Page 136 - Supplemento 2-2016 (ENG)

ProF. riccardo valentini

element which absorbs carbon dioxide, we managed to enter the remarkable
value of 16 billion tonnes of CO2 per year, attributed to the Italian forestry asset.

This contribution was entered in the calculations of the Kyoto Protocol
and allowed Italy to go back to the emission limits which had been imposed,
for a value within the emission trading market of about 500 million Euros. This
is the value the forests have generated. This is not just a hypothesis: it is a real
value since we had to handle those costs to buy some shares from the emission
trading market.

As a result, forests made us save 500 million Euros in the context of the
Kyoto Protocol. Now I feel I must thank the State Forestry Department for the
huge amount of work they did and for believing in the Forest Inventory that
was the tool which allowed us to calculate the carbon dioxide absorbed by our
forests, the work ISPRA did by certifying these figures. In addition, we must
consider the work carried out by academics who contributed in the clarification
of a series of issues, such as the natural reforestation.

The United Nations were not particularly positive in considering natural
reforestation as those forests which expanded in some sort of abandoned lands
or as accumulation of carbon. However we succeeded and this result, which I
believe is important for our Country, proves how the synergy of different
Institutions gave good results.

Above all, I wish to express my gratitude to the many young people of the
State Forestry Department who worked for the Forest Inventory. Indeed, they
gave a lot because a net of 3 km by 3 on the national territory is something
demanding. In other words, the staff from the State Forestry Department went
to complete surveys for every 3 km of the national territory. This is an asset
that we must keep and that can still be used.

Now I come to the so called “glass half full” point. I am one of those
who always sees the glass half full and fundamentally I am very positive on
what has been done. However, it would be an error to ignore the part of the
glass which is empty. There is an empty part which we still need to complete
and it is something we haven’t accomplished yet.

In this context we have a further commitment which will expire in 2020.
I can see Dr De Bernardinis nodding. I refer to the promise to reduce emis-

134