Audiovisual Home About

Davide Mancini

Freelance journalist and videomaker.  I look for environmental stories connected with our consumption behaviors, that unveil the complexity of a globalized society.

My Articles

Voxeurop •

Is eating octopus sustainable? The struggle of artisanal fishers from Mexico to Spain

Polvo à Lagareiro in Portugal, pulpo a la Gallega in Spain, polpo alla Luciana in Italy, or chtapódi xidháto in Greece – across the coastal regions of southern Europe, octopus is a traditional dish that has long held a place on local tables. Today, it’s widely available in restaurants and supermarkets across the continent, often at affordable prices.


While consumption is on the rise, octopus catches are in decline. As a result, much of the octopus served in Europe no longer comes from Europea...
Mongabay Environmental News •

Two coasts, one struggle for octopus fishers battling overfishing and warming waters

ASTURIAS, Spain, and YUCATÁN, Mexico — On a mild February morning, Isaac Blanco quickly places half a sardine into each cage as his brother, Julio, steers their boat along the Asturian coast in northern Spain. This is the beginning of the season for pulpo — Octopus vulgaris — the most commercially sought-after cephalopod in this region, and part of the local fishing tradition.

The fishing villages along this stretch of the Asturian coast have long been a model of sustainable fisheries. In 2016,...
Voxeurop •

Terra e carta: l’industria della cellulosa europea in Mozambico

Mentre Gabriel Feijao travasa il miele in una bottiglietta di plastica con l’aiuto della figlia, sua moglie prepara le pagnotte, appena sfornate, da un forno tradizionale alimentato a carbone ardente. Il carbone lo produce un altro dei suoi figli a qualche centinaio di metri di distanza, usando tronchi di alberi raccolti nella sua terra. Carbone, miele, pane e verdure sono quello che la famiglia produce per sé ma, anche, in buona parte, per venderlo al mercato locale. Si tratta di un’agricoltura...
www.elsaltodiario.com •

La expansión del eucalipto en Mozambique para la papelera europea

“La empresa vino para quedarse con mi machamba (tierra) por la fuerza, pero no lo permití; a mis hijos les encanta la agricultura”. Ester Bande vive en el distrito de Gondôla, en la provincia de Manica, en el centro de Mozambique. Es una mujer viuda, con ocho hijos, siete nietos y ocho bisnietos. En Mozambique, machamba se refiere a la tierra destinada al cultivo para uso familiar, un sistema agrícola mixto donde se siembran cereales, trigo, hortalizas y frutas, además de hierbas medicinales, es...
Mongabay Environmental News •

The price for Europe’s packing paper boom

The rapid rise of e-commerce and food delivery services has transformed consumption patterns worldwide. In an effort to reduce plastic waste, the European Union introduced policies such as the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, aimed at a shift from single-use plastics to single-use paper products. While these initiatives aim to address the environmental crisis, they have fueled a surge in demand for cellulose, intensifying pressures on global forests and rural communities.For years, Port...
IrpiMedia •

La rotta della carta: dal Portogallo al Mozambico, l’industria della cellulosa in cerca di terra coltivabile

E-commerce, food delivery e la transizione verde europea stanno contribuendo a far aumentare la domanda di cellulosa in Europa, ma soprattutto incide la contestata direttiva sul packaging. Secondo diverse organizzazioni a difesa delle foreste, come Fern, la direttiva europea approvata nella primavera del 2024 è stato un falso passo avanti per l’ambiente, perché non riduce il packaging ma piuttosto «sostituisce semplicemente la plastica con imballaggi di carta, che spesso contengono comunque plas...
Domani •

Così i fertilizzanti divorano l’ossigeno nei laghi: lo scontro con gli ambientalisti e la ricerca di soluzioni più sostenibili

Se in Europa è ormai da generazioni che non si parla di malnutrizione, questo è anche grazie ai fertilizzanti. Dalla Rivoluzione Verde degli anni quaranta del secolo scorso, la produzione di cibo è aumentata enormemente, e con essa l’uso di fertilizzanti sintetici. Questi apportano i nutrienti ai terreni usati per coltivare la frutta e verdura che mangiamo, ma anche per le coltivazioni necessarie ad alimentare l’industria della carne. Ma a distanza di decenni, si comincia a vederne i limiti ecol
EUobserver •

EU rules seen as insufficient to fix nutrient pollution

From rivers and lakes to lagoons and seas, numerous aquatic environments across Europe are grappling with a silent yet ubiquitous threat – an excess of nutrients that disrupt their ecological balance and imperil their very existence.

