In Apulia, the Patriarchs, also called the Sages, are the secular olive trees that have characterized the region for hundreds of years and are now threatened with extinction. Prof. Purcell’s words urged me to deepen the research on this project. August 2013. Donato Boscia – coordinator of the department IPSP at CNR (National Research Council) – notices an abnormal desiccation in an olive grove in the South of Italy, in Taviano (LE) to be precise. It was the first appearance of Xylella fastidiosa examined by CNR of Bari where the major research is located. Up to that moment, the Xylella bacterium was unknown in Europe, apart from the stories about the damage it caused in the agriculture of North and South America. The Xylella bacterium is transmitted to the plants’ xylem by vector insects and provokes an infection that by clogging lymphatic vessels prevents nutrients from reaching the tips of the plants, eventually causing their death. Some numbers concerning the disaster:
• Number of olive trees dead due to Xylella fastidiosa: 21 millions
• Number of olive trees at risk of desiccation: 37 millions
• CO2 absorbed by an olive tree in one year: 730 kg
• Number of square meters at risk of desertification: 145 thousand km2
• Speed of Xylella fastidiosa diffusion: 2 km a month.
Xylella fastidiosa is one of the main phytosanitary problems of the whole Mediterranean area: its diffusion is moving at a very high speed and there is a real danger it will spread in countries with a strong olive-growing tradition as Spain, Greece and Tunisia.
I started working on «Death of Patriarchs» project in 2017 by approaching CNR of Bari researchers who were working on this issue. Later, I followed other relevant themes: economic, environmental, and social ones. This project is a constant work in progress. Xylella attracts many topis, and as the solution for its diffusion has not yet been found, I can periodically add new, important information. In July 2023, I followed Donato Boscia in the fields where he had discovered Xylella in 2013 to examine the recovery of some infected trees and my photographs were used during the international conference of Xylella held in Paris in August 2023.
It is a long-term project, the images exposed are a small part of the project, if you are interested in the topic write to me privately.
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In Apulia, the Patriarchs, also called the Sages, are the secular olive trees that have characterized the region for hundreds of years and are now threatened with extinction. Prof. Purcell’s words urged me to deepen the research on this project. August 2013. Donato Boscia – coordinator of the department IPSP…
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