The land consumption in Basilicata continues to represent an emergency: reached last year the highest average in Italy immediately after Molise with 588m2/inhabitant for a total of 31,825 of which 22,560 has in the province of Potenza and 9,266 ha in that of Matera.
In In 15 years, a net 2,356 ha were lost.
As if 1500 football stadiums had disappeared.
Reporting it is Cia-Farmers Basilicata which reprocessed the Ispra data on the occasion of Desertification and Drought Day (17 June) 2024.
There desertification, land degradation and drought are among the most urgent environmental challenges of our time, with over the 40% of all land surface in the world already considered degraded.
A healthy earth is not just there it provides almost 95% of our food, but much more: It clothes and protects us, provides us with jobs and livelihoods, and protects us from worsening droughts, floods, and fires.
Yet, every second, an equivalent of four football fields of healthy soil is degraded, totaling 100 million hectares each year.
The Day against Desertification and Drought is celebrated every year on 17 June, “United for the earth. Our heritage. Our Future” is the theme chosen for 2024 and highlights the future of land management: our most precious resource for ensuring the stability and prosperity of billions of people around the world.
Points out CIA:
“Agricultural land is a limited resource on which all agricultural activity and food depend.
Reason for which we are called to implement every useful intervention for its protection.
Besides one to debureaucratize practices, farmers, who have always been the custodians of the landscape, must be provided with tools that allow them to carry out their businesses efficiently and effectively.
Therefore the CIA – Farmers considers “The approval of the Directive on soil monitoring and resilience is urgenta fundamental element for agricultural production and for EU food security” while on the water issue he asks “to Europe a plan that aims to rethink the storage, reduction, losses and reuse of water”.
The Region must too do its part through a framework law, protect agricultural resources and promote sustainable land management.
The June 17, 2024 also marks the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention to combat desertification (UNCCD), the only legally binding international treaty on land management and drought; one of the three Rio Conventions together with climate change and biodiversity.
The objectives of Desertification and Drought Day I am:
- Promote public awareness of problems related to desertification, land degradation and drought;
- Present human-driven solutions to prevent desertification and reverse drought intensification;
- Strengthen the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
As for drought, in the dams and reservoirs of Basilicata as of June 13th, approximately 185 million cubic meters of water were missing compared to June 13th 2023 (about 110 million cubic meters in Montecotugno alone) putting at risk the valuable productions, especially fruit and vegetables, of the Metaponto area.
For the CIA, a coordination table between all the bodies involved with the presence of a representative of the agricultural organizations that are part of the Green Table established at the Agriculture Department should monitor the progress of climatic events in order to adopt “the most suitable solutions necessary to govern the situation and foresee developments”.
The farmers speak of the “extraordinary nature of the moment” and the “possible implications that the situation that this state of affairs can generate”.
