Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio’s name has been synonymous with environmentalism in Italy for decades. Former president of the Federation of Greens, former minister of Agriculture and Environment, today he continues his battle for a sustainable future as a university professor and promoter of green initiatives.
Today you are lecturer, consultant, advisor. But is your commitment still the same?
“Always. I never changed direction. Already at 12 I was collecting signatures for a marine park in my area, at 15 I founded a list in my high school against all the traditional parties, then I helped create the Greens. Today I help young eco-digital innovators find space and power. I teach sustainable tourism in the universities of Milan, Rome and Naples to give this country a tourism strategy that until now has always been poorly planned.”
The topic of overtourism is much debated. How can tourism in Italy be better managed?
“The problem is really the lack of planning. With digital tools we could manage tourist flows much more effectively. Mass tourism, if poorly managed, becomes a detriment to the cities and also to the visitors themselves. We need regulation involving not only hotels, but also non-hotels, such as vacation homes and short rentals. In addition, we should enhance the many Italian beauties outside the usual circuits: near Rome, for example, we have the Castelli Romani, Tuscia, wonderful territories often ignored.”
You often talk about “eco-digital innovators.” Who are they and how do you plan to bring them to power?
“These are young people with great environmental awareness, but also with a strong technological and entrepreneurial approach. Today a young person who sees a polluted beach doesn’t just petition, but maybe develops a technology to clean it up and puts it on the market. The future lies in the combination of ecology and digital. But we also need institutional renewal: if we leave institutions in the hands of people who do not have this vision, we risk holding back change.”
In Miami you have started sustainability initiatives. What is your role in the United States?
“I have held a number of meetings and worked with the local government, including with the vice mayor, on sustainability issues. Miami is a very vulnerable city to climate change and sea level rise, so they are moving a lot on these issues. The United States is a federal country-many states and cities, regardless of who is president, are pursuing their own environmental policies.”
The Italian-American community played an important role in the UNESCO recognition of Neapolitan pizza. Are you now working on a new campaign?
“Yes, among the many things I do I am president of the scientific committee of COLDIRETTI, Campagna Amica, and in 2017 we obtained UNESCO recognition for the art of Neapolitan pizza, thanks also to great support from Italians abroad, especially in New York. Now we are pursuing a broader candidacy: we want to have the entire Italian cuisine recognized as a UNESCO heritage site. Our cuisine is sustainable, based on reclaimed dishes and extraordinary bio-cultural diversity. We have dishes that derive from Greek, Arab, French influences, but which we have been able to rework in a unique way. Italy has the most UNESCO awards in the world, and this additional title would be a way to enhance our gastronomic heritage.”
Why is there such a struggle in Italy to perceive environmentalism as a positive value?
“The debate in Italy is still polarized between catastrophists and deniers, while ecological awareness is now widespread, especially among young people. Of course, there are huge economic interests at stake: those who own oil wells, for example, will never willingly accept the ecological transition. But climate change is there for all to see, there is no denying it. That’s why we need incentives and policies that accompany the transformation, without imposing rigid models. I, for example, when I was minister I introduced the Conto Energia for photovoltaics: I incentivized the use of solar energy without imposing obligations, and today Italy is among the top countries in the world for solar energy production.”
Italians are very successful in New York. On what does this special connection depend?
“New York is an extremely dynamic city, full of energy, and in this it has many similarities with Naples. Italians, then, when abroad are able to express their abilities to the fullest, without the bureaucratic ballast that often holds them back in Italy. We are a people of individual excellence, sometimes with a bit of a “collective mess,” but it is precisely this creativity and adaptability that makes us successful in cities like New York.”
The article Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio: “This is how Italy can lead the ecological transition” comes from TheNewyorker.
