The “Drought Decree” arrives late and creates more problems than solutions

The weekly round-up on the climate crisis and data on carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.

While Italy continues to grapple with the water crisis and lack of rainfall, the Council of Ministers of 6 April he approved the so-called "Drought Decree", a decree-law which introduces "urgent provisions for the prevention and fight against drought and for the strengthening and adaptation of water infrastructure".The measure had been announced more than a month ago, March 1st.

Substantially, the decree law centralizes the management of decision-making processes - the government speaks of a "simplified regime that refers to the PNRR model" - through the establishment of a control room and the appointment of a National Extraordinary Commissioner for water scarcity, who will be able take the place of local authorities in the event that the time required for the works to be carried out should be extended, and identifies some lines of intervention to "increase the resilience of water systems to climate change and reduce the dispersion of water resources".

The control room will have to carry out a survey of the works and interventions urgently needed to be carried out to deal with the water crisis within 30 days.In case of delays, the control room can urge the intervention of the State-Regions Conference.Faced with a stalemate, the Council of Ministers will be able to intervene after two weeks.

The National Extraordinary Commissioner - who will be appointed within ten days of the entry into force of the decree and will remain in office until 31 December 2023, extendable until 31 December 2024 - will carry out, on an urgent basis, the interventions indicated by the Control Room, regulate the volumes and flow rates of the reservoirs, verify and coordinate the actions of the individual Regions to rationalize consumption and eliminate waste, verify the authorization process of the management projects of the reservoirs for gravel and mud removal operations, identify those dams that require interventions for the removal of sediments accumulated in the reservoirs, carry out a survey of the reservoirs that are temporarily out of operation to be financed within the resources of the "Fund for the improvement of safety and management of reservoirs".

Furthermore, he explained the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto, "the permanent district observatory on water uses will be created which will accompany the integrated governance of water resources with updated data".

The interventions identified by the government include increasing the useful volumes of the reservoirs;the construction of rainwater collection tanks for agricultural use within an established maximum volume;the reuse of purified waste water for irrigation use;the simplification of the construction of desalination plants.

The decree does not solve our water crisis and makes drought more of a food security issue than a climate crisis

According to the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, with this decree for the first time "the problem of drought is addressed in a structural way before it becomes an emergency".In reality, as a recent infographic from ISPRA shows, a large part of Italy finds itself in an extremely critical situation.And summer hasn't arrived yet.

🟡Status update #waterseverity🟡
Average for the hydrographic districts of central-northern Italy;low for the Districts of the Southern Apennines and Sardinia and Sicily.
Source:Permanent district observatories for water uses https://t.co/xS8mZFJXx8 pic.twitter.com/xfL6IR82jI

— ISPRA (@ISPRA_Press) March 31, 2023

At the call, points out Rudi Bressa in an article on Tomorrow, “at least 400 millimeters of rain is missing.The last hydrological year just concluded, which runs from September to March, does nothing but confirm the trend we have been recording since the end of 2021".The situation is even more serious in Piedmont, "where according to ARPA it has rained and snowed half as much as the average, while 45% of water is missing in the reservoirs and the flow of the rivers is seriously lacking".

What is also worrying, Bressa continues, is the state of health of the aquifers, the level of which has dropped drastically:in Bosco Marengo in the province of Alessandria the historical average, in March, went from 13.22 meters to 22.96.In Suno (Novara) from 5.6 meters to 110.15, while in Scarnafigi (Cuneo) from 5.58 to 7.75.

Added to this are the critical issues of our water system. According to Utilitalia, the federation of water, environmental and energy companies, Italy collects very little rainwater (2%) and wastes more than 42% of the water released into public aqueducts, because the Italian water network is largely old:“60% of the infrastructure was installed over 30 years ago (a percentage that rises to 70% in large urban centres);25% of these are over 50 years old (reaching 40% in large urban centres)”.In particular, underlines Utilitalia, the reuse of purified wastewater has a potential of 9 billion cubic meters per year, of which today we exploit just 5% percent.

