INTERNATIONAL PETITION TO SAVE ITALIAN TREES IN URBAN AREAS (following Florence citizens’ protest against the felling of hundreds of trees)

WE ASK ALL ADMINISTRATORS, PRESENT OR FUTURE, OF ANY POLITICAL MEMBERSHIP, THAT: :

1) ANY URBAN PROJECT AND/OR ARCHITECTURE HAVING A BIG IMPACT ON THE URBAN TERRITORY MAY BE DECIDED FROM TIME TO TIME THROUGH ACTUAL CITIZEN INPUT AND CONSENSUS AND NO LONGER EXCLUSIVELY ON THE BASIS OF A ‘PRESUMED’ CONSENSUS OF THE ELECTORAL MANDATE .

2) THAT THE CONSERVATION OF PRE-EXISTING TREES IN URBAN AREAS MAY BECOME AN ABSOLUTE PRIORITY FOR URBAN PLANNERS AND URBAN DESIGN PROFESSIONALS WHO WILL BE BOUND TO FIND AND IMPLEMENT ALL POSSIBILE ALTERNATIVES.

3) TO STOP IMMEDIATELY THE WIDESPREADING POLICY THAT CONSIDERS TREES AS ‘NUMBERS’ AND ‘OBJECTS’( WE CUT 20 BECAUSE- WE PLANT 40 ELSEWHERE, WE GET RID OF 1 TREE TO REPLACE IT WITH 1 BENCH) AND THAT DOES NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT PEOPLE’S PROTESTS.

4) TO FIRMLY OPPOSE THE FELLING OF HEALTHY OLD TREES USING THE PRETEXT THAT ‘YOUNG TREES’ WOULD BE MORE BENEFICIAL TO HEALTH. APART THE SCIENTIFIC NON TRUTH OF THIS STATEMENT (YOUNG TREES DO WORK BETTER AGAINST CO2 BUT OLDER TREES ARE MORE EFFECTIVE IN REDUCING DUST, WE FIRMLY BELIEVE IT IS OUR DUTY TO LEAVE TO FUTURE GENERATIONS BOTH ADULT TREES. (SOMETIMES EVEN HISTORIC AND MONUMENTAL ONES, AS IS THE CASE IN FLORENCE, ITALY) AND YOUNG TREES IN NEW GREEN AREAS, PROVIDED THAT THE LATTER ARE NOT MERE SUBSTITUTES OF THE OLD.

5) THAT IN CASE OF TREE FELLING SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC WORKS THE CITIZENS MAY BE NOTIFIED ON LOCAL NEWSPAPERS (OBLIGATION ALREADY PRESENT IN MANY MUNICIPAL REGULATIONS, INCLUDING FLORENCE, ITALY) NOT LATER THAN ONE MONTH BEFORE THE INTERVENTION, ALONG WITH THE REFERENCES TO GET ACCESS TO THE AUTHORIZATIONS ISSUED BY THE COMPETENT AUTHORITIES, IN ORDER TO LEGALLY OPPOSE THE FELLING ACTS (FOR INSTANCE THROUGH THE CREATION OF A SPECIFIC ‘DOCKET’ OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE WORKS REQUIRING TREE FELLING) .

6) TO URGE LEGISLATORS TO IMPLEMENT FORMS OF CITIZENS’ VIGILANCE (TO BE AGREED IN A NEXT OPEN FORUM)ON TREE FELLING AND REPLANTING ACTIVITIES, ALSO ALLOWING THEM TO SEEK THE OPINION OF EXTERNAL, INDEPENDENT EXPERTS IN THE FIELD THAT MAY BE BINDING TO AVOID TREE FELLING.

7) THAT THE LAW 9 JANUARY 2006 N. 14 “RATIFICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EUROPEAN LANDSCAPE CONVENTION SIGNED IN FLORENCE ON OCT. 20TH 2000 MAY BE EFFECTIVE IN EVERY COUNTRY THAT HAS ADOPTED IT (THIS POINT IS ONLY FOR EUROPEAN CITIZENS AND MAY BE SKIPPED BY US READERS).

THE UNDERWRITTEN CITIZENS, THROUGH THIS OPEN LETTER-MANIFESTO WARN ALL POLITICIANS IRRESPECTIVE OF THEIR POLITICAL MEMBERSHIP OR CREED, THAT THEY WILL NO LONGER TOLERATE POLICIES THAT DO NOT RESPECT TREES THAT IN ADDITION TO BEING A PATRIMONY FOR PUBLIC HEALTH , ALSO REPRESENT A MAJOR SOURCE OF HAPPINESS FOR OUR EYES AND OUR MINDS, MEMORIES AND SILENT WITNESSES OF THE LIVES OF MANY GENERATIONS OF PEOPLE , HENCE CONSTITUTING AN ADDED VALUE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AS WELL AS PHYSICAL WELL BEING.

LASTLY, WE ASK ALL CANDIDATES TO JOIN US CITIZENS IN SIGNING THE PRESENT LETTER-MANIFESTO AND COMMIT THEMSELVES TO SAVING TREES IN OUR CITIES. CITIZENS WILL BE INFORMED OF YOUR PARTICIPATION AND COMMITMENT.