Demand and potential subsidy level for forest insurance market in Demand and potential subsidy level for forest insurance market in Italy

The projections for climate change in the coming decades highlight that European and Mediterranean forests will have to deal with negative biotic and abiotic impacts. Extreme meteorological events seem to be one of the main source of risk. Financial strategies can be a form of risk management. In this framework the work analyse the Willingness to Stipulate forest insurance schemes at national level by owners and managers of stands, based on owners characteristics, forest typology and localization as well as Willingness To Pay. Results are also defined at spatial level (macroregions for Italy: northern, central and southern regions) in order to be compared with premium. Preliminary results confirm how WTP is related with both statistical and perceived risk of damage. Moreover, forest owners appear more available to pay for insurance in case of high forest (in particular coniferous) in respect to coppices. Among motivations for not stipulating insurance, the main reason seems to be the preference for alternative form of risk management (e.g. post-event public compensation or silvicultural interventions). The paper stresses the difference between premium and WTP depicting the area where public subsidy could have a greater impact for insurance diffusion. Finally, discussion for future improvements and integration of the research are performed