Despite the proclamations of President Meloni and Minister Pichetto, the decree law presents critical issues in its method and substance.“To deal with the water crisis, the government once again resorts to commissioners, to exemptions from environmental protection rules, to a new wave of infrastructure and concrete in the area”, explains Andrea Goltara, director of the Italian Center for river redevelopment, in an interview with Other economics.

First of all, the decree arrived late, a month and a half after its announcement in March, and provides for the first interventions no earlier than a month (the control room will have 30 days to carry out the reconnaissance of the most urgent works and actions ), therefore close to the start of summer and some deadlines.By 30 September 2023, for example, the Regions will have to intervene to make existing reservoirs efficient, in particular through maintenance activities against sludge and sediment.

In the method, once again the path of centralization of powers, the institution of the figure of the Commissioner and the simplification of procedures was chosen.“The history of the Pnrr should have taught us something, given that commissionerships for most of the works and exemptions from environmental regulations have not achieved the primary purpose and the works continue not to be carried out”, comment to The Daily Fact the spokesperson of Forum H2O, Augusto De Sanctis, according to whom it is necessary to strengthen the already existing structures, such as the Area Authority and the Basin Authority.

The decree leaves several issues on the merits pending, first of all a rationalization (and planning) of consumption, making the water crisis appear more as a matter of food security than a climate crisis.In fact, the provision has received positive comments from Confagricoltura, Cia and Confartigianato.“The concept has been conveyed to us that we must provide more water to agriculture because it is a food security problem,” observes Goltara again to Other economics.And instead it is a "much more complex problem that requires complex solutions", including a rethinking of the entire agricultural production system which is highly water-intensive and energy-intensive.

1) There is no action on water consumption and there is talk of new reservoirs to accumulate more water. “The decree intervenes in an emergency manner and only on infrastructures”, explains to The Daily Fact Simona Savini, who deals with agriculture for Greenpeace Italia.“You can also build more reservoirs, but they won't solve the problem if it doesn't rain or it rains less and less.Already those that are there are filled to about a fifth of capacity.However, there is no upstream consumption planning to understand which sectors require the most water and where it is best to intervene."

2) The construction of new reservoirs along waterways would mean further consumption and impoverishment of the soil with the risk of new floods and further coastal erosion. “The infrastructural approach, with the construction of new reservoirs, brings with it a series of problems of impacts on waterways that have been known for some time and which the government and in particular the Minister of the Environment seems to have forgotten about”, explains Goltara .“Reservoirs along waterways are one of the main causes of biodiversity loss in freshwater systems.With knock-on impacts on the water system, both environmental and socio-economic.Rivers that cut into each other, which carry the water table down, lack of sediment on the coast and therefore greater coastal erosion."The interventions proposed, and sold as a solution for drought, adds Goltara, “worsen the risk of floods, the risk of coastal erosion, and which can then also worsen the drought.Let's think, for example, of the lowering of the water table which makes it more difficult to reach the water resource."

If, however, we thought about the consumption of the soil, which is increasingly becoming desertified and increasingly impermeable, "and we increased the organic carbon of the soil by 1%, with better agricultural practices throughout the entire Italian agricultural territory, we would be able to recover 5 billion cubic meters of water per year, enormous quantities.Much more than we could accumulate with the construction of new reservoirs”, observes Goltara.

3) Desalination is not the panacea. “Similarly, it is unrealistic to think that desalination can solve the problem.It can guarantee valuable water resources for drinking purposes, at high costs and high energy consumption.But one cannot think that this could be the solution to supply water to national agriculture.And it cannot even be thought that by associating watermakers with further production of renewable energy, this will make them sustainable.Using excessively energy-intensive approaches to produce more water cannot be the solution,” concludes Goltara.

Currently, in Italy, there are some plants in Sicily, Tuscany and Lazio, but the recent Salvamare law has essentially rejected the desalination solution because it is considered, at the moment, too impactful from an energy and environmental point of view, writes Lifegate:on average a plant requires 10 to 13 kilowatt hours of energy for every thousand gallons processed (3,700 liters).

