In a country suffering from the combined effects of famine, drought, desertification, and instability, women play a vital role in agriculture and food security. This is why we have chosen to support a women-led social reforestation project in the Garango (Boulgou) area, in collaboration with WOWnature.

Together with the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and the Padua-based NGO AES-CCC, the project fosters the growth of native, resilient species – Baobab, Shea, Moringa, and Néré – which combat erosion and desertification, improve soil fertility, and generate resources for the community. The women of the Union des Femmes de Garango are trained to care for the trees and to transform their fruits into oils and butters for food and cosmetic use; the initiative also includes the creation of a tree nursery and a center for the collection and processing of nontimber products.

The Wellbeing Forest, located in the remote province of Ha Tinh, with over 20 thousand hectares, is one of the most important remaining intact natural forest areas in all of Vietnam.
Vietnam has lost large portions of forest in recent decades, mainly due to anthropogenic causes: agricultural land expansion, unsustainable logging, and settlement and infrastructure development. This is an issue of utmost urgency because the loss of forests equals the loss of the many benefits they generate, including CO₂ capture, biodiversity protection, improved water resources, and employment opportunities for local communities.
Some of the dramatic consequences of this include decreased freshwater availability, increased flooding and landslides, and the loss of the world's last intact forest landscape.

The area, which is FSC^® certified, is managed by the Huong Son State Forest Company, a state-owned enterprise established to ensure the conservation of forest land through two macro-projects: on the one hand, the planting of new trees and native plants for sustainable production and market development of wild forest products to support current and future communities; and on the other hand, the monitoring and prevention of illegal logging and poaching activities.
This is the first forest regeneration project in Vietnam.

In 2024, Molino Pordenone decided to support the Wellbeing Forest certified according to the FSC^® standards of good forest management after a period of neglect lasted about 40 years, by implementing a project aimed at restoring the forest's carbon stock through cleaning, thinning and planting the area with new trees. This contribution could potentially have an impact not only on the environment but also on local communities. Supporting a forest in a country like Vietnam has a special value, because reforestation is not only about protecting biodiversity and combating global climate change, but also makes a concrete contribution to the social and economic development of local populations, improving people's living conditions.

The Torbiere del Sebino Nature Reserve is considered a priority area for biodiversity in the Lombardy Po Valley, so much so that it has been declared a “wetland of international importance” according to the Ramsar Convention, a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a Special Protection Area (SPA) within the Natura 2000 Network. In fact, the reserve contains a wide variety of habitats and species, rare or at risk of extinction in Lombardy and Italy: interventions aim to conserve this natural jewel.

Located on the southern shore of Lake Iseo, the Torbiere del Sebino Nature Reserve is a collection of reed beds and bodies of water surrounded by cultivated fields with the occasional presence of houses and buildings.
This fascinating place has a very long and special history. Following the formation of Lake Iseo at the end of the last geological era and the gradual retreat of the waters, a marshy depression remained in the area south of Sebino, which today takes the name of Torbiere. Over the millennia, abundant vegetation allowed the formation of a thick layer of peat, which gradually replaced the water, transforming the area into an expanse of wet meadows used to harvest grasses used to stuff chairs.

Molino Pordenone contributes to forestation and forest improvements necessary to ensure the optimal development of the forests in the reserve, as well as the improvement of wintering and breeding sites for aquatic avifauna, amphibians and reptiles. Wetland rehabilitation also aims to restore flooded marsh habitat and rejuvenate vegetation.
In addition to being a great opportunity to take part in improving the environment, supporting this project provides us with the opportunity to publicize the BioClima initiative, a virtuous and innovative model of public-private collaboration that can potentially be replicated in other Italian regions.
In fact, this project is co-funded by the Lombardy Region's Biodiversity and Climate Call (BioClima) and supported by Fondazione Cariplo. Bioclima is an initiative created within the framework of the Lombardy Plan and the LIFE GESTIRE 2020 project that aims to create public-private financing models to catalyze investment in biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation projects in Lombardy's forests and protected areas.

The Biodiversity and Climate (BioClima) initiative represents a true innovation in the world of responsible forest management. In fact, all projects benefit from public co-funding from the Lombardy Region and offer an opportunity for companies to put forward a new and positive message to employees, customers, suppliers and the entire community in which they operate.

BioClima Sustainability Strategies:

• CO2 capture.

Creating new forests and improving existing ones, wherever they are located (lowland, hillside or mountain), also in line with European targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030.

• Biodiversity defense

Expand the area of habitats useful for biodiversity conservation and create new green infrastructure for ecological connectivity, in line with the European Biodiversity Strategy 2030.

• Habitat resilience

Increase the delivery of ecosystem services and their economic valuation by making habitats and human communities more resilient.

• Verified positive impacts.

All intervention areas are FSC® certified and generate verified positive impacts that can be used in sustainability and CSR strategies thus demonstrating their contribution to the SDGs.

Storm Vaia, which hit northeastern Italy in 2018, was an unprecedented extreme event: in a few hours, winds of up to 200 kilometers per hour felled forests the size of 60,000 soccer fields. Emotionally and culturally important forests: beloved by many because they are summer and winter vacation spots, with locations such as Pampeago, Alpe Cermis, and Cavalese being the forests where Stradivari sourced the resonance wood for his violins.

