Protection forest

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Protection forests are forests that mitigate or prevent the impact of a natural hazard, including a rockfall, avalanche, erosion, landslide, debris flow or flooding on people and their assets in mountainous areas. A protection forest generally covers the sloping area between a hazard potential (e.g. an unstable rock cliff or an avalanche release zone) and the endangered or exposed assets. In the Alps, protection forests are increasingly considered equal to engineered mitigation measures against natural hazards. In French, German, Italian and Slovenian protection forests are called respectively, Forêt de protection, Schutzwald, foreste di protezione, varovalni gozdovi, and even their maintain function is to protect soil and to prevent it from eroding or blowing away.