Some low impact solutions:ecosystem restoration, water banks and precision agriculture

In the meantime, some more tailor-made solutions are being studied and tested.Goltara suggests pursuing the proposal National Restoration Law, i.e. the restoration of ecosystems and the identification of nature-based solutions, currently under discussion in Europe.“The European Commission study in support of the new regulation says that for every euro spent on ecosystem recovery, at least 8 (but also up to 38) of ecosystem services are produced, provided to us by the nature we restore.An extremely effective way of managing problems.And this is why the Commission proposes to set up an ad hoc fund.Which is an investment for our future”, explains Goltara.

In two articles on Tomorrow, Rudi Bressa presented some solutions currently being tested.One path is that of water banks, exploiting existing aquifers.It is "a solution that is applied by exploiting the immense reservoir that is the subsoil", explains in Bressa, Rudy Rossetto, researcher at the Plant Production Research Center of the Sant'Anna High School.With the Life Rewat project, co-financed by the European Commission, an attempt was made to restore the previous natural conditions to allow the river to return to being an important resource for the entire geographical area.In practice, without the construction of new works, such as reservoirs, but through a system of probes and sensors that communicate all the parameters of the river water in real time, the project monitors when and where to intervene, infiltrate the water and channel it towards the underground aquifers.The water is stored when it rains, taking advantage of the different permeability of the soil and all the outflows that naturally go towards the sea.“By operating on the river we increased the infiltration by one and a half million cubic meters of water,” observes Rossetto.

In another article, Bressa he spoke, finally, of the so-called precision agriculture and of the solutions identified by the Emiliano Romagnolo Canal (CER) which distributes water over an area of ​​approximately 58 thousand hectares, with an impact of over 300 million euros of agricultural production per year.

The CER uses a platform (Irriframe) to support the decisions that farmers must make when irrigating, advising them when and how much to irrigate and thus leading to water savings.“The system processes a water balance that allows the needs of individual plants to be estimated.We have developed water balance models that allow us to estimate crop needs at a territorial level", explains Raffaella Zucaro, general director of the CER.

As much environmental data as possible is collected such as temperature, volume of rainfall, soil humidity, i.e. all those variables that determine irrigation needs, in such a way as to be able to manage the quantities of water to be used in a more efficient and effective, summarizes Bressa.“We can't say how much it will rain this summer, but we can collect all the data to monitor the situation and be prepared,” concludes Zucaro.

Record clean energy growth in 2023 will usher in a 'new era' marked by the decline of fossil fuels

According to one new analysis by the Ember think tank, the electric power sector is about to enter a “new era of declining fossil fuel generation,” as coal, oil and gas are pushed out of the electricity grid as a result of the record expansion of wind and solar energy.

Last year wind and solar energy he reached a record 12% share of global electricity production, according to Ember's Global electricity review 2023.This brought the overall share of low-carbon electricity to almost 40% of total generation.

2022 likely marked a “turning point,” notes Ember, given that global electricity production from fossil fuels has peaked and started to decline.The think tank predicts that, by the end of 2023, more than 100% of electricity demand growth will be met by low-carbon sources.

The experts they agree on the fact that electricity production at a global level must be completely decarbonised by 2040, if the set climate objectives are to be respected.

According to Ember, the rapid expansion of renewables means that the “phasing out” of gas and coal needed for this transition is “now within reach”.However, he also says that it is necessary to reverse the trend of building nuclear and hydroelectric power plants.

Saudi Arabia raises oil prices:the consequences on the ecological transition

On April 2, OPEC+, a group of large oil producers including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Algeria, Oman and Kazakhstan, he announced which from May will cut crude oil production by more than one million barrels a day.Saudi Arabia and Russia will be the first to make cuts with a reduction of 500,000 barrels each, followed by Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.According to some analysts, the move could stimulate greater speculative interest from investors in futures oil and contribute to raising oil prices in the coming weeks.

The cut, which apparently will last until the end of 2023 and is in addition to the one decided in October 2022 (when OPEC and Russia had decided on a reduction of two million barrels per day), could have important implications from the energy, economic and climate.In total, this is 3% of global production.

