BELLUNO. “Storm Vaia showed us how our forests weren’t managed before. The Veneto forestry reality is centered on a system that we could define as colonial: we serve raw materials to other nations, in particular Austria, which then gain from it. Consortia of producers, or forest owners, must be created, as was done for wine. It is necessary to develop district heating systems that can absorb waste from forest cutting, the production of wood chips and pellets. To reconstitute the supply chain in this sector, the intervention of the public authorities is essential “. Word of Nicola Dell’Acqua, general manager of Veneto Agriculture. Veronese, born in 1965, graduated from the University of Bologna in Science of animal production, has headed the regional agency since January 2020; first he was, again in the Region, director of the Environment, coordinator for the Vaia emergency, general director of Arpav, followed the management of the waste emergency in the Civil Protection, at the time led at national level by Guido Bertolaso. «The Vaia storm – he says – has highlighted all the limits of a pre-existing situation which was essentially characterized by little or no management of the woods. We have had so many crashes in areas where it is difficult to get to, which are not productive, where it costs too much to get wood. To realize this, just look at the difference between the Asiago plateau and the areas of Agordino or Comelico ».
Were the people from Vicenza better?
“No, in Asiago they collected all the crashes simply because they have woods in areas that are easily accessible: they were meadows originally, because the forest grew spontaneously on abandoned pastures, and they will go back to being meadows, probably, because today the hut pulls more of the forest. In Agordino or Comelico, on the other hand, it is not easy to collect crashed timber, both due to the shape of the mountain and because of the lack of management. In order to live, the forest must be managed ».
Come?
«We need the infrastructures, that is, forest-pastoral roads and squares to store the logs when they are cut. So he took everything away where he could, recovering some income for local administrations and organized private owners (Rules), but there were objective difficulties to overcome in the most inaccessible areas. Then there is a second consideration highlighted by the Vaia storm ».
Which?
«That ours is a forestry system based on a colonial model: we serve the raw material, other nations work it and sell it to us at a high price. As happens for coffee in Brazil or Venezuela: they have the best plantations, but who makes money on coffee? Italy that processes it in its roasting plants and then markets it all over the world. We have always earned ourselves in that supply chain; in wood, on the other hand, Austria and the Scandinavian countries gain us, which sell us the processed product ».
What are we missing to take the sector back in hand?
«The entrepreneur who works the wood is missing, the sawmill that does the second processing, the most economically advantageous one. So I say that the public, as it has already done with other supply chains, must take this situation and act as a starter. See the social wine cellars: the public has put money in the social cellars that have started a wine culture and in this way 500 small producers have earned more than the few landowners, first creating a culture and then a market. We lack a social sawmill, but we also lack those who use biomass, that is all that large part of waste that can feed, if there were, a district heating system ».
To reconstitute a virtuous supply chain, therefore, the public hand is needed. What are you doing in this regard?
«I am now leaving a meeting on the wood supply chain, one of the thematic tables that Veneto Agriculture has activated, at the specific request of the Veneto Region, to deepen every issue that is on the table at this moment; and we do it by listening to all the protagonists and all the stakeholders in order to then propose a medium / long-term strategy to the Region itself ”.
The biggest problem?
«The fragmentation of properties: Veneto Agriculture works on its 14 thousand hectares, but then there are many owners, some with particles so small that they become impossible to manage economically. And then it is necessary to aggregate the producers, that is to favor the consortia of small owners, in order to guarantee them, as well as the municipalities, at least a small return in the management of their forest ».
Then?
“We are discussing whether the forestry plans are still adequate: there cannot be areas in which we cut just 20% of annual growth, while France cuts 80% and Austria 90%. If we earn the forest, then we are interested in cutting it and managing it, and a serious market is born, which now does not exist in our country ».
Cut more? And the environmentalists?
«In Italy, cutting a tree seems like a crime, but it isn’t. The Cansiglio forest wouldn’t be what it is if it hadn’t been managed for 500 years. We need to cut, maintain, produce. And also planting, as we are doing. A supply chain is not born if we think that we must increase the forest where it is, but it must also be taken where it is not, to improve the climatic situation. In short, to manage more modern forest plans must be implemented, at least on a par with our European cousins ».
Is culture also missing?
“Of course, it would take more environmental knowledge on the part of citizens who should understand that cutting forests wisely leads to environmental improvement.”
Let’s go back to Vaia: there are those who accuse the public hand of forcing the owners to sell immediately, with heavy losses due to the depressed market.
“I think getting the wood out of the woods was the top priority and it was good to do it.”
Why was Avepa and not Veneto Agricoltura, which seemed to have more experience and expertise, entrusted with this step, as the implementing body of the commissioner for Vaia?
“Both Avepa and Veneto Agricoltura are operational arms of the Region on the agrarian level”.
There are those who argue that the timber was stored and then sold when the market recovered, to limit the losses in value.
“A good idea, but where could the crashed lumber be stored? We have no suitable squares, and those few that exist are bound; in any case, irrigation systems would have been needed to keep the wood fresh. Of course, everyone is right after some time, but we worked in a situation of great emergency. And when you are in a big emergency, I also tell you because of my long experience in civil protection, things are fixed, but it is difficult to plan. That must be done once the emergency is over, like now ».
What do you wish then?
«That it is possible to help the birth of a large social sawmill, on the basis of the cooperative wineries, assisted by the state and also under public control, if necessary; get together, create an internal market and manage it. The only way, in my opinion, is to consortium the owners and make serious and modern forest plans. Then create forests resilient to climate change or traumatic events that can occur, such as Vaia. So focus on biomass and district heating plants; last but not least, work a lot on information. It seems strange for those who live in Veneto, but we have to recreate a culture of wood to make it a fundamental resource of our economy. As the Serenissima understood well ».
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