Adopt a tree and protect Manifattura Natura

Manifattura Natura is not a single woodland, but a widespread urban afforestation project spanning four different areas of Calderara di Reno. Winding rows of trees will be planted along Via Castagnini. The Bargellino skate park, which currently offers no shelter from the sun, will finally be shaded by tree canopies. Via Persicetana, flanked by industrial plants, will be protected by a belt of shrubs that will dampen noise. In the hamlet of Lippo, in a currently barren green area near the airport, two urban micro-forests will take shape.

Each project serves a specific purpose: to increase biodiversity, create ecological corridors and passageways for pollinators, capture carbon dioxide, reduce fine particulate matter and other pollutants, and mitigate the heat islands that make industrial and residential areas hotter in summer. The species are chosen from among native plants.

We will create two microforests in Lippo, following  the method developed by the Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, who, since the 1970s, has demonstrated how a forest ecosystem can be rapidly regenerated even on degraded land and in very small spaces. Between 15 and 30 species of trees and shrubs are planted very close together: the seedlings compete for light, grow rapidly and organise themselves into a multi-layered structure, creating within a few years a small, dense and stratified woodland capable of attracting biodiversity even on a patch of land just a few metres wide.

In total, across the four sites, around 2,700 new trees and shrubs will be planted over an area of just over one hectare. Planting will take place between autumn and winter, using one- to three-year-old saplings protected by cardboard shelters, biodegradable mulch and support stakes.