In Puglia, the areas affected by the risk of desertification represent 57% of the usable surface area and the bill paid by agriculture subject to climate change and drought is high, amounting to over 70 million euros. This is what emerges from an analysis by Coldiretti Puglia on the situation in the Apulian territory. The water deficit in the reservoirs in Puglia has reached -143 million cubic meters of water, while high quality production, early or late fruit and, again, table grape tents and important tomato areas are at risk, an agricultural heritage – insists Coldiretti Puglia – which has cost effort and investment to numerous agricultural companies, risks being destroyed, with very serious repercussions not only of an economic but also social nature, if we consider the quantity of manpower that is used. Meanwhile, 230 out of 257 Apulian municipalities are at risk of hydrogeological instability and are paying the costs – reports Coldiretti Puglia – in addition to citizens residing especially in rural areas, it is precisely the 11,692 companies that operate in those territories. The hydrogeological risk, with different hydraulic and geomorphological hazards, concerns – Coldiretti Puglia notes – 100% of the BAT municipalities, 95% of the territories of Brindisi and Foggia, 90% of the municipalities of the province of Bari and 81% of the municipalities in Lecce and 8,098 Apulian citizens are exposed to landslides and 119,034 are exposed to floods.
The hydrogeological risk concerns predominantly agricultural or natural contexts because in Puglia the land landslides and is also consumed due to the abandonment of rural areas due to different factors – insists Coldiretti Puglia – to which are added the photovoltaic panels on the ground which take away fertile land and phenomena increasingly intense meteorological events, concentrated in a few hours and in limited areas, with floods and damage even in areas that are not excessively populated. The fact that in the last 50 years almost 1 in 3 agricultural land has disappeared (-30%) is certainly not unrelated to this situation – Coldiretti underlines – with the usable agricultural surface in Italy being reduced to just 12.8 million hectares due to abandonment and overbuilding which makes the surfaces impervious. In addition to the persistent and frequent drought phenomena, 89% of the rain that falls is lost due to infrastructural deficiencies and sieve networks, an unacceptable waste for a precious commodity also in light of climate changes which – continues Coldiretti – are profoundly modifying the distribution and the intensity of rainfall also on the national territory.
In recent years at a European level, an ideological and unrealistic vision has been fueled – underlines Coldiretti – which placed agriculture and the environment in opposition when, instead, it is precisely the presence of agricultural companies that guarantees constant protection of the territory from the dangers linked to instability as well as fires. Suffice it to remember that 55% of the Italian surface is managed and looked after by farmers, ‘sentinels’ available to the community. It is essential from this perspective to accelerate the approval of the law on land consumption which has been pending in Parliament for years and which – concludes Coldiretti – could provide Italy with a cutting-edge instrument, once again allowing our country to act as trailblazer in Europe, as has already happened for synthetic meat and the origin label.
