Ultima Generazione blocks the Rome Marathon to raise awareness of the drought in Sicily:«The State takes care of the citizens» – The video

On the island the winter did not bring the rains seen in the rest of the country, prolonging water suffering due to which a state of natural disaster was declared

«In Sicily the rivers are dry already in January, what will we do this summer when it will be 40 degrees and there will be no water.Where will we run?".The question is asked by Mida, a Last Generation activist who today together with others interrupted the Rome Marathon, around 9am, near Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II.The 26-year-old girl was grabbed by the police who quickly arrived on the scene and dragged away to clear the road.While the young woman pointed out the serious drought that has hit Sicily this winter and the climatic anomalies that have brought the temperature to reach 30 degrees in the middle of December, the response of the police was the one that the Last Generation activists have now learned to know in months and months of unheard protests and what's more punished with new sanctions.“Yes, but now is not the time,” the police officer cut short as the crowd applauded.

A 20 billion fund to compensate for climate damage

«The winter we have just spent was a winter full of anomalies, with up to 25 degrees in some regions and a long drought across the country.Sicily has been on water rationing for a few weeks.What spring will await us?What summer will it be?More floods, deaths at work due to the heat, deaths in cities because they are unliveable?The Government still refuses to address the climate crisis due to its severity:a crisis of immeasurable scope which will be an economic, social and political crisis", writes Ultima Generazione in its statement.Then putting forward his own proposal before launching the appeal to participate in the next mobilization which will also be held in Rome in May: «We ask for a Repair Fund of 20 billion for all people who suffer damage due to climate change;drought is one of these, we will see our cities burning hot this summer and we are asking the Government to take care of the citizens and address the emergency we are facing."

Drought in Sicily

The winter of 2024 saw Sicily in the grip of a severe drought.Last February 9, the president Renato Schifani approved the state of crisis until 31 December 2024, imposing water rationing in 93 municipalities, with a reduction in flow between 10 and 45%.Due to the water crisis, many Sicilian waterways are dry and agriculture has also suffered the consequences, with difficulties in the production of citrus fruits due to the impossibility of irrigating the land.At the moment there appears to be no respite in sight, given that climate projections for the rest of 2024 – cited by Today – indicate rainfall below the levels of 2022, one of the worst years in recent decades, when drought produced a calamity for agriculture and the economy with damages calculated at up to 6 billion euros.