This pollution is largely the by-product of factory farming and intensive agriculture, where too much manure and man-made fertiliser is spread on farmland to grow crops, resulting in nutrient-rich runoff getting into downstream waterways.

The leakage of these subs
climatica.coop •

Sobredosis de abonos en Europa - Climática

La doctora Antonella Litta es miembro de la asociación italiana Medici per l’Ambiente (Médicos por el Medio Ambiente) y lleva una década trabajando a escala local, regional y nacional para mejorar el agua del lago Vico: “Hace más de diez años que no tenemos agua potable en el pueblo, porque el agua doméstica procede del lago, que está contaminado“. El uso masivo de fertilizantes en el suelo alrededor del lago durante décadas ha provocado una acumulación de nutrientes por encima del umbral permit
Corriere della Sera •

Dopo 80 anni i “pellets” in plastica fluttuano levigati dal mare: si allerta la Commissione Europea

Sulle rive del fiume Schelda, che si getta nel Mare del Nord dalla citt� portuale di Anversa, non � difficile scorgere polimeri di plastica mescolati alla sabbia, a poche centinaia di metri dagli impianti petrolchimici che punteggiano uno dei porti pi� grandi d’Europa. Katrin Van den Troost, attivista dell’organizzazione locale Climaxi, ci guida attraverso alcuni dei luoghi in cui si accumulano i pellet di plastica, alcuni colorati, altri ingialliti dal tempo, altri ancora trasparenti. Da
VSquare.org •

Are we ready for a mega-fire in Central Europe?

We decided to compare the degree of preparedness for this threat in three countries: we started with Portugal, which has been dealing with wildfires for years, then looked at Hungary, where climate warming is becoming more and more noticeable, and ended with Poland, where awareness of the threat is still negligible. What can Central European countries learn from what is already happening in the south of our continent? Are they prepared for the worst case scenarios?

The fire in the Biebrza Natio
EUobserver •

[Investigation] Nurdle pollution: old problem, same legislative challenges

This is the second chapter of the investigation into plastic pellet pollution. Building on the insights presented in part one, this segment explores the limited efforts made to address the issue and the regulatory gap that prevents holding companies accountable.

Nurdle pollution is not a recent occurrence: the earliest reported sightings of plastic pellets on beaches date back to the early 1970s. Yet no specific legislation has been introduced since then, and efforts to mitigate spills have lar
EUobserver •

[Investigation] Nurdles: Europe's worst unknown plastic pollution crisis

From the rugged coastlines of the North Sea to the sun-drenched beaches of the southern Mediterranean, Europe faces a pervasive yet little-known environmental threat: pollution from tiny, round plastic pellets.

They are called nurdles, and they are the foundational building blocks for nearly all plastic products, from yogurt cups to toothbrushes, computer casings, and car bumpers. But as essential as they are for consumer goods, nurdles are also a vast source of plastic pollution.

Student or r
European Data Journalism Network - EDJNet •

Fighting fires with fires – and pasture

In early December, in the hills of Dalías, near Almeria, a group of thirty firefighters from INFOCA, the firefighting service of the region of Andalusia, were torching an area of brushwood within a 40-hectare plot. Supervising them were researchers as well as other firefighters with experience in controlled fires. This was of course no pyromaniac spree, but rather a well-planned test of “pyric herbivorism”, part of the COMPAS programme carried out by research centres in the three Spanish regions
VoxEurop •

Portugal, wildfires and the eucalyptus curse

No one would guess that in 2017 more than 50,000 hectares burned in the hills between Pedrogrão Grande and Castanheira de Persparka, in central Portugal. The vegetation is luxuriant again and a mantle of (also known as blue gum) covers much of the mountainous landscape. These are plantations rather than forests, and its canopy already reaches a height of 10 or 15 metres. Although the trees are not yet ready to be harvested for the pulp industry, there is plenty of human activity going on.

