges the Piano forestale cantonale (Cantonal Forest Plan, PFC) and the management plans of completed, ongoing, and planned projects.

The Piano d'indirizzo forestale provides a general vision, an analysis, and a localized specification of the objectives and functions of the forest as defined at the cantonal level. It delves into overlapping functions, potential issues, aspects to enhance, and priorities.

The goal of the Piano di indirizzo forestale comunale (Municipal Forest Management Plan, PIFL) is to establish general guidelines at the municipal level for interventions planned over the next 15-20 years. Specifically, the plan ensures overall coordination between ongoing and planned interventions and, in particular, allows for the identification of priority objectives that will lead to the implementation of specific projects in the coming years.

The Piano d'indirizzo forestale comunale complies with the Legge Cantonale sulle Foreste (Cantonal Forest Law, LCFo) and was developed with the involvement of public forest owners (Patriziati) and key stakeholders in the field.

In October 2020, the City Parliament approved funding of 5 million Swiss francs for the implementation of the priority interventions outlined in the Piano d'indirizzo forestale comunale for the 2020-2024 period.