(by Denis Greenan).
The unchecked spread of cement is
gobbling up much of Italy's choicest greenery, farmers said
while urging the government to stem rampant construction
and help the struggling rural community on Earth Day Tuesday.
Over the past 20 years, misguided policies favouring the
construction sector and penalizing farmers have driven people
away from rural areas and caused Italy to lose 15% of its
countryside, the Coldiretti farmers' association said in its
Earth Day statement.
This means that farmed land has been reduced by 2.15
million hectares, with some 1.2 million farms shutting down.
Every day, 288 hectares of farmland are lost, exposing some
five million inhabitants to the risk of landslides and floods,
Coldiretti said.
To reverse this destructive trend, the government needs to
enact policies to protect and promote agricultural activity in
harmony with people whose consumption patterns prove that more
and more people support local farmers and local products,
according to Coldiretti.
One in three Italians shops at one of the 1,200 farmers'
markets that have sprung up in major Italian cities at least
once a year, and while food sales dropped by 4% last year due to
the recession, purchases at farmers' markets jumped by 67% in
2013 alone, Coldiretti said.
Earth Day is celebrated annually on April 22, with events
held in some 192 countries to demonstrate support for
environmental protection.
The theme this year is green cities.
Also Tuesday, Italy's premier enviornmental organisation
called on the government to make offences against the
environment a formal crime.
The government must include environmental crimes in the
Italian criminal code, the Legambiente environmentalist
association said in its Earth Day statement.
Every year, some 30,000 crimes against the environment are
committed in Italy, enriching their perpetrators by some 16
billion euros, said Legambiente.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
