TO Reggio Emilia A forest it was shot down and probably irregular. However, sanctions cannot be applied because at the time of the inspection”the trees are no longer there“. That is the textual explanation given by General Emiliano through the mouth of the Environmental Advisor Carlotta Bonvicini during a city council meeting in early November. A response that sparked anger among the residents gathered “Baragalla Urban Forest” Committee.was born in 2021 to try to save it, but is also part of the opposition forces. “A motivation that leaves you speechless,” they commented Dario De Lucia And Fabrizio Aguzzoliboard members on the list Civil coalition. “This is not just administrative supervision – they underline –: it is a question of environmental justice And institutional transparency. We ask that reports, inspections and sanctions be made public and a clear principle must be established: anyone who cuts down trees without permission must be accountable to the community”. The committee highlighted that its monitoring, reporting and photo mapping work “is scrap paper“. “There are no sanctions for those who cut down forest plantations protected by green regulations” we read a post from the association.
This forest is located in the surrounding area Baragalla (in the southwestern region of Reggio), most of it is a residential area and some is an artisanal and commercial area. Here in the area Private propertyin the last 40 years agricultural land has been replaced by a spontaneous flora typical of the plains which since 2014 has been indicated by the forestry system of the Emilia-Romagna Region as “Ungoverned or irregular field elm forests”. What was originally 40 thousand square meters has experienced a progressive downsizingafter the implementation of two different city plans and one variant. There are still forest areas 24 thousand m2 with poplar tree whitemulberry, specimen Prunusmaple tree, English oakbut also locust tree And ailantiLots elm treemost of it is in bush condition and later bramble and in humid areas too swamp reeds. The forest is inhabited by various animal species.
A fragment of the landscape was threatened in 2004 when a new landscape was approved floor city planning and building permits were given the green light, resulting in two projects in 2019 real estate for the construction of “medium-small non-food sales structures”, “residential buildings for rent”, as well as road roundabouts. From here mobilization citizens and opposition representatives leading to the motion (rejected by the majority led by PD). Demolition carried out by Nebbiara Real Estateon behalf of Cooperative Alliance 3.0starting in November 2021 and in these months the committee published videos and photos on social media documenting the existence of the forest, even better than various plants with dimensional characteristics that can be interpreted as trees. To take it down, you need a city permit. Six months later, councilor Bonvicini, speaking at the council, explained: “As we have not yet reached the implementation stage and a building permit has not been applied for, the existing greenery must be taken into consideration. worn al city regulations greenery.” However, “no official notification was ever received reduction requestHowever, he detailed that “from initial analysis it appears that most of the trees have detectable characteristics don’t need it formal reduction request”.
After three years, epilogue: The Civil Coalition, a minority list, reported that Environmental councilors admitted that “irregularities were detected” in forest felling but that sanctions could not be applied because “the trees are no longer there” “I dream of a city where those who make mistakes have to pay – attacked councilor De Lucia – even if they are large companies very close to the current and past governments. Just think about the paradox: every citizen of Reggio Emilia has to fill out a form to cut down trees with a diameter of more than 25 centimeters in his garden, while there are companies that destroy entire forests and don’t even get a fine.” Plants should be able to talk. They can say what many people cannot “see.”
