Bosco delle Neofite: botanists concerned about biodiversity

Concern for biodiversity and for the messages transmitted with the design and construction of the ‘Bosco di Neofite’, conceived as a forestation plan in the Tobbiana-Allende area in Prato, inaugurated at the end of May. This is what is expressed, in summary, by the national and Tuscan botanical scientific community, represented by the Italian Botanical Society, the Italian Biogeography Society and the Italian Vegetation Science Society.
The park is made up of over 150 plants of different species, to transform 7,500 m2 around the public residential houses of Tobbiana Allende di Prato, giving life to a green lung, in an area particularly subject to pollution, and returning public space to the community . The Bosco delle Neofite was created thanks to the ‘Art for reforestation’ fundraiser and commissioned from Professor Stefano Mancuso and Pnat (Project Nature), a spin-off of the University of Florence, and organized by the Associazione Arte Continua in collaboration with the Municipality of Prato.
In a joint note the associations recall that neophyte plants “are part of alien species” and “their use must take place in a context of sustainability”, as “once introduced, many alien species can spread in an uncontrolled way, as is happening right now with the blue crab.” “Although the Bosco di Neofite project consists in the creation of an urban park – it is further observed -, and represents a moderate danger for native biodiversity, as a botanical scientific community we believe it is necessary to highlight the unfortunate communication strategy with which it was presented this initiative, with the analogy between the migrations of human beings and the artificial introduction of species that would never have arrived by their biological means.
Furthermore – the botanists continue – some of the species used in the project are well-known invasive neophytes in Europe (various species of the genus Eucalyptus, Quercus rubra, Robinia pseudoacacia, for example), and thus the risks linked to the introduction of alien and invasive species potentially harmful to ecosystems”.