In recent days, World Earth Day has been celebrated, an anniversary that reminds us how fundamental and important it is to safeguard and protect our planet, now devastated by climate change and environmental degradation. For years, the entire world has been mobilizing to demand a significant change from the institutions and those who benefit us, requesting new, current environmental policies suited to the complex scenario we have before our eyes. An example of this are the mobilisations, particularly among young people, of the Friday for Future, a movement to save the earth. Urgent measures are needed to combat climate change and its impacts. Which can be seen, heard and perceived in Italy, given that 2019 was the third warmest year since 1961. In addition to the constant increase in temperatures, which are increasingly alarming from year to year, we are witnessing extreme episodes, such as floods, instability and fires, and rising sea levels and melting Alpine glaciers. 2023 was the second warmest year on record for Tuscany, with an average increase of 1.5 degrees centigrade.
It was a negative record year, therefore, which also led to the flood emergency last November, after a dry period: most of the rain in fact fell between May and June and then between the end of October and the beginning of November. The drama of the flood also hit nearby Emilia-Romagna a few months earlier: the tragic hydrogeological disaster last May which hit the Emilia-Romagna territories put the Region to the test. But the effects of climate change are many and varied. For this reason, the Region concentrates its efforts on an Arpae agro-weather monitoring network, which allows both the detection and monitoring of medium and long-term climate trends and the provision of forecasts and warnings to better manage and plan crops and agricultural practices depending on weather conditions. But let’s rewind the tape, because in September 2022 the Marche region was also hit by a heavy flood.
A scenario that repeats itself and brings with it environmental, economic and social damage. And in the Marche it was yet another disaster caused by the climate crisis, causing the same rain to fall in two hours that normally falls in six months. Even in this case, the seasonal temperature increases, and the planet gets hotter and hotter. The Marche disaster has affected, albeit partially, the Umbrian territory.
And Umbria has not remained idle: it is the first region in Europe to include the climate crisis in its statute, in light of the full awareness of the serious contemporary risk and the consequences of climate change for the integrity and survival of living species. Extreme consequences especially from a water point of view, which scare the economic sector crucial for Umbria, i.e. agriculture.
In 2022, Perugia is the regional capital in Italy where the highest increase is recorded, with +2.1 degrees centigrade. From 2010 to 2023, more than 10% of national weather disasters were recorded in Lombardy. Consider that in the first six months of 2023 there were 13 cases. We are talking about extreme meteorological events, such as hail, wind, rain, and then collapses, demolitions, flooding. The average temperature anomaly was almost two degrees centigrade compared to the average for the period 1991-2020.
Marco Principini
