At eighty years since that August 6, 1945, while the voice of the last witnesses fades, an unexpected legacy collects their witness. They are the hibakujumoku, the trees that have survived Hiroshima’s nuclear hell, today peace messengers in the world. Thanks to the commitment of PEFC Italia, a promoter of sustainable forest management, 51 of these “peace trees” have taken root throughout our country, to cultivate a future without weapons and remember a still open wound.
A date that has marked an irreversible watershed in the history of humanity. On August 6, 2025, the 80th anniversary of the launch of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima resorts. A memory carried out with a tireless dedication from the hibakusha, the survivors of the atomics on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, whose association, Nihon Hidankyo, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize winner. But with the passage of time, their direct testimony is destined to vanish. To collect this heavy but necessary witness, in addition to the new generations, are silent and resilient guardians: trees.
Don’t trees any, but the hibakujumoku. A Japanese term that combines the words Hibaku (‘bombed’) and Jumoku (‘tree’), to indicate those plants that, within two kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion, survived or rejected from their roots, where according to the scientists of the time nothing should be growing for decades. Today there are 160, belonging to over 30 different species, and from their seeds, new seedlings are born, ambassadors of hope all over the world.
This powerful natural diplomacy initiative is promoted globally by the Green Legacy Hiroshima (GLH), an organization of volunteers born in 2011. In Italy, since 2020, the project is curated by PEFC Italia in synergy with the association “World without wars and without violence”. Together, they take care of the whole process: from the collection of seeds from mother plants to Japan, to germination and growth at the Botanical Garden of Perugia, to the custody of young trees to schools, institutions and associations engaged in environmental and social inclusion projects.
To date, there are 51 “peace trees” that have found a house along the entire peninsula, from Maccagno to Palermo, from Vicenza to Reggio Calabria. Unique plants, entrusted to those who have distinguished themselves for their concrete commitment.
“These trees, silent witnesses of a tragedy that indelibly marks the path of humanity, bring messages more than ever necessary today, especially considering the dramatic conflicts currently underway in the world”, comments Antonio Bruori, general secretary of PEFC Italia. “80 years after the launch of the atomic bomb, the hibakujumoku are a living warning against war and the use of weapons of mass destruction but also the firm demonstration of the strength and the ability of rebirth inherent in nature”.
A project that inextricably binds the historical memory to the commitment for a more sustainable and peaceful future. It is not just about planting a tree, but of cultivating awareness. A gesture that, as Marco Bussone, president of PEFC Italia points out, builds peace “even with a new approach to ecosystems, stopping deforestation and illegal exploits of forest surfaces, generating new links, in Italy, among those who produce and those who consume natural public goods”.
From the Omnicomprensivo Institute of Pieve Santo Stefano (AR) to the Municipality of Bellusco (MB), the latest residences of 2025, passing through the Nocetum Center of Milan, the Cini Foundation in Venice and the Association for the Memory of the Vajont, the Italian Hibakujumoku network weaves a living map of resilience. Each tree is an open -air classroom, a root that binds the past to the future, a warning not to forget the horror and to choose life every day.
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