Post-earthquake reconstruction in 2016, higher aid for timber reconstruction

Twelve thousand projects have yet to be submitted, with an estimated value of around EUR 5 billion. But the post-earthquake reconstruction of Central Italy in 2016-2017, an affected territory of eight thousand square kilometres between Lazio, Abruzzo, Marche and Umbria, is trying to upgrade the quality of reconstruction by incentivising the use of wood. "We have increased aid to projects that use wood by 10%," says the commissioner for reconstruction Guido Castelli. "There is a ceiling of about one billion euros, until the funds are exhausted," the commissioner continues, "intended for families and businesses, which could trigger a virtuous circle of investment in the territory."

The crux is, still today, the dissemination of the wood project and knowledge, even among professionals, of the material's potential for construction and reconstruction. "I often hear people say that wood is the future," says Claudio Giusti, president of Federlegno, "but we have been making wooden houses for 50 years. That is why we need to work flat out in the territory'. To inform citizens, administrations and businesses Fondazione Symbola and FederlegnoArredo, with the support of the commissarial structure, will organise a series of meetings in the crater areas. The first appointment will be on 15 April in Amatrice. Then on 24 April in Camerino, followed by Arquata del Tronto, San Ginesio, Ascoli Piceno, Norcia and Teramo. All cities and small towns in the crater area.

Until now, when there was no additional incentive, out of the 12,000 closed reconstruction projects, the cases of using wood were sporadic. An apartment building in Visso, residential houses in Fabriano and in the province of Ascoli Piceno. Spontaneous initiatives.

"With 28 billion investments the crater of Central Italy is now the largest building site in Europe," says Commissioner Castelli. "Providing an increase in aid for those who choose to rebuild with wooden structures is an important signal for the sector, but it is also a challenge for the opportunities that wood in construction can offer the territory. The aim is to activate a virtuous dynamic that, through the development of a 100% Italian wood supply chain, will enhance the enormous forestry heritage of central Italy that is currently in a state of abandonment". In the crater area alone there are 80 companies in the wood industry with a turnover of around 250 million and over 700 employees.

The crux is always the use of the Italian forest, 70% of the national territory. Only 20% of it is used (against 60% of the European average), while imported wood is 80% of the total. "We need a precise mapping of the Italian forest," says Alessandra Stefani, president of the Italian National Forest Cluster, the body for the development of forest resources. "Soon," she continues, "we will start an aerial survey project that will give us a precise picture of the resources. In any case, we will never reach the European average, that is not our aim. The objective of the Strategic Forest Plan is to reach 30 per cent in twenty years, but with an increase in the quality of utilisation'.