Nature in the city

Audio 19:30

Milan is one of the Italian cities with the highest air pollution.

(Photo illustration) AFP

By: Juliette Rengeval Follow

26 mins

Global warming and the pandemic have shown how our European cities, very mineral, have become impossible to live while 75% of the European population is now city dwellers.

(Replay)

Publicity

Milan

 is one of the Italian cities with the highest air pollution. Located in the Po plain, a landlocked region, far from maritime influences, the city is often unlivable for its inhabitants. To try to remedy this, the agglomeration wants to plant 3 million trees in 10 years. This is the “

ForestaMi

 ”

project 

, which started in September 2019.

 Franceline Beretti.

While the city continues to nibble on the countryside and farmland, some are campaigning for urban vegetable gardens which allow cities to produce local, more environmentally friendly production and reconnect city dwellers to nature.

In 

Seville

 in southern Spain, Miraflores Park, a three-hectare urban vegetable garden, sprang up among the bars of buildings.

A report by 

Frédérique Lebel

Report financed by the IMCAP program of the European Union.

The content of these reports reflects the position of their authors only and is their sole responsibility.

The European Commission assumes no responsibility for the use that may be made of the information they contain.

In 

the Netherlands

, to fight against the disappearance of bees, several municipalities have opted for an original solution: greening the roofs of bus stops. Bus shelters which were, until then, barely good at protecting users from the rain.

 Antoine Mouteau.

In 

Poland

, if the poultry industry has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the country remains the European leader in terms of production and exports, with production methods that are gradually changing, as animal welfare is increasingly taken into account.

From 2014 to February 2021, organic farming increased by 420% and free-range farming by 159% for laying hens. 

Sarah Bakaloglou

visited the farms of one of the leaders in egg production in Poland, which has already started the change. 

Slideshow

{{scope.counterText}}

{{scope.legend}} © {{scope.credits}}

{{scope.counterText}}

i

{{scope.legend}}

© {{scope.credits}}

Report financed by the IMCAP program of the European Union.

Empireland or how imperialism shaped the UK

The shock wave of the Black Lives Matter movement is still felt, a year later, in Western societies, especially in ancient empires like the 

United Kingdom.

This movement for racial justice particularly questions British society, still very steeped in the imperial model.

This is the thesis of

Empireland

, a book by 

Sathnam Sanghera

, journalist at The 

Times

, that our correspondent

Marie Billon

read 

.

Program originally aired on June 14, 2021.

Newsletter

Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

  • European Union

  • PAC

  • Poland

  • UK

  • Netherlands

  • Spain

  • Italy

  • Climate change

On the same subject

G7 focuses on post-pandemic recovery and the fight against global warming

It's in your nature

The bad buzz of bees in the city

Health priority

Eco-anxiety: when global warming worries