Figure 1. Trend of net annual land take at regional level from 2006 to 2021. Source: ISPRA elaboration on SNPA cartography.
The intrusive “cement party” (page 13) in Italy – and beyond – knows neither region nor political orientation, and has been moving across the entire peninsula for decades: it therefore seems that what unites the Italian regions is the land (ab)use (fig. 1). As pointed out by Settis, land consumption data is complex and, despite the reports, tables and diagrams, it is not always easy to get an adequate idea of the situation and how it has evolved over time. This creates difficulties for those trying to navigate the information – causing a reduction in interest in the issue.
In 2021, according to the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), the region with the greatest land consumption was Lombardy with 12.12% of the territory, and the one with the lowest consumption was Valle d’Aosta with 2.15% (fig. 2).
Furthermore, from the 2022 report on land consumption, territorial dynamics and ecosystem services of the National System for the Protection of the Environment (SNPA), it can be seen that the Po Valley and the Naples surroundings are the areas where, from 2006 to 2021, there was a greater consumption of land (fig. 3).
Settis poses some reflections that can help us evaluate the Italian situation in a profound way: how come what was once the “garden of Europe” is being ruined in this way? Is what happens a passing cultural involution or a profound mutation?
Figure 2. Location of the main changes due to land take between 2006 and 2021. Source: ISPRA elaboration on SNPA cartography.
Figure 3. Location of the main changes due to land take between 2006 and 2021. Source: ISPRA elaboration on SNPA cartography.
The soil
The term “soil” indicates the set of gaseous (air and gasses enclosed inside), liquid (water or other liquids) and solid (organic and inorganic) components that are found in the outermost part of the Earth’s crust. Its formation, called pedogenesis, can require variable times, but estimates say that 1 cm of (fertile) soil takes from one hundred to one thousand years to form.
The soil has various functions: it is the home of vegetable biomass (the basis of every food chain), it is a reserve of biodiversity, it guarantees the quality of surface and deep waters, it regulates CO2 in the atmosphere (it is the second carbon sink after oceans) and stabilizes the ground in the event of landslides, floods and heavy rains. The alteration of the soil by human actions, albeit small, endangers these and others of its ecological functions.
The European Environment Agency (EEA) underlines that it is no longer possible to ignore the state of the soil in order to face climate change: desertification, erosion, hydrogeological instability, lower soil moisture, decrease in marshes, decrease in green areas in the city are all factors that influence the health of the soil and make it more complex to carry out actions to improve the territory to deal with the effects of the environmental crisis.
Hydrogeological instability: the risks and possible solutions is also a problem in Italy
Notwithstanding the above, safeguarding the state of the soil and its monitoring become necessary actions. Due to its history and morphology, Italy is a country characterized by a high risk of hydrogeological instability, i.e. the phenomenon whereby the soil degrades and becomes unstable due to human and non-human actions: again according to the ISPRA, about 94% of Italian municipalities are at risk and 18.4% of the national territory is located in areas with the greatest danger due to landslides and floods.
For this reason, the initiatives and technologies that allow for better awareness, management and monitoring of risk areas become a precious resource (we also talked about it in the article regarding the Billion Trees Projects movement).
The RESMYLE project, involving projects in France, Jordan, Italy, Lebanon and Tunisia, aims to improve the conditions of 25 communities in the Mediterranean area. One of these is located in Liguria, and through the S.T.R.O.N.G. workshop (2021) some young participants were made aware of the problem hydrogeological instability and learned techniques to counter it.
Bio Soil Expert, on the other hand, is a startup born in Trentino Alto-Adige that aims at researching innovative and sustainable systems for naturalistic and hydraulic engineering, the environment and sustainable agriculture.
Among the various biotechnologies applied to the environment, the start-up has developed an erosion control system through the use of perennial herbaceous plants (called Chiodi Vegetali®, fig. 4) capable of developing thick and deep root systems in association with the microorganisms already present in the soil.
This allows the roots to create a sort of “skeleton” which makes the soil more stable and therefore reduces the risk of erosion. At the same time, plants are also able to absorb CO2 (about 3 kg per plant) and thus reduce the carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere.
Presented at the Milan EXPO in 2015 this technology, which involves the use of herbaceous plants instead of chemical additives or engineering systems, becomes an example of an environmentally friendly technique with the area in which it is used, creating a “green concrete” which does not it only stabilizes the land but also serves as a source of greenery for the surrounding areas.
Figure 4. Source: Bio Soil Expert
Understanding the past to improve the future
Even in Italy there is a need to reflect, educate and act on soil conditions and how these affect city life, in particular due to the morphology of the peninsula – which includes the risks of earthquakes, eruptions, hydrogeological instability, erosion of beaches and much more.
Innovations – such as those proposed by Bio Soil Expert – make it possible to limit the damage and improve the conditions of the territory, but they remain insufficient if not accompanied by a change also at the bottom – by a change in the policies and actions of individual people.
The book by Salvatore Settis, in which the protagonist is the landscape, thus becomes a novel to understand how the tormented relationship between Italy and the environment has evolved, characterized by a history of short-sighted policies, building abuse, past glories and lack of a general care of the territory.
How Italy got to the condition it is in now is a crucial point for implementing adequate policies, raising awareness among the population and developing technologies capable of mitigating past mistakes.
But as can be seen from the book, the relationship between population and territory has a strong cultural component that must be taken into consideration for greater sustainability and to avoid forgetting that, after all, we are also the territory.
Graduated in Environmental Humanities (Unive) and Natural Sciences (Unipd). Passionate about ethology, she works as an environmental educator and joined Atmosphera Lab as Social Media and writer in 2022.
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