Environment, ANBI:“Italy needs programming that provides responses to climate change”

The National Assembly is scheduled for 2 and 3 July to address the future of the country with the institutions and Italian politics

ROME – “Italy needs to have a vision that goes beyond today, because we need programming and planning that provides responses to climate change.The problems related to climate change cannot be solved overnight, but by having ideas of how to deal with them, both from a cultural and programmatic point of view. We at ANBI want to make an important contribution to our country to address this issue in terms of hydraulic safety, therefore management of excess water, but also irrigation, which is not only an agricultural value, but also an environmental one for the whole country, because it determines the beauty of our territories, the economy and usability.Because of this, in our assembly on 2 and 3 July, we want to address these issues, starting from the climatic conditions of the world and arriving in Europe, but above all trying to face the future with Italian politics, to understand what the wishes and choices are to be made to give the new generations the opportunity to remain in Italy".With these words the president of Anbi, the national association of consortia for the management and protection of land and irrigation water, Francesco Vincenzi, presented the next national assembly, entitled 'What choices after the PNRR-The network of reclamation consortia, strategic value for il Paese', which will take place on 2 and 3 July at the Carpegna Palace Hotel in Rome. The presentation press conference was attended by, among others, the General Director of ANBI, Massimo Gargano, Fabrizio De Filippis, former vice-rector of the Roma Tre University, with responsibility for training activities on sustainable development, and the meteorologist Paolo Sottocorona .

Listing the nation's current problems, with huge floods in the North and extreme drought in the South, Gargano highlighted the need to "have a vision of the aftermath, because Italy does not end with the end of the PNRR" and, in this sense, "ANBI must be considered in large infrastructure networks", also in view of the first Euro-Mediterranean Water Forum, which will arrive in Rome in 2026, thanks to the work put in place by the 'One water' promoting committee , which involves ministries, the Lazio Region, Rome Capital and important sector entities such as ANBI and the Earth and water agenda (Ewa) Foundation.

In his analysis the meteorologist Sottocorona explained that:“With maximum effort, it will take 50 years to reverse the climate emergency and that, in current climate changes, the irregularities of the phenomena tend to prevail".

In Italy, from 1 January to 19 June 2024, there were 506 cloudbursts, 184 anomalous hailstorms (hailstones with a diameter of at least 2 cm), 81 tornadoes, 10 avalanches and 24 damaging lightning strikes, affecting buildings, infrastructures, people and animals (Source ESWD-European Severe Weather Database).
In a recent ANBI elaboration, the estimate of damage to agriculture, caused by the drought in June 2024, mainly involved the production of cereals, with losses of 50-70%, with peaks of 90% in Basilicata;an average loss of 50% is estimated for the production of vegetables, fruit and olives. Farms are also affected, with the death of animals due to the heat or the difficulty of finding fodder and water. All this, and more, will be discussed in the next National Assembly of ANBI, in which many institutional, political and sector officials will participate. Among others, Francesco Paolo Figliuolo, Extraordinary Government Commissioner for the reconstruction of the territories affected by the flood in Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany and Marche, Renato Brunetta, president of the CNEL, Antonio Tajani, vice-president of the Council of Ministers e Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Minister of the Environment and Energy Security.