Almost 2.5 million trees were planted in 2021 and in the first quarter of 2022. And the economic impact that the new tree areas are able to generate is over 22 million euros a year.
This photograph is taken by the second Atlas for forestation developed for Il Sole 24 Ore by AzzeroCO2 (company for energy services) and Legambiente which surveyed 496 projects carried out on 4,325 hectares of land (for the first, see Il Sole 24 Hours of October 11, 2021). This year the mapping concerned both the interventions financed with public funds thanks to which almost 95% of the new plantings were carried out, and the plantings carried out with private resources.
The report also calculates the economic impact of planting in terms of climate regulation, improvement of air quality, increase in tourist and cultural attractions. «Planting trees – says the president of Legambiente, Stefano Ciafani – especially in urban areas, is effective in mitigating climate change. But we also need to reduce fossil fuels and keep natural ecosystems efficient. And Legambiente celebrates the Tree Festival every year (which this year took place from 19 to 21 November) precisely to demonstrate that we can take care of the planet with simple actions».
However, the diffusion of forestation interventions, on which the Pnrr also aims, risks colliding with an insufficient supply of plants with respect to the increase in requests and with the difficulties of taking root, caused by climate change and, in particular, by the prolonged absences of rainfall.
numbers and territories
Most of the plantings, both public and private, are concentrated in the central-northern regions. In the public, Emilia Romagna and Trentino Alto Adige hold the record for trees planted in 2021 (almost 600,000 each). In Emilia Romagna, the project Let’s put our roots in the future aims to plant 4.5 million trees by 2023. In Trentino Alto Adige, however, most of the interventions concern the areas devastated in 2018 by the Vaia storm.