Thanks to its geography and climate, Italy is the country with the highest concentration of biodiversity in Europe. It’s a unique natural heritage that houses particularly diverse and complex ecosystems where a large number of rare and endangered plant and animal species are sheltered.
On top of that, Italy boasts the highest agro-biodiversity in the world, with hundreds of products protected by the European quality brand.
This national heritage, precisely because of its extraordinary value, must be the subject of a particular and renewed protection, also because of the recent and important amendment of Articles 9 and 41 to the Italian Constitution, which place the protection of the environment, biodiversity and ecosystems– especially in the interests of future generations–among the founding values of its legal order.
A fundamental institutional mission that the Carabinieri carry out unceasingly, also through the CUFA, which has inherited the 200 years of history of the State Forestry Corps.
Today, the Carabinieri bear the responsibility of protecting the Italian environmental and agri-food biodiversity through their specialized Units distributed throughout the national territory.
A fundamental task achieved, in particular, thanks to the surveillance carried out over the agroforestal territory of the Country, the fight against crimes in the field of forest fires, environmental damage, pollution, illegal waste management, illegal trade in protected species of flora and fauna, animal abuse and the management of 150 natural reserves, areas as well as the surveillance of the Italian National Parks.
May is the month when the World Biodiversity Day is celebrated. On this occasion, the Carabinieri Corps wants to raise awareness to preserve the extraordinary wealth of Italian biodiversity and the indispensable need to preserve its integrity.
As part of environmental diplomacy initiatives aimed at promoting Italy’s commitment to the protection of the environment, the Carabinieri Command for Forestry, Environmental and Food Protection (CUFA), with the coordination of the Permanent Representation of Italy to the United Nations, in partnership with the Italian Air Force, Leonardo Spa and Telespazio Spa, is organizing an exhibition on the activities carried out by the Carabinieri, to be held in New York City from May 8-18, 2023 at the UN Headquarters, in preparation for World Biodiversity Day (22 May).
The exhibition, which will be inaugurated on May 8 at 6 PM by the CUFA Commander General Antonio Marzo, will recount the centuries-old commitment of the Carabinieri in the protection and conservation of Nature and will highlight in particular the institutional commitment to the protection and conservation of biodiversity. Through an ideal journey in the extraordinary Italian natural environment, it will also be possible to discover the most obscure secrets and appreciate the commitment and expertise put in place by the Carabinieri to defend the precious natural treasures of the country.
The idea behind the exhibition is to lead the visitor into an ideal forest.
With the help of cutting-edge audiovisual technologies and highly interactive and emotionally impactful computer media, it will be possible to discover the enormous richness of Italian biodiversity that explodes in its many forms and colors, where every sound, every tree, every living form is a fragment of the heritage we are tasked with preserving for future generations. A conceptual forest that encapsulates the character of all the facets and extraordinary places that must be watched over and preserved.
Particular attention will also be given to the involvement and participation of visitors for whom, thanks to special structures integrated in the installation, short thematic meetings with organized groups or particular stakeholders, can be organized. It is a forest of wonders, a dynamic museum that puts us in touch with the hidden corners of Italy and shows us how the Carabinieri unit is committed, through its dedicated articulations, distributed throughout the national territory, to preserve this priceless heritage.
Italian biodiversity explodes in its many forms and colors; every sound, every tree, every living form are fragments of the heritage that we must preserve. For such a noble mission, the exhibition designed has the unique purpose of strengthening our common awareness towards the need to spread knowledge, understanding and know-how in an effort to defend and preserve nature.
