ItalyUpdate

<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><FONT face=Arial><IMG style="HEIGHT: 149px" src="http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4630761690236061&pid=1.7&w=226&h=149&c=7&rs=1"></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><FONT face=Arial>In contrast to many other areas in the world, Italy’s tree population has expanded over the last twenty years. According to the latest national inventory carried out by the Corpo Forestale dello Stato (State Forestry Commission), woodlands have spread by some 1.7 million hectares over Italian territory. The 12 billion native Italian trees cover a third of the peninsula, for a total 10,467,533 hectares.<?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US"><FONT face=Arial>Sardinia is Italy’s greenest region, followed by Tuscany, but proportionally, Ligury is the most heavily wooded region in Italy, with 70 percent of its territory covered in forest. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">   </SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>