Concrete rain on Bologna’s historic rice field. #CleanSpades

July 1, 2021

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A ‘concrete bomb’ could hit the last historic rice field in the Bologna area. The threat comes from plans to build a giant logistics hub.

Citizens and environmentalists are protesting, including through a petition, to avert disaster. Instead, the self-styled champions of farmers-Coldiretti in primis- applaud the initiative, alongside the stewards of public affairs. #CleanSpades.

Table of Contents

Malalbergo, the ancient rice field of the Bologna area

An agricultural area of great natural value is home to the last rice field in the Bologna area, in Malalbergo, which dates back to the first half of the last century. From the days when levees were dug by hand to the present, the last rice harvest was in October 2020.

The area-subject to landscape constraints as a wetland-is recognized as a complex ecological node under the so-called Habitats Directive. And it is therefore protected, as a bastion of biodiversity, under the Natura 2000 Network. (1)

Malalbergo – Altedo, the ‘strategic’ location.

However, the environmental strategy is likely to give way to the economic strategy because of the location of the paddy field. Which is located at the edge of the Altedo toll booth, a hamlet of Malalbergo, on the A13 highway. And so it is that the prospect of an immense concrete pour on 73 hectares of agricultural land stimulates private real estate interests.

The Metropolitan City of Bologna and Municipality of Malalbergo, in turn, covet the generous revenues that may accrue to local governments from the giant ecocide. And they try to beguile citizens with the promise of the golden pill, 1,500 hypothetical new jobs.

All to serve road transport

No connection exists, nor has it been planned, with the rail infrastructure. Thus, the new logistics hub will stimulate road transportation, highway traffic congestion, and air pollution. And the natural expanse in front of the houses in the hamlet of Pegola in Malalbergo will be bombarded with concrete.

The concrete bomb of 516 thousand square meters (about 34 times Piazza del Duomo in Milan) on 73 hectares of wetland such as the historic rice field involves a radical disruption of the ecosystem. With dramatic consequences on microclimate and hydrogeological balances, as well as the extermination of flora and fauna. Can anyone believe that building a bike path and planting trees around the endless expanse of concrete will in any way ‘compensate’ for the environmental damage?

Cement bomb and water bombs

‘One hectare of undeveloped, i.e., unbuilt, soil comes to retain water from 10 to 25 percent of its volume (…). Cementing reduces the mitigation response that the soil possesses and you are less able to respond to climate events (= you lose resilience).

The so-called water bombs therefore have precursors on the ground that we might call, using the same language, ‘concrete bombs.’ Where the soil is “free,” in most cases it continues to be capable of storing the rainwater that comes in at a stroke and returns it slowly, rendering the effects’ harmless.

Renovating instead of building

‘This service, which is critical for balance in the ecosystem, has been carried out naturally for millions of years. If we look at it with the parameters of the 21st century, this drainage has prevented flooding, saved lives, homes, businesses, and saved money.

This, too, is one of the valid reasons for directing the next urban planning only and exclusively to deal with what already exists i.e., the soil that is already compromised and therefore already sealed (brownfield sites, unused or underused volumes, etc.)’. (2)

The theory is known but the practice eludes. Even in areas where floods have already caused enormous damage, as has happened just a few kilometers away-in the Lower Bolognese region-twice in 2019 alone.

SIS SpA, Bonifiche Ferraresi, CAI SpA aka Federconsorzi 2

‘The affected area is private property and the property must do business’ (Mauro Tonello, Italian Sementì Company, SIS SpA. See notes 3,4). In fact, the land belongs to Società Italiana Sementì, SIS SpA. And the right to ‘do business’ claimed by its president Mauro Tonello – former president of Coldiretti Emilia-Romagna and v.president of national Coldiretti – is to sell Italian farmland to the French holding company APRC, of Lyon.

Combination, the consolidated balance sheet of B.F. (Bonifiche Ferraresi) SpA finds refreshment precisely because of the assets of its subsidiary SIS S.p.A. Federico Vecchioni, by the way, is CEO of both. And the sale of Malalbergo’s ancient rice paddies may allow B.F. SpA to compensate for operations that are not as successful, such as the fateful CAI (Consorzi Agrari d’Italia) SpA, aka Federconsorzi 2. Once again at the expense of others, in this case the community that stands to lose an agricultural area of great natural value.

