BOLOGNAFIERE: BIODIVERSITY PARK IS READY FOR EXPO EXPERIENCE THE WORLD OF NATURAL AND ORGANIC AT THE HEART OF EXPO

April 2015

 Duccio Campagnoli, President of BolognaFiere and Maurizio Martina, Minister of Agricultural Policy, have presented the Biodiversity Park and the Organic Pavilion, one of the large themed areas of EXPO that BolognaFiere has designed and developed in the huge venue in Milan. BolognaFiere is the Official Partner of Expo and the group’s expertise organizing SANA, the leading event for the promotion of Italian organics, has also been recognised with agreements with the Italian Ministries of Agriculture and the Environment.

President Campagnoli
"We wanted to create this project mainly due to the strong commitment and responsibility that we felt as organizers of SANA, the fair that has brought together and accompanied the development of organic agriculture in Italy, together with FederBio, the Italian Federation for Organic Agriculture and Biodynamics, we wanted to showcase the world of Italian agriculture and organic production at EXPO.

The project for the Biodiversity Park creates a unique exhibition space within EXPO, a large green area that aims to represent Italy's natural heritage and biodiversity, the biodiversity of the land and Italy's agricultural landscapes and the experience and excellence of the new organic agriculture, the development of which is closely entwined with the safeguarding and regeneration of the value of this biodiversity."

In this area we aim to enable visitors to feel, experience and encounter the aromas, flavours and the culture of organic agriculture as if they were visiting an organic farm; most importantly we aim to enable visitors to meet and talk at EXPO, through a six-month programme of events, about international and Italian experiences within the world of organics: it would be impossible to discuss the key theme of EXPO, "Feed the Planet, Energy for Life!", without examining the path towards a new agriculture and a new food culture.

We are delighted to state that this project for innovation in organic and natural food production already involves a number of important participants, together with FederBio as partners of the project, playing a key role in Biodiversity Park and in the Organic Pavilion are: the Italian Confederation of Agriculturalists; the Association for Biodynamic Agriculture; the leading companies from the sector together with many others; such as FederUnacoma and Cosmetica Italia, representing the new developments in industrial agriculture and cosmetics with new technology appropriate to innovative agriculture for the natural production of products for beauty and well-being. Also participating will be Legambiente with many initiatives; Nuremburg Fair, which organizes Biofach and the most important fair network worldwide in the sector; IFOAM, the global organization for organics; the coordination of Italian Universities for EXPO and other important research centres. Together with these partners the Park will also aim to serve as a qualified centre for the elaboration of proposals to ensure that the development of the organic sector becomes a fundamental part of the proposals that emerge from the EXPO event."

Maurizio Martina, Minister of Agricultural Policy, Food and Forestry
"Italy is the home of biodiversity and within the context of EXPO we will be able to showcase our extraordinary experience in the field of organic production. The Italian agricultural model makes sustainability a distinctive feature and selling point. It is not by chance that our country already boasts one hectare in ten dedicated to organic agriculture and we are the leaders in Europe with over 52 thousand operators. The event in Milan represents the ideal occasion to showcase the progress made in recent years and to lay down the challenge on a global level to reduce the environmental impact of our productive models and respond to the increasing demand for food. Therefore, in September we will be promoting the international organic Forum at EXPO.

The year of EXPO is also the year of Italy’s reforms to improve schools. To contribute to the campaign we have proposed that legislation be introduced to encourage school canteens to invest more in organic agriculture and the local Italian production chain. The Biodiversity Pavilion will be a location for education and raising awareness of the themes at the heart of the Milan Charter, the legacy that EXPO will leave to the planet with the aims of transforming the 20 million visitors to the event into 20 million ambassadors for the right to food."

PHOTOGALLERY

 

THE PROJECT: BIODIVERSITY PARK AND THE ORGANIC PAVILION

At the heart of EXPO, from Palazzo Italia and the Tree of Life all the way to the EXPO’s Eastern Entrance, Biodiversity Park is a large green space of 8,500m2, where visitors can walk through an area of trees, plants and fields that exemplify the diverse forms of Italy’s agricultural biodiversity. A trip through the park enables visitors to experience an "Italian organic farm": the natural land and the cultivations of the large ecological zones of the Italian landscape, from the Alpine mountains to the plains of the Po valley, from the Apennines to the highland plateaus and the Mediterranean coast, the park is home to three hundred species of plants, all grown in accordance with the principles of organic cultivation.
 
 
 
The Park experience has been created to demonstrate and teach the first step towards a new agricultural approach in which the experience of Italian organic farmers can be an example and a model for the rest of the world: the wealth of biodiversity plays a key role for the new forms of organic and innovative sustainable agriculture, while organic agriculture, in turn, serves to preserve and regenerate biodiversity, the fertility of the soil, water security and water resources, the beauty of the landscape and the quality of the climate and the environment.
 

The Agricultural Biodiversity Exhibition and the Organic Pavilion, the Earth Theatre

Within the park the organic farm experience is complemented by three pavilions.
 
 
The Biodiversity Exhibition Pavilion, created by the scientific committee with the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Milan with the collaboration of the Universities of Padua and Bologna, will also host the areas for the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture. The aim is to represent the commitment to research into new agricultural practices and techniques and organic and innovative production: coordinated by the Italian universities for EXPO, the exhibition will involve a number of initiatives and the presence of the Organic Observatory of Bocconi University, IFOAM - the Global Centre for Organics, and many others. The pavilion is the starting point for guided tours and meetings with experts and key participants who will hold "organic lessons" for the young and old in addition to a programme for school visits to EXPO.
 
The Italian Organic Pavilion is the location for discussions and encounters with a wide range of companies and stakeholders in the sectors of organic food and natural produce for health and wellbeing: visitors will be able to find, try and experience organic produce at BIOMARKET and ORGANIC CUISINE AND PIZZA, which will offer organic food alongside urban gardens and the greenery of urban agriculture at the boundary of the park’s organic farm at the Eastern Entrance to EXPO.
 
The Earth Theatre, a Conference Centre for 200 visitors will host the presentation of a number of genuine Italian “custodians of the land”, farmers, associations and businesses committed to innovative agriculture, organic production and the related technology. A schedule of events is being prepared for the Earth Theatre dedicated to the key themes: these will include meetings with the leaders of the campaign for “RIGHTS OF THE EARTH AND RIGHTS TO THE EARTH”, international and institutional meetings and events that the associations and the ministries will dedicate to the theme of safeguarding biodiversity and sustainability.
 
At the entrance (or exit) to the Farm-Park visitors will be able to see examples of vegetable garden cultivation and urban agriculture based on the experiences in Italian cities, beginning with those of Milan and Bologna.
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