Foxes, dormice, hedgehogs, wild rabbits and hares, red and gray squirrels, and the rare dormouse, a small rodent with tawny fur. For birdwatchers, there are familiar sights such as kestrels, sparrowhawks, scops owls, owls, tawny owls, and woodpeckers, and the lake is home to pike. We could continue with a list of flowers for bees, native shrubs, and threatened orchids, a collection of species unexpected even for a country diary. The good news, however, is that this cosmopolitan biodiversity finds refuge in Italy's most densely populated city and its hinterland. The sightings, in fact, are those reported by the volunteer environmental rangers of the Parco Nord Milano , which covers the Lombardy capital and the municipalities of Sesto San Giovanni, Bresso, Cinisello Balsamo, Novate Milanese, Cormano, and Cusano Milanino. It's no coincidence that—at the close of the celebrations for its fiftieth anniversary—the park earned its first certification for sustainable management of urban greenery . This unprecedented recognition attests to the good environmental conduct of this metropolitan oasis, which has proven to be a laboratory of environmental practices at the service of nature and citizens. We discuss this with Riccardo Gini , director of the park, and Fabio Campana , head of the Environmental Service.
Director Riccardo Gini, Parco Nord Milano has received the first certification for sustainable management of urban greenery, PEFC. What does this achievement mean?
Being the first to embark on this certification process, which lasted over three years, meant helping to define clear criteria and indicators for the sustainable management of greenery, which from now on can serve as an example for other organizations. PEFC ( Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes ) is an international certification applied to forests and established in 57 countries. Our initial idea, therefore, was to certify the work done on our forests. Drawing on the management practices we have developed over the years, however, we realized that a new path could open up: certifying metropolitan parks. Thus, beyond the forests, a complex system was analyzed, including meadows, sports fields, playgrounds , and water systems. Working together with PEFC, explicit, verifiable, and replicable objectives were defined, and we obtained recognition from third-party bodies— CSQA and CSI—for the environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable management of 443 hectares of the Park's total surface area of nearly 950 hectares.
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Source: Elle Decor.it