VIDEO | Mountains and climate emergency:The 101st CAI congress kicks off in Rome

The president of Cai-Club Alpino Italiano, Montani:"The mountains must be protected, we are in the field with 160 years of history"

ROME – The mountain as a natural dimension of Italy, the backbone and crown of the country.A place of beauty and a treasure chest of biodiversity, a unique heritage of our country.But the mountain also as a natural and social subject in the face of the climate emergency ongoing and its consequences and the social phenomena of depopulation.For these, and other reasons, "the topic we are dealing with is extremely topical and urgent, and we are dealing with it with the attention of a large association that has 160 years of history and which must ask itself how to intervene to reverse the trend of degradation of the environment". Antonio Montani, president of Cai-Club Alpino Italiano, explains it in an interview with Dire.The occasion is the 101st CAI national congress which will be held tomorrow (Saturday 25 November) and Sunday (26 November) at the Teatro Italia in Rome (via Bari 18).“Natural capital is one of the three pillars of sustainability, with the others being social and economic activities - explains Montani - therefore we wanted to distinguish between natural capital, attendance, which is our social object, attendance also for fun but with attention , and finally the policies for the mountains".

And on this last point, that of mountain policies, “we chose Rome as the venue for the congress to also speak to the institutions”. Institutions involved starting from Daniela Santanché, Minister of Tourism, and Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, who will bring their contribution, as well as other exponents of national politics.“Looking at what we can do, we can be an example to politics and have the moral strength to ask politics to make important interventions”, continues Antonio Montani, president of the Cai-Club Alpino Italiano.For example, “we can invite a correct approach to the mountains, it is necessary to change the paradigm, the methods. For example, let's think about being able to get to the mountains with public and not private transport, having particular attention to the economy and the populations who live in the mountains", says Montani.In fact, he underlines, "we must never forget that the Italian mountain is an anthropized mountain that requires the presence of man to be able to maintain itself" in good condition.

The thought inevitably turns to resources, is this the weak point of policies for mountain areas?“I believe that in particular, moral rather than economic resources are needed, and having the courage to make choices that may not have been entirely popular at first but which then in the medium term become so in reality", states Montani.As regards politics and its contribution, "in recent years we have had great recognition of the great work that our volunteers do, what we expect is support for the mountains and the possibility of preserving those resources that the mountain has and which with climate change risk being plundered."