Storm Vaia is such an extreme climatic event that it is recognized as a watershed in the national forestry sector, creating a "before Vaia" and an "after Vaia." Falling with unprecedented force on Italy's northeast, it caused human losses and inflicted wounds whose scars are still visible today and will be for many decades to come in mountainous territories that are part of the culture of our land. For this reason, Molino Pordenone has chosen once again, after the intervention on the Enego plateau, to make its contribution in Val di Fiemme, another area hit by the same storm.

The project involves reforestation, landscape restoration, improved forest management, and indirect support to damaged local communities and is managed by the Magnifica Comunità di Fiemme, a very old entity that works in the interest of the valley's inhabitants. The project is a landmark in forestry as it involves the first area in the Alps to be certified according to FSC international standards, which ensure its proper management in respect of the environment and the community.

In the aftermath of Storm Vaia, the first action taken by local managers was the clearing and sale of crashed timber, often an economic pillar for local communities. Then, thanks to WOWnature, reforestation and restoration initiatives were activated in the cleared areas, functional to increase biodiversity and thus forest resilience through the use of more native species suited to the local context.

Not only that: fundamental measures are being put in place to contain the bark beetle, an insect endemic to the area that, as a result of the storm and the large amounts of groundwood, has become epidemic, leading affected trees to death by desiccation within weeks. Management of this issue is undoubtedly critical: approaches are defined by context and may involve either clearing dead trees or maintaining them to encourage the development of insects antagonistic to the bark beetle and to protect trees that are still alive. Currently, monitoring of the epidemic, management of infestation outbreaks, and restoration of damaged ecosystems are the activities being carried out to support the forest to come. 

Unfortunately, we are aware that the future will bring us more and more extreme weather events, which is why we consider it essential to work to ensure that the forest heritage is protected and secured for future generations as well.

Storm Vaia was an extreme weather event that affected large areas of Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Trentino Alto Adige, and Lombardy in the last days of October 2018. Extremely heavy and persistent rainfall, combined with winds that blew for hours at speeds in excess of 100 km per hour, with peaks of up to 200 km per hour, caused, flooding, intense thunderstorms, landslides, and disruptions that in turn resulted in loss of life and very heavy damage to infrastructure and especially to forestry. More than 8 million cubic meters of trees were crashed, covering an area of more than 40,000 hectares, larger than that of Lake Garda. The trees felled by the storm, which in panoramic photos appear as many sticks scattered on the ground, have become the symbol of this event. The storm caused enormous damage not only from an economic point of view, but also from a landscape and emotional point of view, because it affected forests that are part of a cultural heritage of inestimable value and incredible beauty, strongly interconnected with the territory and the people who have always cared for it.

Unfortunately, the immediate damage caused by the wind and rain was not the only one. As predicted by experts, because it was found following similar storms in other European countries, an epidemic caused by the typographical bark beetle, a small insect of the order of beetles typical of forests with spruce trees that carries out its reproductive cycle under the bark of spruce trees, where the adult insect first and the larvae then dig characteristic holes and then leave the tree, leaving characteristic marks, spread in the following years. This activity of the insect leads the tree to death by desiccation within a few weeks. Under normal conditions, the bark beetle plays an important ecological role, striking a balance with the environment. Its task is to attack adult plants that are weak or have reached the end of their life cycle, thereby freeing up space and resources for new plants to emerge in their place, thus promoting the process of forest regeneration.

However, following Storm Vaia, the bark beetle found an abundant banquet represented by the millions of felled or damaged spruce trees on which to proliferate. The balance with the environment was thus broken, and the insect multiplied exponentially, causing damage in some areas even more than 200 percent greater than that caused by Storm Vaia. Put another way, for every tree crashed by Storm Vaia two trees were attacked by the bark beetle. In fact, the vast brown areas that can be seen on the slopes of our mountains consist for the most part not of trees that are losing their needles in anticipation of autumn, but specimens of spruce trees that have dried up and died standing due to the bark beetle.

Enego is a municipality on the Asiago Plateau whose forests were severely damaged by storm Vaia in October 2018. A few months after the disaster, WOWnature initiated a series of interventions to restore the crashed trees and secure the area. Work has been underway for years to reforest the area in order to help restore forest cover, with a focus on improving biodiversity and adapting to the climate crisis.

As part of the long-term strategy MOLINO2030 MACINAZIONE CLIMATE POSITIVE, Molino Pordenone in the year of its 100th anniversary contributes to the project by growing 100 new trees together with WOWnature. We chose this project because we share its values and goals: to create resilient ecosystems we support the reforestation of Enego on a concrete long-term path aiming at adaptation to the current climate crisis.

The project aims to reforest the area and restore the mountain ecosystem. In the immediate postwar period, mainly spruce was planted in the area because of its high economic value, at the expense of other trees and thus biodiversity.

In 2018, storm Vaia felled most of the trees in the Dolomites, and immediately WOWnature worked to reforest with different species, mimicking the natural process of forest regeneration. The intervention includes planting native species such as white spruce, fir, beech and larch to consolidate mountain slopes and increase biodiversity.

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.