Pnrr, seeds instead of plants for reforestation? The OK from the Court of Auditors and the EU Commission – Corriere.it arrives

Green light to seeds in the nursery as part of the Pnrr’s urban and extra-urban forestation objective. This was communicated by the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, specifying that the go-ahead to the measures implemented so far for the project has come both from the Court of Auditors (which on 16 March presented a resolution highlighting some critical issues, we talked about here) and by the European Commission, which gave a positive outcome to the verification activities.

The ok of the Court of Auditors

On May 9, the Court of Auditors released a resolution definitively closing its control initiative, which was taking place in parallel with the activities related to the project, and therefore taking note of the work carried out so far by Mase. In the role of accounting judiciary, the Court requests the ministry to continue and accelerate theproactive exercise of its supervisory and control functions towards the implementing parties beneficiaries of Pnrr resources for the protection and enhancement of urban and extra-urban green areas in the “Reforestation and protection of green areas” intervention. Furthermore, the provision also calls for the implementation of continuous monitoring of the relative progress so as to prevent any delays or critical issues such as to compromise the achievement of the final target.

The positive outcome of the European Commission

The European Commission has also expressed its positive opinion following its verification activity, carried out with the “sampling” technique, i.e. random sampling. This was followed by the confirmation of the report on the payment request for December 2022. The Pnrr envisaged the planting of one million and 650 thousand tree and shrub species as an important milestone for last year to promote the country’s ecological transition. The ministry surpassed the figure, with more than two million units, between plants and seeds, destined for eleven metropolitan cities that have joined the project. However, some, such as Milan and Florence, were unable to participate due to the difficulties in finding adequate green spaces that comply with the parameters established by the ministry’s announcement (we told about it here). As regards the next years, therefore 2023 and 2024, for which the new tenders have just been published, the terms have been revised based on the needs and possibilities of the metropolitan cities, also following the advice of Anci (National Association of Italian Municipalities) . It will be the task of the project task force – also made up of the CUFA (biodiversity command of the Carabinieri), the inter-university center Biodiversity Cirbises and Ispa – to further investigate the controls and verify that there are no further obstacles.

Strategic work

For the ministry, led by Gilberto Pichetto, the active comparison with the board for the concomitant control of the Court of Auditors served to clarify the effectiveness of Mase’s action, supported by scientific evidence and aimed at managing plants in compliance with the autochthony and biodiversity, which guarantees the real functionality of afforestation interventions over time. It also confirms the closure of the verification procedures by the European offices in charge. The commitment – concludes the ministry – should be considered strategic, because it is not aimed at urban furniture, but at real forestation which, as the tragic events of recent days demonstrate, is necessary to compensate for years of excessive soil consumption .