"At t
El País •

Los pescadores nómadas de Nigeria, en primera línea del frente climático

El Níger, con 4.200 kilómetros, es el tercer río más largo de África y atraviesa cuatro países (Guinea, Malí, Níger en su frontera con Benín, y Nigeria). Unos 3,8 millones de pescadores nómadas viven, por épocas, en sus orillas, según datos de 2016 de la Universidad de Port Harcourt de Nigeria. En la foto, uno de ellos observa la crecida de las aguas en la aldea de Igbedor (Estado de Anambra, al sur de Nigeria) el pasado mes de febrero.

El nivel del río cerca de la aldea de Igbedor suele descen
lamarea •

Inundar la costa de pellets sale gratis

Desde la AEQT cuidan el lenguaje: “Cuando hablamos sobre los pellets, no hablamos de vertidos, porque esa palabra da a entender que se ha vertido algo voluntariamente. Nuestras empresas tienen pérdidas de pellets, y esto es importante entenderlo porque el pellet es una materia prima y no tenemos ningún interés en perderlo”, explica Maria Mas, directora gerente de la patronal, durante una entrevista con este medio. Como materia prima, estos gránulos plásticos no se ven afectados por la normativa
Mongabay Environmental News •

Illegal trawling ravages Tunisian seagrass meadows crucial for fish

KERKENNAH ISLANDS, Tunisia — It’s a rainy afternoon in the port of Kraten, and all the fishing boats are docked, waiting for a winter storm to pass. Some fishers have gathered at the port anyway, to have a chat and share a tea while arranging nets and octopus traps for the coming days. Boulbeba Souissi and Najib used to catch and sell marine sponges, but after these became scarce, Souissi moved on to snorkeling tourism and Najib focused on octopus fishing with traditional clay traps.

“We need t
El País •

“Este mar solía estar lleno de vida”: la pesca ilegal hiere de muerte a un criadero del Mediterráneo

Tras un día de ventisca invernal, Ahmed Taktak y su ayudante Mohamed esperaban encontrar más peces en sus redes, pero solo recogen dos pequeñas doradas, dos cangrejos azules y un pulpo cabezón. Los dos viven en las islas Kerkennah, un archipiélago del golfo de Gabes, en Túnez, a 120 kilómetros de la isla italiana de Lampedusa, y subsisten, o más bien subsistían, gracias a la pesca, pero es probable que los peces que no han caído en sus redes ese día hayan sido capturados ilegalmente y exportados
IrpiMedia •

La zona grigia dello strascico: il pesce illegale del Mediterraneo nei supermercati europei

«Prima che io partissi per l’Italia, questo era il golfo più pescoso del Paese, perché molte specie del Mediterraneo vengono a riprodursi qui. Non lasciamo neanche più ai pesci il tempo di farlo. Peschiamo sempre, giorno e notte, quattro stagioni all’anno», spiega mentre ripulisce le reti dalla plastica e getta in acqua le lische dei pesci di piccola taglia mangiati dal granchio blu, una specie invasiva venuta dal Mar Rosso che i pescatori tunisini, per la sua voracità, hanno ribattezzato Daesh,
Alternatives Economiques •

En Tunisie, l'agonie des pêcheurs artisanaux

Quand Ahmed n’était encore qu’un enfant, il partait pendant l’été travailler avec son oncle, un pêcheur artisanal, au large des îles Kerkennah. Cet archipel de la côte tunisienne, à une vingtaine de kilomètres au large de Sfax, est composé d’une douzaine de petits îlots inhabités et de deux îles principales, reliées par un pont. C’est à cet endroit que Ahmed possède une « parcelle de mer ». La plupart des habitants de Kerkennah sont des pêcheurs, chacun ayant « sa » partie de la bande littorale.
Load More