Rome, 17 June 2024 – While at Northern Italy’s climate is becoming increasingly tropical, there drought puts the South at risk, with consequences for crops in the Mediterranean area. The problem of a soil on average more poor in water concerns all Italian regions. This is what emerges from the data released today, on the occasion of the World Day against Desertification, by Greenpeace Italia.
They are expected throughout the peninsula in the coming years increasingly warm wintersbut it will be theNorthern Italy to warm up moreover And to record the major anomalies as regards the rainfall. Over the last 40 years, the increase in the average winter temperature (January-March) has been almost 1.5°C, with peaks of almost 2°C in the North West and over 1.5°C in the North East. The increases highest were recorded in Valle d’Aosta, Piedmont and Lombardy.
In 2024, in just two winter months, The same amount of water fell on Northern Italy as it did in all three previous winters. In reverse, in the rest of the countryin the winters between 2021 and 2024, one was recorded general reduction in precipitation: the variation is greater in the South (-2.3%) and in the Islands (-5.7%), where it affects areas already characterized by less rainfall than elsewhere.
All over Italy, 2022 was the driest yearwith a 64% reduction in rainfall in the North West. The result is that the soil of all Italian regionswith the sole exception of the Aosta Valley, they are poorer in water than the average of the last 30 years. The impoverishment has particularly affected Sicily (-2% in the last 4 winters compared to those of the previous thirty years), Puglia (-1%) and Calabria (-1%).
