WTI Magazine #62    2015 June, 12
Author : Expo 2015      Translation by:

The Expo's Biodiversity Park is the result of a partnership between BolognaFiere and the Expo 2015 SpA., in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies, the Ministry of the Environment, Protection of Land and Sea, and FederBio. The Thematic Area of Expo Milano 2015 dedicated to biodiversity covers 8,500 square meters, and includes a theatre and two Pavilions, one dedicated to Organic and Natural Products, the other housing the Biodiversity exhibition.

The goal of the Biodiversity Park is to call attention to Italy's outstanding qualities in terms of the environment, agriculture, and food production. Visitors to the park will see how Italy's agricultural biodiversity has evolved and has been taken care of, their visit complemented by events, seminars, and multi-media experiences.

The term agrobiodiversity refers to all plant varieties cultivated and animal breeds raised, to agriculture, agroecosystems, and arable land. It also includes the genetic resources of plants and animals, edible plants and agricultural crops, traditional varieties and ancient recipes, livestock, fish, and land micro-organisms, irrigation waters, and cultivated lands, seeds and types of farming establishments.
We cannot talk about food and the future of the planet, or about the global challenges for ensuring nutrition and sustainable development, without also discussing agricultural biodiversity and its evolution and protection. These naturally lead to organic farming methods that play a crucial role in the conservation and implementation of biodiversity.

The objective of BolognaFiere in creating the park and partnering with Expo, complemented by the organisational experience of SANA (the International Exhibition of Organic and Natural Products), is to showcase the Italian farmers, businesses and associations who share a respect for nature, within a thematic area in the Universal Exposition. The Biodiversity Park is thus a journey through the many opportunities that biodiversity and organic agriculture afford for Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.

The Biodiversity Park visitor experience

Outdoor space: a journey around Italy
The external area of the Biodiversity Park offers an extended journey around the Italian peninsula, with five "staging posts" representing five different landscapes: the Alps, the Apennines, the Po Valley, the Tavolieri highlands, and the Islands. Beyond the orchard area, the journey ends with a depiction of urban agrobiodiversity.

The physical appearance of these five areas is conveyed by a landscape made of trees, and plants, all of which work together to tell stories, transmitting emotions and inspiring future projects. A walkway winding through the centre of each of the environments represents a track that becomes a country lane, transforms into a drovers' road, and then ends up as a mule track hugging the coastline. This "Grand Tour" gives visitors the chance to experience Italy's agricultural heritage that they would rarely have the opportunity to observe.
Biodiversity Narratives: the Exhibition

An exhibition illustrating the history of biodiversity issues around the planet has been created within the Biodiversity Park grounds by the Expo Milano 2015 Advisory Committee. The exhibition follows a circular route, leading the visitor through nine main circular areas and four secondary spaces.

The first section is entitled, "Introduction to the theme". From there, visitors decide whether to go clockwise: from the past into the future, or anti-clockwise: from the future to the past. The sections are: 1) Introduction to the theme; 2) Wild: Biodiversity Before the Advent of Agriculture; 3) Domestication, Farming and Agrobiodiversity; 4) The Great Voyages; 5) Crop Rotation; 6) The "Green Revolution"; 7) Beyond the "Green Revolution"; 8) Innovations, Technologies, and a Future That is Already Here; 9) Now What?

Indoor space: the Organic and Natural Products Pavilion
The Organic and Natural Products Pavilion forms the heart of the Biodiversity Park, a place to learn about organic production through stories about the food supply chain based on ecologically-sound, safe, sustainable agriculture that can successfully respond to the challenge laid down by Expo Milano 2015, that of: Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.

This Pavilion is divided into six thematic areas: 1) seeds, cereals, legumes and derivatives; 2) fruits, vegetables and transformed produce; 3) oil and wine; 4) livestock produce; 5) herbal products, supplements, well-being; 6) services, technologies, training, certification

Each area is complemented by examples of outstanding achievements on the part of farmers who, through their commitment, passion and innovation, have helped to protect natural ecosystems and biodiversity. The installation will be based on multi-media technologies, evoking the land and products.

The last part of the Pavilion includes an Organic Store, in partnership with NaturaSì; and an Organic Restaurant, in partnership with Alce Nero-Berberè.