Deputy Minister Manlio Di Stefano inaugurated the G20 Green Garden, a garden within the Appia Antica Regional Park dedicated to the Italian Presidency of the G20 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The project is a collaboration between FAO, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Ministry of Culture, the Municipality of Rome, the Lazio Region and the Appia Antica Regional Park. FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu and Lazio Region President Nicola Zingaretti, among others, were present.
“Today, we are inaugurating a lasting symbol of our work as a Government,” said the Deputy Minister at the opening. “For some time, we have been committed, as a Government and as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to bringing the three Ps to the Italian G20 Presidency: ‘People, Planet, Prosperity.’ We believe that these three components are deeply interconnected because only when people are in harmony with the planet they inhabit can there be prosperity for all.”
The project will be a symbol of the commitment to the health of the planet and the importance of biodiversity and nature conservation, with an open-air museum where high-level delegates and citizens will meet during a series of events to be held between June and October. Such events will include visits to installations dedicated to the Sustainable Development Goals, opening an educational trail to schools, and planting a forest.
“Today, we want to put human society and its consumption on an environmental and climate footing,” the Deputy Minister added. “We are doing it at the EU level, with an unprecedented alignment with the current Von Der Leyen Commission and with 44% of the PNRR / Recovery Fund resources dedicated to green transition. We are doing it at the national level, with the establishment of the new Ministry for Ecological Transition, which will guide what must be a rethink across all sectors that impact the environment. We do it here today, with an event that is both local and global. We are together as a single international community to send out a strong message.”
