Today, November 6, the boycott of Conad supermarkets begins, promoted by environmental associations, committees and grassroots groups who ask to stop the overbuilding of the area. The appeal, which received 45 signatures, invites citizens not to shop in the chain’s stores, distribute flyers and publicly return loyalty cards.
A mobilization that comes after weeks of appeals, demonstrations and a decision by the Council of State which, paradoxically, agreed with the appellants on the need to suspend further felling when the trees foreseen by the project had already been cut down.
The 98 trees are already on the ground
The legal matter is far from over. In July the TAR of Parma rejected the request to suspend the works, claiming that a real “urban forest” was not identifiable in the area and also considering the environmental compensations provided for by the project.
Legambiente and some citizens had therefore appealed to the Council of State, which with ordinance no. 4257 of 9 October accepted the precautionary appeal, suspending the contested measures limited to the felling of further trees and asking the TAR to quickly rule on the merits.
But the 98 trees destined for cutting had already been felled, as Conad itself specified. The provision therefore did not stop the construction site, which continues on the basis of the authorizations issued by the Municipality.
A situation that raises an inevitable question: what is the point of precautionary protection if it arrives when the damage it should have avoided has already been done?
@Bosco Ospizio/FB
Because the associations are asking to boycott Conad
The boycott was born from an appeal spread through the blog The Barber’s Shopinitially promoted by 19 entities and subsequently supported by dozens of associations and groups.
Conad violated its Code of Ethics and all decency. We, the undersigned grassroots associations, do not believe that it is tolerable, the promoters write, accusing the company of having favored economic interests over the protection of the territory.
The aim is to hit the brand on a commercial level, transforming the local protest into a national consumer mobilization. If the initiative gathers significant support, the organizers intend to repeat it before Christmas.
Moreover, the associations are not only asking to stop the works, but to recognize the gravity of the destruction of Bosco Ospizio and preserve what remains of the area.
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A spontaneous forest cannot be replaced by planting other trees
Conad Centro Nord, owner of the land since 2015, defends the redevelopment project approved by the Municipality in 2024. In addition to the supermarket, public services are planned, including a community house, and environmental compensation interventions with the planting of over 1,300 trees.
But it is precisely on this point that environmentalists continue to insist: a spontaneous forest is not simply a collection of trees, but is an ecosystem built over time, with living soil, vegetation, fauna and ecological functions that cannot be reproduced overnight. Even more so in a city where greenery helps to mitigate summer temperatures, absorb part of the precipitation and offer refuge to biodiversity.
@Bosco Ospizio/FB
And while at a European level we talk about restoring nature, in our cities the idea that a green area can be sacrificed and then compensated elsewhere continues to prevail too often.
The case of Bosco Ospizio therefore goes far beyond the fate of a supermarket, but goes as far as the way in which we choose to transform cities and the value we attribute to nature when it spontaneously returns to occupy the spaces we have stolen from it.
The legal battle continues and the boycott today 6 November opens a new front. But one thing is already certain: the promised new trees will be able to grow one day. Those shot down will not return.
