“Every day Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta lose 17,545 square meters of arable land, vineyards, meadows or woods. The alarm is raised by the agronomists and foresters of the two regions by observing the data of the 2022 Ispra Report. It turns out that in 6,404,000 square meters of land were consumed in 2021, on average about 17,545 square meters per day, i.e. about 640 hectares per year (slightly less than the surface area of the Collina di Superga Natural Park or that of two districts of Turin such as Crocetta and Santa Rita). A large part of the lost land was found in lowland areas, precisely where there is the greatest need for a careful use of natural resources and of the land in particular.
“The lost ground – says Davide Mondino, president of the Interregional Federation of Agronomists and Forestry Doctors of Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta – has often been used for the creation of shopping centres, condominiums, industrial production areas, parking lots and much more still. We know that we have lost parts of farms, therefore the possibility of producing food for us and future generations, landscape, air quality, environmental usability and in many cases also tourism”.
In addition to all this, the agronomists and foresters recall, the territory is becoming increasingly fragile – 90% of the municipalities in Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta are at hydrogeological risk “It is important – concludes Mondino – that the share of soil still free and cultivable land is safeguarded more through a stricter application of existing laws and procedures, the reuse and recovery of the many disused surfaces and structures, a careful and accurate evaluation of what the soil offers”.