Planting a tree for every Italian citizen, in order to combat the climate crisis. This is the appeal launched in September 2019 by "Comunità Laudato Si’" , with the Bishop of Rieti and the support of two major figures in environmental issues such as Carlo Petrini and the botanist Stefano Mancuso. The project is called "60 milioni di alberi".

The first step was made in November 2019 in Palermo during the Sisef (Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology) congress. On that occasion, institutions, associations, companies and technicians, which joined the appeal, met to start a scientific, technical and operational path suitable to fight the climate crisis, not only with the correct tree plantation, but also with the sustainable management of trees that are already existing in the woods, in Italian urban and peri-urban areas. Among the public institutions participating in the initiative there is also CREA - Council for Agricultural Research and Agricultural Economics Analysis, which is also among the Veg-Gap projecT’s partners.

Last January, in Rome, the meeting between the first members to decide the associative form of the project and to establish together the guiding principles for those who want to plant trees.

There are already over 330 participants who answered the appeal, including important environmental associations such as Slow Food, WWF, Legambiente, LIPU, PEFC, FSC and a multitude of local companies and associations.

The next step is the event "AlberItalia" (here the program and how to participate), which will take place on Thursday 18 June. It will be a mixed meeting, in person (at the Romagna Acque property in Santo Sofia - FC) and telematic, in which all current members, but also those who want to join the project by offering their own contribution, are invited to participate.

"60 million trees to plant is no easy feat - the meeting organizers explain -. It takes time, organisation, perseverance and community of intent, to do it well and to take care of plants until they have overcome transplanting stress and herbs competition. Time has passed since September 2019, but we are many and with very different skills, possibilities, expectations. So we started to take the first steps, thinking that what we are undertaking may be one of the right directions to take. "