The Venice lagoon is an area particularly sensitive to climate change. In Lio Piccolo, near the municipality of Cavallino Treporti, action is being taken to safeguard the environment the ancient tradition of fishing valleys in an area of 15 hectares.

As part of the long-term strategy MOLINO2030 MACINAZIONE CLIMATE POSITIVE, we are contributing to the project by growing together with WOWnature 100 new trees for Molino Pordenone's 100th anniversary. We chose this project because we share its philosophy; in fact, ancient fish valleys represent a way of producing food that is sustainable, animal-friendly and regenerative of the surrounding environment. Just as these trees will need time to grow, Molino Pordenone has set challenging 2030 and 2050 goals for zero environmental impact food production, because sustainability is a path, not a finish line.

The project aims to restore and protect the ecosystem and biodiversity typical of the fishing valleys of the Venetian lagoon. The intervention includes the planting of local species to replenish typical trees, preserving and consolidating the banks.

The trees counter erosion, preventing the destruction of the banks by tidal action. At the same time, they support the life of fish fauna, which includes bream, sea bass, boseghe, caustelli, verzelate and lotregani.

Consolidation of the banks preserves water depth, ensuring the establishment of overwintering habitats for fish. In addition, tree canopies slow cold air currents by reducing water cooling. In summer, on the other hand, they create shaded areas for fish by mitigating excessive heat.

The intervention area, which consists of two communicating habitats, one freshwater and one saltwater, also intends to provide shelter for other animal species that already frequent the lagoon: ducks, cormorants, herons, egrets, storks, ibis, flamingos, ospreys, marsh harriers, curlews and shelducks.

The Bosco Sacile project immediately attracted us because it not only protects an area of major environmental importance, but also represents a piece of history in our territory, where our mill has been operating for a century. It preserves the original appearance of the natural environment as it was known to the generations before us and brings us back in touch with our roots. This is why we have chosen both to invest in the ongoing conservation and improvement of the existing forest and to support the planting of new trees where required by the technical forestry project.

The term lowland forest, in Italy, refers to the type of environment that existed in the Po Valley in ancient times and that today survives in only limited areas that have escaped the deforestation and agricultural conversion carried out over the past centuries throughout the plains, hills and mountains, under the first Italian forestry law.

The typical landscape of the Po Valley, as we know it today, is the result of a thousand years of anthropisation – i.e. human intervention – that has radically changed the original character of the territory.

The soil conformation and climate typical of this area would be the ideal habitat for tree species such as oak, alder, willow, elm, hornbeam, maple, ash, white poplar and black poplar. Until the rise of the Roman Empire, deforestation was limited and vast portions of the territory were covered by forests such as Silva Lupanica, which was mentioned in ancient texts by Virgil and Pliny the Elder.

Deforestation and reclamation of the marshes began in the 1st century BC. From the fall of the Roman Empire until the end of the 10th century, as a consequence of the drop in population and social upheaval, cultivation declined and the forest recovered. From the 11th century onwards, people began once again to fell the forests for timber and to create more arable land. With the construction of artificial canals and land reclamation works, the agricultural landscape of the Po Valley changed, taking on the appearance we can all see today. The spread of allochthonous species, such as acacia, have contributed to altering the original habitat.

Bosco Sacile covers an area of 70 hectares, the size of 116 football pitches, and it is of vital importance to the Friuli region: it is an area of utmost environmental importance recognised at European level and catalogued as a Special Protection Area and Natura 2000 Area.

Over the years, the ancient forest has been damaged by illegal felling, irresponsible forest management and extreme weather events, such as the 2017 storm in Friuli that recorded winds of up to 120 km/h. In 2018, the forest was in very poor condition and had not been accessible to the public for years.

Alessandro Arnosti, founder of the Natura7 Agricultural Society and a great forest enthusiast, fell in love with this beautiful forest and decided to take care of it. He later succeeded in purchasing it from its previous owners and, together with WOWnature^®, embarked on a process of restoring the area with the aim of restoring the health of the forest and re-establishing its recreational and educational function.

Along the Oglio river basin, the state of reforestations and bodies of water is threatened by the proliferation of weeds and other invasive species, which compete with native plants, thus reducing biodiversity.

Parco Oglio Sud is certified according to FSC international standards that ensure it is properly managed in compliance with the environment and the community.

The territory of Parco Oglio Sud is almost entirely dedicated to intensive agriculture and the remaining patches of nature are highly fragmented and isolated from one other. This means that small habitats where local biodiversity lives is under such pressure that it often fails to survive, resulting in further loss, for example due to the aggressiveness of allochthonous species that steal space from native plants and ecosystems.

Over the past 20 years, the Park has carried out many interventions with the single aim of expanding and improving these habitats with a view to defragmenting them and implementing an ecological network that allows biological communities to remain in contact and thus better withstand environmental disturbances.

This project is another major part of the long-term MOLINO 2030 MACINAZIONE CLIMATE POSITIVE strategy. We are contributing in several ways to pursue a number of objectives:

• improve existing forests, in particular by combating the presence of invasive allochthonous species that tend to steal space from native plants;
• expand existing forests and green systems to enhance ecological connectivity;
• improve the ecology of a river oxbow with the aim of restoring and conserving the wetland habitat that is essential for the survival of certain amphibian species such as the Lataste Frog.

The Parco Oglio Sud project is co-funded by the "Biodiversità e Clima" (BioClima) call for tenders set up by the Lombardy Region and supported by Fondazione Cariplo.

The Bioclima initiative, created within the framework of the LIFE GESTIRE 2020 project, aims to create public-private financing models to boost investment in biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation projects in Lombardy’s forests and protected areas.