The title of this article is inspired by a thought of Suzanne Simard[1], a professor at the University of British Columbia who for more than a quarter of a century has studied forest habitat and biodiversity[2], investigating the complex system that connects the visible communities (mother trees, understorey trees and seedlings) with the invisible ones (roots and underground fungi). An endless web of hubs, nodes and synapses structured like a neural (or social) network, spreading the nutrients needed for the collective wellbeing of countless biological communities and exchanging alarm signals and information that sustain the forest ecosystem's process of resilience to disturbance events and to pedological and climatic stress factors. This mutualistic structure, although it recognises in the mother trees[3] the pillar of the forest habitat[4], draws its strength from the mutual and collaborative dialogue of the biological community and from the diversity of species and genotypes, giving us an extraordinary scientific and moral lesson on thinking and on living the ethics of respect and sustainability[5].
The 193 UN member states that signed the 2030 Agenda in 2015[6] took on a firm commitment to the forest habitat and to humanity: "to protect, restore and promote the sustainable use of the terrestrial ecosystem"[7]. The path towards Goal 15 is a rugged one, mined by climate change, scorched and ideally clouded by a haze of greenhouse gases and combustion smoke, heavy with risks for the planet and its creatures (Simard 2010)[8]. Climate change is the cause of the dizzying rise in disturbance events linked to desertification[9] and deforestation: fires[10], hydrogeological instability, epidemics, predatory invasions, aggravated by unsustainable human choices and by culpable human neglect (Belcher 2013; Gaur 2018; Kondratyev 2006).
There is no longer a clear and exclusive divide between the developing nations, which sacrifice their forest heritage to build economies, and the industrialised countries, which have more resources to protect it (Bennett 2015)[11]. Climate change has become the main conditioning factor in the life of forests, because it has set off a domino effect that is hard to contain, degrading and reducing the world's forest biodiversity and causing considerable hardship and damage for the indigenous or resident populations living in rural areas[12].
The forests of the tropical rain belt are under attack from desertification, which brings drought and fire[13]. A single year of drought can cost a population decades of hard-won social gains, detonating conflicts and migrations (Boas 2015; Mayer 2016; Piguet 2011; Wennersten 2017)[14].
The hope of offsetting this environmental and humanitarian emergency with farming and livestock projects then triggered another season of deforestation[15], made worse by the emerging pressure of global population growth (Bertoni 2015; Caparrós 2015. Estimates for 2050 forecast a world population of 9 billion). In the industrialised nations, by contrast, forest cover has doubled over the last 50 years, but this increase is a double-edged sword: positive in the fight against climate change; harmful if left uncultivated, worsening the processes of combustion and fire spread (Parisien 2018) and the hydrogeological risk (Cesti 2011)[16]. At the root of this failure to tend the woodland in the countries with the highest rates of development lies the depopulation of rural areas, a phenomenon that produces heavy social, economic and environmental effects, intensified by the pull of the big cities (VanderGoot, 2018).
Public opinion is not aware of the ecological crisis set off by desertification and deforestation, subjects that rarely draw the attention of the media except for the reporting of colossal blazes (and their victims). This inattention also extends to the social and environmental costs tied to the exploitation of forests, and of environmental resources in general: agri-business, eco-mafias and the murder of journalists and activists (denied information and education are the synonym of justice denied to people and the environment)[17]. And yet forests are the lungs that clean the air we breathe, performing a multifunctional role for all living beings. Forest ecosystems improve the quality of air and water, guard against landslides and avalanches, slow the processes of erosion and desertification, provide resources for life and goods of social and economic value, and are a source of renewable energy. They act as carbon reservoirs and mitigate the effects of climate change, absorbing a significant share of the greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity. For these and many other reasons forests must be kept healthy, productive and diverse, following the virtuous circle set out in Agenda 21: economic, ecological, political and cultural sustainability (D'Amours 2016).
In the current scenario China, which reports the world's highest carbon dioxide emissions and a worrying rate of desertification (Huchet 2016), has assigned to afforestation a fundamental role within its broader strategy of conversion towards a green economy (Guttmann 2018), emerging as the sector with the highest growth rate for the national economy (Pang 2018; L. Zhang 2017). China's extraordinary capacity for planning and for creating enormous economies of scale (Y. Zhang 2017) has, in just a few years, brought about a marked reversal of the trend in desertification and deforestation across the Asian continent, one not matched by many other Asian nations (Squires 2018). Over the last five years China has planted 338,000 km² of forest (Italy has a territory of 301,338 km²), investing 83 billion dollars, and will go on planting more, to halt desertification through the benefits of forest ecosystems.
Naturally the scale and the positive effects produced by China's reforestation cannot be replicated in the short term by any other institutional actor, because of the socio-economic features peculiar to this nation-continent. Sustainable responses to the crisis of forest ecosystems rest on two factors: international, coordinated and long-term investment, and the primary involvement of local populations in a genuine paradigm of sustainable development (Weston 2013)[18]. At the root of this path lies the active management of forests (Corona 2011), which is the most effective resilience action against the effects and risks of climate change, allowing the forest to express its environmental, scenic, productive and social potential (Pretzsch 2017). Supporting biodiversity and the multifunctional, flexible and lasting management of forests is the best support for the power of adaptation and self-healing of the trees and seedlings of ecosystems (Lukac 2017).
The impact of climate change, the frequency of disturbance events, the health of the soil and the richness of biodiversity[19] are, as is well known, the main factors that influence the resilience of ecosystems to stress (Ingaramo 2018)[20]. Yet it is neither simple nor obvious to solve the ecological equation of these four variables, other than by adopting small-scale intervention models, flexible and therefore able to react quickly to the frequent emergencies triggered by climate change, designed on the basis of a thorough analysis of ecological and social habitats (Fiorino 2018). Sustainable management calls for reforestation and for the biological and functional restoration of the habitats lost after a disturbance (fire, landslides, floods, epidemics), favouring the use of species suited to a specific environment (Cerdà 2009; Pointer 2018)[21].
The constant innovations in traditional and robotic mechanisation, in the ICT, Internet of things and big data intelligence scenarios, are already providing tools and technologies unthinkable just five years ago, such as the successful experiments aimed at defining models for predicting fires and biological epidemics (Perera 2018)[22]. Fundamental are the economic recognition of the property rights of indigenous peoples and income support for marginal social communities (Nakashima 2018; Nath 2016)[23], through incentives for non-intensive local production (including alternative and sustainable sources of fibre)[24], aimed at improving nutrition and food security[25]. This intervention model has already shown that it can be effective and sustainable (Cairns 2015; Peters 2018; Reed 2017), since for centuries it was spread across Europe during the Middle Ages by Benedictine monasticism[26].
The fears of a new Luddism affecting tens of millions of workers, tied to the rapid rise of robotic production systems, may also find a solid answer in sustainable forest management programmes, which could offer opportunities for training and professional retraining precisely to the workers with the weakest profiles, the most exposed to the risk of expulsion from the factories.
Trees speak, and we must speak with them.