Coldiretti, CIA and the concrete rice festival.

The Coldiretti magic circle, ça va sans dir, celebrates the concrete rice festival. Thus Valentina Borghi-president of Coldiretti Bologna and vice-president of Coldiretti Emilia-Romagna, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of Consorzio Agrario Emilia, which has joined the CAI SpA and CAI Real Estate Srl operations-decries ecocide as necessary, with good grace for biodiversity.

‘From an agricultural point of view, biodiversity is depleted; it is counted on that the environmental impact of the project will be calculated despite land consumption, based on the New Green Deal guidance. Italy in Europe is the nation with the lowest environmental impact precisely because of its sensitivity to the environment; and atmospheric emissions will be completely zeroed out’. (4)

The CIA (Italian Farmers Confederation) itself, unpredictably, decides to participate in the cement festival. Thus his Marco Bergami, president in Bologna, goes so far as to say that ‘as CIA farmers have espoused the cause of zero land consumption but are also aware that the world is moving on and changing.’ (4) Will it be true?

Rhine drainage consortium, conflicts of interest and flood risk

The Rhine Drainage Consortium, combination, is chaired by the same Valentina Borghi who chairs Coldiretti Bologna. That is to say, Coldiretti has direct control over the body that oversees the management of drainage canals and may be called upon to give the ‘hydraulic opinion’ on the impact of the concrete bomb on the paddy field. (5) Yet another Palazzo Rospigliosi school conflict of interest.

‘The water drainage system was completed in the 1930s, when the land was not yet so heavily urbanized. In fact, concrete, on the one hand, takes away space for water to be absorbed by the fields, and on the other, increases its velocity, especially in a context where rising temperatures make the melting of the Apennine snows faster. The consequence is that the basins of rivers and streams become saturated faster, and the flow rate of the canals connected to them is no longer sufficient to accommodate large water masses. Therefore, the real risk is that of floods’ (Alessandra Furlani, Rhine Drainage Consortium. See footnote 6)

No to concrete on ancient rice fields, petition

Our children need nature and soil, to be recovered throughagroecology. Certainly not of endless expanses of concrete, much less serving trucking.

The petition aimed at safeguarding Malalbergo’s historic rice field-which Great Italian Food Trade supports and promotes-can be signed here. Institutions must abandon the ecocide project.

SpadesClean, for real.

Marta Strinati and Dario Dongo

The cover is from Fujiko City Radio

Notes

(1) SEE https://ambiente.regione.emilia-romagna.it/it/parchi-natura2000/rete-natura-2000/siti/it4050024

(2) Ispra (2016). Land use, spatial dynamics and ecosystem services. See paragraph 47, at https://www.isprambiente.gov.it/files/pubblicazioni/rapporti/Rapporto_consumo_suolo_20162.pdf

(3) See minute TG 10 https://www.rainews.it/tgr/emiliaromagna/notiziari/index.html?/tgr/video/2021/01/ContentItem-4786e7b7-003b-42e4-9b94-03f1fe9cac0b.html

(4) Metropolitan City of Bologna. Public Hearing 17.2.21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsCxQzWYGsE

(5) See Rhine Drainage Consortium website: The hydraulic opinion is a certificate of conformity or nonconformity with respect to what is established by the PSAI of the Rhine Basin Authority (Art. 20) or R.L. 4 of 2007 (Art. 4). This certificate should be required if works affecting the hydraulic regime of reclamation canals are to be carried out, in relation to what is stipulated in the above-mentioned reference regulations. Hydraulic opinion should be sought in the case where: 1) Need specific information in relation to a future concession (sizing of bridges or culverts, direct discharge/in-channel reclamation of stormwater from green areas of future development or sealing); 2) Indirect discharges (to sewers or private ditches) of stormwater or wastewater, arising from existing buildings or on newly developed areas (in fulfillment of the above regulations) are to be made.

https://www.bonificarenana.it//servizi/faq/faq_fase02.aspx?ID=124

(6) Radio City Fujiko, report on Altedo rice field threatened cement dial. V. https://www.radiocittafujiko.it/cemento-sullultima-risaia-il-polo-logistico-di-altedo/

Marta Strinati

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Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".