The research is based on two complementary lines of activity.
The first concerns the study of the environmental function of the forest surfaces of the Camonica Valley understood as carbon sinks (natural carbon reservoirs). In this sense, the activity involves the construction of a database which, starting from specific settlement and dendrometric data for each forest typology of the Camonica Valley, is able to estimate the carbon annually absorbed by the epigean phytomass. The creation of the Database allows to identify the real possibilities for launching an application experimentation dedicated to the development of a voluntary local exchange platform for carbon credits aimed at all interested operators.
The second line of activity concerns the study of the intended use of forest wood biomass, with particular reference to the energy sector, in order to evaluate: i) the types and entities of the biofuel flows used; ii) the forest-energy conversion plant supply chains; iii) the territorial distribution of the plants currently in operation, their different forms of implementation and the process bases; iv) the assessment of potential environmental impacts associated with the most widespread technological solutions and their projection in the territorial context.
The results obtained will be included in a Final Report, which will be made available to the local authorities concerned, containing specific operational proposals and technical guidelines to encourage the sustainable, integrated and multifunctional use of local forest resources from an energy and environmental point of view and jointly, the optimization of spatial planning (on a local scale).