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Notes

[1] https://www.ted.com/talks/suzanne_simard_how_trees_talk_to_each_other

[2] Ecosystems with a minimum extent of 5000 m2, they are home to 80% of the world's land species of animals, plants and insects. According to FAO's The State of the World's Forests 2018, forests provide 20% of income and 30% of fuel. Around 1.5 billion people draw their livelihood from forests, and 90% of them live in developing countries. http://www.fao.org/state-of-forests/

[3] Ancient specimens with the thickest trunks, around which the networks that connect hundreds of trees and seedlings are organised. Mother trees also send carbon to plants of a different species, supplying mainly the weakest and youngest. Every tree is connected to the wood through the network of underground fungi that facilitate the exchange of carbon, water and nutrients. The symbiosis between fungi and roots (mycorrhiza) allows the trees to absorb water and nutrients from the subsoil (where the roots do not reach), giving carbon and nitrogen in return for photosynthesis (Pickles 2017).

[4] The FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment is the most comprehensive study of the planet's forest ecosystems; it monitors 233 countries and the macro geographical areas, analysing and describing the features, current state and trends of: deforestation, degradation, and social, economic and legal aspects. Global forest cover amounts to 4 billion hectares (31% of the emerged land). The Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, the United States and China account for half of the planet's forest areas. http://www.fao.org/forest-resources-assessment/

[5] Among the intellectuals who have reflected on this theme, the reading of these essays is valuable: Berry 2015; Bertels 2018; Ferrarotti 2012; McLellan 2018; Paci 2015; Q. Li 2018.

[6] https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/biodiversity/

[7] The New York Declaration on Forests, approved in 2014 by the Climate Summit ONU, aims to halve deforestation by 2020 and eliminate it by 2030, restoring 150 million hectares of degraded forest land by 2020 and a further 200 million hectares by 2030. In 2018 Rome hosted the International Conference on Working across Sectors to Halt Deforestation and Increase Forest Area (20-22 February 2018), a run-up to the 13° UN Forum on Forest – High-level Political Forum 2018 (9-18 July).

[8] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the international body charged with assessing the global impact of this phenomenon. The IPCC was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The IPCC's assessments provide governments with a scientific basis for developing mitigation policies, with particular reference to the negotiations of the United Nations Climate Change Conference and of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). http://www.ipcc.ch/

[9] About 2 billion people live in the arid and semi-arid areas (dryland) affected by desertification, and 90% of them live in developing countries. Since 1994 the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has been at work, pursuing Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN): https://www.unccd.int/

[10] Fire risk is the result of several factors that determine the occurrence of fires. Weather conditions are the most important prerequisite: dryness, high temperatures, low humidity, strong wind, heatwaves. Phenomena linked to climate change are leading to a reduction in spring rainfall, accompanied by more intense heatwaves, sustaining the spread of fires in a faster and more extensive way. It maps the evolution of fires in Europe: European Forest Fire Information System (Effis): http://effis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/static/effis_current_situation/public/index.html

[11] Another useful index is Global Forest Watch. https://www.globalforestwatch.org/

