Spatial clustering of protected forests in Italy for strategic nature conservation

This research presented work on the actualisation of the existing landscape maps in the protected regions of Italy in northern, central and southern areas. The research aimed at evaluation of how land cover types change across Italy and what factors induce their changes: geology, climate change, natural hazards, anthropogenic activities (wood logging), and changes in forest dynamics (reforestation and deforestation). The methodology includes both the GIS-based analysis of the regional setting (climate and hydrology, topographic-geologic structure of the terrain) and fieldwork activities during the in-situ campaign (summer periods 2024 and 2025). Processing fieldwork data, aerial GEE images and maps, and integrating them into cartographic project through QGIS mapping enabled to extract valuable environmental information regarding land cover types in 3 different regions of Italy for analysis of landscape variability.