There are still 17 days left until the end of the meteorological winter: February 29th. During the tractor protest, farmers took into account the damage they suffer from climate change. But they are against the sustainability strategy, even though their operations are threatened by drought. What climatic phenomenon is more evident than the lack of water because it doesn't rain, the rivers are dry, there is no snow and much more? Let's see, then, what has been happening in recent weeks.
The Mediterranean basin is once again exposed to water shortages and the repercussions on crops and product quality are imaginable. It's not the first time we've glimpsed the consequences.
The European map of hardship
THEEuropean Drought Observatory of the European Commission presented the updated map of the phenomenon which extends from Algeria to Spain, from Morocco to Italy. Sicily and Sardinia are among the most affected regions. At the time of writing, the Sicily Region has announced the declaration of the state of magnet. It is the Italian region that suffers the most and in many areas water for agricultural uses is limited. We are now at one state of water severity on a national scale, ISPRA said.
The drought also increases towards the central regions. “The exceptionally high temperatures, the scarcity of precipitation and the absence of snow along the Apennine ridge are rapidly creating a state of serious water suffering for the peninsular regions, more accentuated in the South, but the critical issues are also becoming evident in the Northern regions” we read in the latest bulletin of the Association of Water Consortia (ANBI).
The productive and economic stress of farmers is real and perhaps in the protests with requests to Ministers Lollobrigida and Salvini should have highlighted the problem more. Why also to Salvini? Because for a year he has been in charge of the control room for the country's water emergency.
Now, the hydraulic infrastructures of the South are barely able to meet the needs of the fields in recent weeks. But the water demand with the arrival of the warmer months, it will increase exponentially with families, industries and countryside needing it. “Aside from the emergency measures, it is necessary to immediately activate the control rooms between all interested parties to best manage the available resources” he explains Massimo Gargano, general director of ANBI. The system has been in crisis for years. It is among those to be managed in the arduous green transition.
The map of inconveniences and the PNRR
Sardinia is suffering from a lack of water with collection basins at 50%, Basilicata with reservoirs with 40% less than last year, Puglia with a deficit of 44%. In Lazio the rainfall at the beginning of the year was minimal and the Tiber recorded a flow rate halved compared to the average for the period. Let's stop here because we've arrived at the usual point: what to do ? Climate, political, agricultural, public spending.
Over the last 30 years, climate change has affected Italy more than any other European country. In the fields, poor rainfall puts the sowing of cereals, legumes, vegetables and fodder for pastures at risk. The repercussions on consumer prices of agricultural products also have this particular origin, despite - we repeat - it is little exposed in the tractor protests.
Italy is unable to have a single strategy for the water sector, an organic idea of relaunch, a minimum separation between civil and agricultural uses of water. They are there in the PNRR 2 billion euros to spend, but it's going slowly. In April 2023 the Court of Auditors with a resolution asked the Ministry of Infrastructure what "measures it intended to adopt to comply with the recommendations given regarding the PNRR M2C4 I4.1 investment ("Investments in primary water infrastructure for the security of water supply"). A signal of suffering launched by accounting judges. The answer lies in the hands of politics, bodies and management companies. When and how will it arrive? For now we'll keep the drought and a mysterious control room.
