WWF, with more urban green 43,000 fewer deaths in EU cities - Infrastructure & Cities

Nature in the city guarantees morehealth and safety for people. Increasing urban greenery could prevent up to 43,000 deaths a year in European cities, according to a new WWF report for UrbanNature23, the city's nature festival to be held on 7 and 8 October in squares across the country.
Urban expansion is growing dramatically all over the world and in Italy, for example, cement is growing more than the population: waterproofing and overbuilding have progressed in the last 3 years with an average of 19 hectares per day (the equivalent of 26.5 football fields), with negative side effects on the territory. The territory is thus becoming increasingly weak and vulnerable to the challenges of the future such as climate change. In Italian cities, extreme weather events have brought more than 43,22 total deaths and €000 billion in economic damage over the past 100 years.
"Green spaces can contribute to 'curing the ills' that afflict cities and their inhabitants because they provide important ecosystem services, such as the storage of thousands of tons of carbon, the infiltration of millions of cubic meters of water, the absorption of contaminants, the cleaning of the air and the mitigation of temperatures", says the sustainability manager of WWF Italy, Eva Alessi.
According to data from the European Commission, in our country over 20% of the population does not have access to green areas and despite this the Government has made a cut of 110 million out of the 530 planned for urban reforestation allocated by the PNRR. For WWF, we need a national urban green plan for the reforestation of cities that includes sustainable design and adequate maintenance programs.
UrbanNature, with the slogan "Nature takes care", invites its contribution to add a piece of greenery to urban areas and to create small but precious Oases in Italian pediatric hospitals by treating yourself to a fern.

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