Released today, World Day to Fight Desertification, a report that places Abruzzo, Europe’s Green Region, at risk due to prolonged droughts
In our region the risk of desertification by 2100 is high due to potential prolonged droughts, both meteorological and
hydrological. The consequences on agriculture and on the production of hydroelectric energy, still the main renewable source in the area, are evident. This is what emerges – on the occasion of the World Day to fight desertification – from research by the University of Annunzio which analyzed river flows, rainfall and temperatures since 1985. By determining past variations, the research has laid the foundations for outline future changes until 2100.
More generally, the Water Value for Italy Community of The European House – Ambrosetti defined the levels reached by drought throughout the country as worrying. In 2022, a 51.5% loss of renewable water resources was recorded, compared to the historical average since 1950.
In 2023, rising temperatures and the effects of human action have produced new pressure on water resources.
There are 12 regions with high water stress, with the South at the top, and they are destined to increase: Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily and Puglia are the most exposed overall, followed in order by Campania, Lazio, Marche and Umbria, Tuscany, Molise, Sardinia and Abruzzo.
Experts – reports the Community Valore acqua – estimate that by 2030 water stress will further intensify in some regions
Italians, with an increase of 8.7% in Liguria, 6.1% in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and 5.7% in Marche.
At a European level, the peninsula ranks as the fourth EU country for water stress, with an index of 3.3 out of 5. Only Belgium (4.4), Greece (4.3) and Spain (3.9) present worse values.
Two sectors in particular are most affected by global warming and drought: agriculture and hydroelectricity. Italian agriculture, the analysis highlights, is facing a growing water scarcity which puts food production and the sustainability of agricultural activities at risk. Honey production fell by 70%, pears by 63% and cherries by 60%.
Hydroelectricity is suffering due to the reduction of water resources, compromising the country’s ability to meet energy demand through clean sources. 2022 was a black year. Total precipitation has drastically decreased, and snow cover has recorded a deficit of 60% compared to the average for the decade 2010-2021.
Due to the high temperatures, only 13.5% of the rainfall has
contributed to the recharge of aquifers. This phenomenon gives rise to further concern, as the renewable water resource is expected to further reduce by 40% by 2100, with peaks of 90% reduction in southern Italy.
The amount of water lost in 2022 – notes the Community White Paper Water Value – is equal to that needed to irrigate approximately 641,000 hectares of land, an area corresponding to the entire agricultural surface of Lazio. Furthermore, it is equivalent to the water consumed annually by over 14 million people, i.e. the inhabitants of Lombardy and Piedmont, and the quantity used by the production of 82,000 manufacturing companies, the industrial fabric of regions such as Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Emilia-Romagna .
“The water situation in Italy – explains Valerio De Molli, managing partner and CEO of The European House – Ambrosetti – requires immediate and concerted action. A concrete commitment is needed from all the actors involved. It is important to modernize and make our water infrastructure more efficient, to optimize water collection and storage, activating the 20% of potentially exploitable volumes already present in large Italian dams”.
