Corpo forestale dello Stato - CONECOFOR - National Forest Service

Corpo Forestale dello Stato (State Forestry Corps) is an Italian government agency established in 1822. It represents a state police force with a civilian system dedicated to protecting the Italian agroforestry heritage and preserving the environment, landscape and ecosystem. In addition, the agency contributes to ensuring public order and security, as well as control over the territory, with a particular focus on the rural and mountainous areas.    

State Forestry Corps carries out judicial police activities and monitors compliance with national and international legislation concerning the safeguarding of agricultural, forest and landscape resources and the protection of the national natural heritage, as well as agri-food security, preventing and suppressing related crimes. It is also a national civil protection operational structure.

State Forestry Corps performs environmental monitoring through two operational programs – the CONECOFOR and the INFC (National Inventory of Forests and Forest Carbon Tanks). The programs were initiated with the aim of studying the ecological interactions between the structural and functional components of forest ecosystems and the factors of pressure and change on a large scale (air pollution, climate change, variation in biodiversity levels).