PUGLIA – With temperatures approaching 43 degrees and the lack of rain, Puglia burns with the province of Lecce inflamed by several contemporary fires, where each fire costs citizens over ten thousand euros per hectare between immediate costs for extinguishing and remediation and long-term ones on the reconstruction of environmental and economic systems over a period of time that reaches 15 years. This is what Coldiretti Puglia denounces, with the map of the fires in the province of Lecce which is not sparing any municipality, with the ‘lower Salento macro area’ which includes 9 municipalities, the most affected area with 29 fires in 3 weeks, according to data of the Civil Defense operating in that area.
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In 2023 the scourge of fires in Puglia – explains Coldiretti Puglia – fortunately started late, because the spring was very rainy, with temperatures that remained below the seasonal average, but since the heat gripped the phenomenon exploded in all its violence from north to south of Puglia. Enormous effort by firefighters, civil protection and law enforcement to stem the flames that affect sometimes vast areas of naturalistic, landscape and tourist value, as well as production, with relief and interventions that reach – adds Coldiretti Puglia – even the most inaccessible areas to extinguish other outbreaks, where the flames send entire fields of wheat, trees, crops up in smoke, a distressing situation aggravated by the lack of prevention, surveillance and above all environmental education on the inestimable value of a heritage determined for biodiversity and for the hydrogeological stability of the territory.
If certainly the flaring up of the flames is favored by the anomalous climate, what is worrying – continues the regional Coldiretti – is precisely the action of the arsonists with 60% of the fires estimated to be caused voluntarily. The rain – underlines the regional Coldiretti – is expected to combat drought in the countryside but to be a relief it must last a long time, fall steadily and not too intensely, while heavy storms, especially with violent rainfall, such as those that occurred in the north, they cause damage because the land is unable to absorb the water which falls violently and tends to flow away causing landslides and landslides.
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The consequences are dramatic in environmental terms due to the flames which cause the temperature to rise to over 750 degrees, causing devastating effects such as soil deterioration, the disappearance of biodiversity, ecological degradation, the loss of woody and non-woody products, the hydrogeological disorder, climate change due to carbon dioxide emissions, smoke pollution and the destruction of fauna.
In Puglia where the exceptional nature of atmospheric events is by now the norm – recalls the regional Coldiretti – the tendency to overheating is accompanied by a higher frequency of extreme events and seasonal lag which – continues Coldiretti Puglia – upset the normal crop cycles and impact on the harvest calendar and the availability of the products that consumers put in their shopping cart, with the drought cutting yields and harvests.
It will take up to 15 years to rebuild the forests reduced to ashes by fire, with damage to the environment, the economy, employment and tourism. In the burned areas – underlines the regional Coldiretti – all traditional human activities and the discovery of the territory by tens of thousands of enthusiasts will also be prevented. If certainly the flaring up of the flames is favored by the anomalous climate, what is worrying – continues the regional Coldiretti – is precisely the action of the arsonists with 60% of the fires estimated to be caused voluntarily. The rain – underlines the regional Coldiretti – is expected to combat drought in the countryside but to be a relief it must last a long time, fall steadily and not too intensely, while heavy storms, especially with violent rainfall, such as those that occurred in the north, they cause damage because the land is unable to absorb the water which falls violently and tends to flow away causing landslides and landslides.
In addition to immediate measures to guarantee the food supply of the population, it is necessary to coordinate all the subjects involved, the Regions concerned, the Basin Authorities and the Reclamation Consortia for a unitary management of the water balance because the urgency of launching a major national plan is evident for reservoirs that Coldiretti has been proposing for some time given that only 11% of rainwater is collected and 50% could be reached, thus avoiding crisis situations such as the one that is occurring again this year.
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