The soil, the earth, our habitat and that of the wild, call it what you want, what matters is knowing, having an awareness that decreases a little more every day. Take Italy for example: demographic stability has gripped us for years and yet despite all the paradox: urban expansion is increasing rather rapidly. Perhaps this article will not change things, but it could give greater awareness of the danger that an indiscriminate urban expansion represents for us hunters and humans and for the much loved wild ones.
Soil: have you ever wondered what it is for?
To believe that the main function of the soil is to support us is a big mistake. The soil, the earth that we tread every day, as long as it is not coated with concrete, has many other functions.
- It creates, supports and nourishes plant biomass (essential for our survival and that of animals).
- Regulate nitrogen cycles.
- Adjust the water cycles.
- Regulates the cycles of phosphorus and sulfur.
- It guarantees plant and animal biodiversity.
- It is able to influence the climate and the trend of the weather.
- It absorbs many of the pollutants released into the environment.
The exasperated consumption of the soil by man is seriously endangering all the functions of the soil indicated here.
Where yesterday there was a beautiful wheat field today there are 30 terraced houses, in that corner of land where there was always a small wood now there is a shopping center, that cinema is located right where it once was there was a pond: these are not sporadic cases that we happen to see while walking around our city, but normality. The situation should alarm us since the urbanization of these areas creates not only "advantages" for those who live in them but also a flood of negative externalities: disastrous impact on biodiversity, deterioration of ecosystems, negative impact on the landscape, negative impact on animal species, plants or humans living in the area, pollution.
Biodiversity at risk
The quality of life worsens but no one seems to really realize it. Indifference is worrying and the loss of biodiversity at the peninsular and global levels is a well-known problem. The loss of biodiversity is compounded by another worrying phenomenon: the proliferation of allochthonous or alien species that can jeopardize the already precarious balances present in the area.
The problem affects everyone, the problem also and above all concerns the hunters who live the land during every sacrosanct hunting day. The problem concerns us firsthand since we should all pray every day for the protection of biodiversity and for optimal management of rural spaces and the wildlife that inhabit them. The remedies are neither simple nor at hand, but being aware of the problem can help trigger a change that we will soon need. In our little one, a helping hand can come from respecting the territory we frequent to leave at the end of the hunt exactly as we found it, and if possible even in a better state. To realize how things are in Italy you can do a very quick search on the internet. Use as a search term "land use in Italy". The first result you will get will be this: a rather interesting Ispra survey.