According to several experts, reports the New York Times, the decision is a sign of Saudi Arabia's growing independence from the United States, with an increasingly important relationship with China, and of its will - summarizes Alessandro Lubello in the Internazionale newsletter “Economica” – to pursue a nationalist energy policy that finances the kingdom's expensive renovation projects.“The choice to favor national interests is also due to the uncertainty about the real intentions of the United States to continue to commit itself to the defense of its Middle Eastern allies,” adds Lubello.

And then there are the repercussions on the energy transition and the measures to combat the climate crisis.According to another article published on Bloomberg, the cuts established by OPEC+ could push other countries to extract more crude oil, a bit like what happened with those states which, faced with the rise in energy prices, decided to exploit coal and oil more gas to ensure energy security.Brazil, Canada, Guyana, Norway and the United States are responsible for supplying the 100 million barrels per day global market.Everyone is increasing their oil production.

Furthermore, the high price of oil could increase inflation with an increase in the cost of raw materials and technologies essential for the energy transition, and make it more difficult to finance projects based on renewable sources.

Will Dutch farmers' protests stop the government's plan to halve nitrogen emissions by 2030?

For months, farmers have waved the Dutch tricolor backwards to protest the government's plans to halve nitrogen emissions by 2030 by reducing the number of livestock in the Netherlands by a third.Dutch farmers set fire to hay bales, blocked roads with manure and demonstrated under government buildings in The Hague with tractors.Now the protest is finding political space in the “Farmer Citizen Movement” (BBB) ​​that last March he surprisingly won in the provincial elections, becoming the most represented party in the Senate and now putting the government's plan in the balance.

Scientists have long reported the increasingly urgent need to reduce nitrogen emissions globally.Too much nitrogen acidifies the soil, reducing the amount of nutrients for plants and trees.This, in turn, means that fewer plant types can grow together.Nitrogen emissions also cause fewer fungi in the soil, making it more vulnerable to extreme weather conditions such as drought or rain.Furthermore, excess nitrogen in the oceans can contribute to affecting the survival of viable organisms.

Despite the Netherlands can be considered world leaders in efficient agriculture, according to 2019 research, have produced approximately 11 million tons of nitrous oxide, an amount on average four times higher than in other European countries, largely deriving from the waste produced by around 1.6 million cows that produce the milk used to produce cheeses such as Gouda and Edam.Also in 2019 the Supreme Court ruled that the Netherlands was violating EU nature laws.Hence the government's plan to force farms to reduce emissions or move, close or be acquired by others.

For many Dutch farmers, the struggle is not ideological and the BBB has presented itself as the voice of rural interests against an urban elite.“People in the Netherlands work very hard, want to live affordable and at the weekend they just want to have a beer together,” he declared recently the party leader, Caroline van der Plas, a former journalist, who occupies the BBB's only seat in Parliament.The BBB was able to insert itself into a vulnerability also created by citizens' difficulties in supporting the increase in inflation, in particular the increase in food and energy prices.“Everyone in the Netherlands cares about nature, including farmers,” added van der Plas.“The Netherlands simply has to follow European rules to preserve their nature reserves, even if the EU has not established how exactly to do this.”

Farmers say they have always followed the rules, trying to find innovative and more sustainable ways to produce and ensure safe, quality food.They say the government's plan, which includes the possibility of forced purchases, has made them feel unwanted.

“We have known for a long time that many citizens of the Netherlands are against the government's plan to reduce nitrogen emissions,” commented Christianne van der Wal, Minister for Nature and Nitrogen.“But, at the same time, there is no choice.”

For some, Dutch farmers are a harbinger of future struggles.The commitment to net zero emissions by the middle of this century will mean enormous changes for farms and farmers around the world.And there were blockades with tractors a Dublin, Berlin And Brussels for similar plans.For far-right parties, the struggles in the Netherlands are a symbol of resistance.Last summer, Donald Trump he exalted during a rally in Florida “the courageous opposition of farmers to the climate tyranny of the Dutch government”.Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally in France, also he tweeted his support.The Polish Agriculture Minister, a member of the right-wing Law and Justice party, met the farmers in Warsaw and supported their cause.