[12] Indigenous, aboriginal, native are the terms used for the peoples present in a place since prehistory. About 59 per cent of the land acquired worldwide for agricultural purposes (including pastures and woodland) is taken from native peoples. https://landmatrix.org/

[13] Every year fires devastate about 3.5 million Km2 of land. For some years now research has been documenting the heavy greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere by fires, in the past underestimated partly because of the use of less precise instruments. The same is true of the serious impact of blazes on air quality, the main emergency for public health: Environmental Performance Index – https://epi.envirocenter.yale.edu/

[14] FAO and UNHCR have published Managing forests in displacement settings, a manual that provides guidance for supporting the recovery and regeneration of forests, rehabilitating degraded land and meeting the energy needs of indigenous peoples, with particular attention to forest management in the event of a sudden influx of displaced populations. http://www.fao.org/publications/sofa/the-state-of-food-and-agriculture/

[15] At present 80% of the land is deforested for intensive cultivation (soy, palm oil, sugar cane and meat), driven by the strong demand of Western and Chinese industry and large-scale retail. The chemical impact of agriculture and the unsustainable management of livestock farming impoverish the soil, stripping it of vegetation and nutrients, worsening desertification and hydrogeological instability.

[16] Combustion lays down a layer of very fine ash that makes the soil surface impermeable, slowing the absorption of water during the rains, which are ever more violent (another effect of climate change). The soil erosion caused by run-off, encouraged by the combustion of the roots that prevents the anchoring action of the plant-soil-rock system, is a cause of landslides and floods that affect roads and cities.

[17] The Global Witness report and Front Line Defenders document each year an average of 200 murders of journalists and environmentalists, who fight against governments and companies that steal land and damage ecosystems. Both sources show that those hit hardest are the defenders of the rights of indigenous peoples. Corruption and the imbalance of power often make it hard to obtain justice for these murders. In 2017 the most dangerous continent was once again Latin America. The most dangerous country, the Philippines. https://www.globalwitness.org/ – https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/

[18] At this moment Africa, a continent in dizzying development, undermined by numerous social, political and ecological contradictions, offers some of the most interesting examples of sustainable development projects: Hanson FAO, IIED, IUCN and Agricord launched the Forest and Farm Facility programme in 2013 to support the resilience of small agricultural and forest producers and their organisations to climate change. The measures provide for support to businesses and workers, and to communities, with actions to counter the poverty and social hardship of young people and women in rural areas (25 countries are involved in Asia, Latin America and Africa). http://www.fao.org/partnerships/forest-farm-facility/

[19] The richer an ecosystem, the greater its resilience, because if there are more species and one of them suffers serious damage, the probability of a self-healing of the habitats with the surviving species increases.

[20] (Seddon 2016) The Vegetation sensitivity index has shown the differing degree of resilience of ecosystems in the geographical zones of the planet, knowledge of which is useful for planning actions to support biodiversity.

[21] Vastola 2015 (Bukowski 2018; Brioschi 2017; Leahy 2018; Weiss 2007) The large plantations of "alien" trees to produce industrial raw materials, chosen for their speed of growth, compromise biodiversity. Moreover, they encourage the exploitation of labour and the denial of rights, since monocultures create an "economic vacuum" that prevents the consolidation of sustainable alternatives for the diversification of incomes.

[22] There are several international experimental projects that use satellite imagery, weather data and empirical models to obtain forecasts of the possible periods of fire risk and estimates of the degree of danger on a global, national or regional scale. The models assess the characterisation and mapping of vegetation fuels, the analysis of the factors that trigger fire, the simulation of fire spread, the perimeter mapping of burnt areas, with the estimate of the damage to vegetation and soil. These forecasting models, besides creating emergency warnings, allow a better simulation of operational protocols.

[23] The reports of the Iwgia working group and of Survival International document how much poverty stems from the lack of formal recognition of indigenous lands. Iwgia fights for the role of indigenous peoples in the struggle against climate change to be recognised, through the sustainability of the peoples' traditional knowledge. 80% of the 200 places with the highest biodiversity in the world are indigenous land. https://www.iwgia.org/ – https://www.survivalinternational.org/

[24] FAO's incentives to help mutual organisations and the representation of small agricultural producers have supported the defence of their rights in their dealings with governments and markets, starting with fairer sale prices for their products.

[25] The State of Food and Agriculture report is FAO's main annual publication. http://www.fao.org/publications/sofa/the-state-of-food-and-agriculture/

[26] This tradition, which carried out great agricultural land reclamation and introduced management techniques still in use today, is documented by the "Codice forestale camaldolese", the body of rules issued by the Camaldolese monks from 1027 to 1866. https://www.collegiumscriptorium.it/le-pubblicazioni/codice-forestale-camaldolese/

Marta Picchio, PhD, is a researcher in General Sociology at the Department of Philosophy, Social and Human Sciences and Education of the University of Perugia. Her research interests include the classics of Sociology and the Sociology of the foreigner, of citizenship and of human rights (marta.picchio@unipg.it)