A new garden in Rome celebrates sustainability - and you can visit it without even leaving your house

Italy is inviting the world to visit an urban garden in the heart of its capital.

No need to book a flight, though – you can tour it from your smartphone or computer.

The G20 Green Garden in Rome is part of Italy’s presidency of the ‘G20’ – the forum of the world’s biggest economies – and celebrates sustainability and biodiversity.

Its features include a sacred wood, fruit orchard and a ‘cube meadow’ – an open-air installation of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The SDGs – also known as the Global Goals – were adopted by the UN’s 193 member states in 2015 and include ending poverty, inequality and hunger, creating sustainable cities and combatting climate change by 2030.

The G20 Green Garden is in Rome’s Appia Antica Park – a protected urban area that is home to many archaeological remains of ancient Rome.

For those who can’t tour the garden in person, the G20 Green Garden app allows for virtual visits; and either way, visitors are invited to “reflect on the future of the planet”.

New trees will be planted in the wood this October to symbolize the G20’s commitment to sustainability.

And opposite the garden’s Church of Saint Urban, which was originally a Roman temple, an “iconic tree” will be planted to symbolize the “values and objectives which must unite the international community and countries, commencing with the protection of biodiversity”.

Rome’s G20 Green Garden project links with the UN’s Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, which aims to halt and reverse environmental degradation and biodiversity loss, as well as the Green Cities Initiative, run by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

The latter focuses on using green spaces and technologies to improve the health and well-being of people living in urban areas.

Healthcare, climate and food security challenges are key themes to be explored during the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Development Impact Summit 2021.

Over four days from 20-23 September, the meeting will bring together leaders across sectors to accelerate progress towards the UN SDGs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event is being hosted virtually alongside the United Nations General Assembly and will feature working sessions, roundtables, dialogues and briefings on revitalizing economies, advancing an inclusive recovery, scaling up climate action and shaping future food systems.