Abstract

The EU's vision for 2050 is to properly protect, enhance and restore biodiversity and ecosystem services provided by protected natural areas, taking into account the intrinsic value of biodiversity and the essential contribution of ecosystem services to human well-being and economic prosperity of the local community. Starting from this desideratum, through this paper we aimed to show that forest ecosystems, as well as aquatic ones, have an important role in the sustainable development of local communities if their contribution is properly assessed.