Evidence-Based Forest Therapy in Italian Apennines to support Roots Tourism And Effective and Equitable Healthcare

Evidence is mounting that professionally guided forest immersion can provide effective and broad spectrum healthcare services virtually to everybody. Forest therapy is emerging as a non-structural nature-based solution able to remarkably contribute to the individual and public health, as well as to sustainable tourism, roots tourism and local entrepreneurship and occupation [1,2]. The exposure to forest environments has been associated with distinct and significant benefits for human health and well-being, encompassing both psychological and physiological aspects [3,4], such as immunological parameters [5], inflammation-related factors [6,7], and the cardiovascular system [8]. Among various contributing factors, the effects of monoterpenes (MTs) emitted by plants in the forest atmosphere have been attributed a noteworthy role in enhancing psycho-physiological health [9,10], with strong evidence at least with regards to anxiety symptoms [11], and asthma symptoms [12]. However, policy lags behind, especially in the official recognition and promotion of green prescriptions with a view to overall health expenditures, despite increasing evidence of effectivity [13], and scattered initiatives worldwide [14]. The forest therapy project performed in Italy since 2021, with the involvement of more than 1700 persons, has allowed to build robust evidence for the effects of the exposure to forest air monoterpenes on anxiety and asthma symptoms [1,11,12]. Beyond further expanding the cohort, the latest experimental activities focused on the Italian Apennines are meant to identify areas not only suitable for forest therapy practices, but also showing particular vocation for specific healing functions, as well as to design a network of forest healing stations aimed at treating mental, respiratory and asthmatic diseases. The main hypothesis was that such a network will be largely self-sustainable due to its contribution to individual and public health, supporting also the valorization of roots tourism and local economy. Forest sites on Italian Apennines were generally found particularly effective with regards to healing functions, likely due to a high naturality degree, cleaner air and milder climate than most Alpine sites, also leading to higher atmospheric concentration of monoterpenes, as confirmed by the results of Forest Therapy research conducted in Sicily and Calabria since 2022 [15].