Expo2015: The Charter of Milan at its debut

Hangar Bicocca hosted 500 experts who will participate in 42 thematic tables to decide on the future of food for our Planet

In the framework of “The Expo of  Ideas – Towards the Charter of Milan”, organized in Milan, by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture and EXPO at Hangar Bicocca, ENEA has given its contribution to the event through the participation of Commissioner Federico Testa and the experts Massimo Iannetta, Andrea Sonnino and Roberto Antonioli in the various Thematic Tables: “Mother Earth”, “AgriLab-Innovation”, “Mare Magnum”. Over 500 representatives from national and international institutions, academia and the scientific research community, civil society and professional associations attended the event, working in 42 different working groups subdivided into four thematic tables: Sustainable development and equity, food culture - energy to live together, agriculture and health, city planning and smart cities.

A complex machine set up with a view to creating a database of about 400 case histories, representative places and quotes, 200 key words representing the discipline areas identified, and a collection of recommendations and commitments. These latter will serve as the reference point for the drafting of the Charter of Milan on the right to food, to be co-signed by the over 140 countries participating in the Expo.

The document is an act of commitment to sustainability and can be signed by whoever wishes to – citizens, institutions, enterprises, associations, academia and international organizations – during the six-month expo, and then will be delivered to the Secretary of the United Nations,  Ban Ki-Moon, thus connecting Expo 2015 with the end of the long consultation path called “Millennium Development Goals”. This initiative promoted by the United Nations is a blueprint leading to a global pact between rich and poor countries, founded on mutual respect and commitment. Started in 2000, this initiative will come to its completion on 2015, with “the definition of eight goals. “This is a fruitful year”, said Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, “during which the concept must prevail that we are guardians and not owners of land (cit. Papa Francesco).”

Source: Massimo Iannetta, Technical Unit for Sustainable Development and Agro-Industrial Innovation, massimo.iannetta@enea.it