>>149776677
>>with ecological implications
That interview did not elaborate.
academia.edu ran me a goose chase: two paywalled papers (Environmental Function of Animal Characters Across Different Literary Genres, and “Translocal” narration of environmental issue through graphic novels: two Italian case studies) may have mentioned more; however, an academia A.I. search for "What messages about conservation and nature are conveyed through the characters in W.I.T.C.H.?" admitted it could find none.
sci-hub and google scholar all drew blanks. I did send a question to the author of "American Style, Girl Heroes and Made-in-Italy Disney Comics: W.I.T.C.H. (2001-12) as a Case Study" but I've never got replies to other academia questions.
So, my vague memory is only of one issue hada village cursed with permanent fog/smoke. picrel from issue 4 is a stretch.