According to research, greening in European cities could save 43,000 lives every year

According to the WWF report “People, cities and nature.Renewing the urban environment and improving our health", released in September this year, protecting and increasing greenery in cities is of fundamental importance if we want to preserve people's well-being and life.In fact, some studies show how increasing overall greenery could avoid up to almost 43,000 deaths per year in European cities alone, as well as bringing environmental, psychological, social and economic benefits.The Relationship of the WWF, which is based on numerous scientific studies, starts from the assumption that «the current model of urban expansion is no longer sustainable» and that the cities are the focal point on which action must be taken urgently to try to combat climate change.This is because in About 55% of the world's population lives in urban centers (75% in Europe) and is produced over 70% of carbon emissions and more than 50% of waste, are consumed between 60% and 80% of the energy and the 75% of global natural resources.

Urban agglomerations, especially the larger ones, therefore, are real ecocidal monsters that they would need suitable environmental policies to counteract and balance the enormous damage they cause to nature and human health, especially in forecast of the increase in the world population and the fact that 70-80% of them will live in cities in 2050.

Along with population growth, pollution and pollution will also increase consumption of natural resources, which has tripled from 1970 to today and which will triple again in the next twenty years.This means it will also increase further the ecological footprint, or the quantity of nature necessary to support the needs of the population and the current model of economic development, which will cause a real devastation environmental if radical decisions are not made in this regard as soon as possible.

Furthermore, in cities, due to the lack of greenery and the presence of cement, asphalt, metal and other construction materials, the average temperature can be up to 15°C higher compared to surrounding natural areas, causing the “urban heat island” which causes in summer more than 2000 deaths in European cities.Italy is the most vulnerable country in Europe and with the most deaths due to this phenomenon.

According to the WWF, "cities are the places of greatest concentration of the risks generated by our impacts and prove increasingly weak and vulnerable in the face of natural events that are intensifying in frequency and size".For this reason it is wrong to continue to implement policies of selling off and overbuilding public green areas, as happens too often in the Bel Paese.In fact, Italy is one of the countries with the higher rate of concreting, Where the more the cement of the population grows:in 2019, 420 thousand children were born and the "sealed" soil advanced by 57 million m², at a rate of 2 m² per second.It's as if every new baby born in Italy received 135 m² of concrete as a gift.

Although Italy is therefore considered one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, 19 hectares of land are torn away from nature every day, the equivalent of 26.5 football pitches.

According to the WWF it is It is essential to defend nature and green spaces, which must not be considered by politicians as decorum or empty urban to be filled and made profitable with private constructions, but as a real "infrastructure” strategic For healthy communities and territories and resilient.

Many studies, in fact, demonstrate how greener cities lead to an increase in biodiversity, creating real urban natural oases that can host various animal and plant species.

Greener and more biodiversity, that means less pollution.Nature, in fact, contributes to clean and depollute the air of cities removing until 20% of the polluting particulates emitted by traffic, construction and industries, which causes millions of deaths worldwide every year.Furthermore, Italy is the first country in Europe for deaths attributable to air pollution with smog causing up to 90,000 premature deaths per year.

Increasing greenery in cities also means fight global warming and the “urban heat island” effect through what is called comfort thermal of trees, what can he do lower temperatures by up to 8°.

More nature leads to a lower risk of flooding and floods.The concreting and consequent waterproofing of the soil, and therefore the loss of vegetal cover, in fact, reduces the soil's ability to retain water and channel it in the correct way:excess water cannot penetrate the ground and only flows superficially, thus increasing the risk of flooding and flooding.In Italy, for example, between 2010 and 2021, over 70% of flooding from intense rain (352 cases out of 486) and river floods (94 out of 134) occurred in urban areas.

According to other studies reported by WWF, nature in the city reduces noise attenuating the acoustic waves with the foliage, provides psycho-physical well-being resulting in a 50% lower risk of developing mental disorders such as depression and anxiety, stimulates creativity And fights alienation.

In conclusion, according to the report, «the increase in greenery overall could avoid up to almost 43,000 deaths per year in European cities".There are therefore more public green spaces and they are more accessible necessary to ensure greater life and health to the population.

For all these reasons it is important to fight to defend nature, because this has a fundamental role in the balance and well-being of the entire Earth and all the life forms that inhabit it, including man.

To guarantee the presence and access to greenery, a simple scheme has been formulated that should be respected, that of 3-30-300, which means: 3 trees between each house, at least the 30% tree cover in each neighborhood, and maximum distance of 300 meters from each house to a park or green space.

It is therefore urgent to give space back to nature, in its various forms, to make cities more liveable and to combat climate change.Giving space back to nature ultimately means protecting the environment and the people who live in it, creating conditions of safety and public health and therefore also, precisely for this reason, generating economic, cultural and social progress.

[by Gioele Falsini]