Mediterraneo

A few days after the closed-door press conference which saw Ursula Von Leyen, Giorgia Meloni and the president of Tunisia Kaïs Saïed together, yet another piece of news arrives from the Mediterranean of a terrible shipwreck, which occurred on the night between the 13th and 14th June.off Pylos, Greece. There are 78 confirmed victims so far.However, there is talk of hundreds of missing people which could raise the death toll to 600, according to the latest estimates.Among the survivors, some reported that in the hold of the boat there were "at least 100 children”.Overall there were around 750 people present, coming from Pakistan, Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan and Palestine. While operations at sea continue, for the umpteenth time a pattern of denied or rebuffed responsibilities is repeated, which we had recently seen with the Cutro shipwreck, and which we are seeing now with the continuous changes of version of the Greek authorities, the conflicting versions.The Frontex agency has for...

The weekly round-up on the climate crisis and data on carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. The fires around Palermo, on the island of Rhodes, in Greece, in Algeria;the torrential rains that hit Milan at night;the record temperatures that continue from week to week and divide Europe, and Italy in particular, in two:thunderstorms in the north, Saharan dust in the centre-south. Perfect image to summarize what Italy is experiencing.Thunderstorms in the North and in part of Tuscany, intrusion of Saharan dust in the centre-south suspended within desert air masses.It is the last act of 17 days that are unlikely to be forgotten. pic.twitter.com/RJ7OgwRZwu— Giulio Betti (@Giulio_Firenze) July 25, 2023 If we needed further manifestations of the effects of the climate crisis, we are experiencing them first-hand. At all latitudes, from the far west to Japan.Nevertheless it's still there those who sow doubts, belittle and pollute the public debate by claiming that it is not the first...

The weekly round-up on the climate crisis and data on carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. The fire emergency repeats itself every year, in July there is the peak of attention, but then in winter there is not enough work on prevention.In Italy, after almost 160 thousand hectares of land were burned in 2021, an improvement was recorded in 2022 with "only" 68,510 hectares affected by fires, and the summer of 2023 also begins with a low risk level thanks to the abundant rains in recent months.Like every year, the race started in mid-June Aib campaign (forest firefighting) on ​​tasks, responsibilities and initiatives that the various bodies and administrations must undertake in the event of an emergency.But before the emergency, what was done in winter to prevent fires?According to many observers, not enough.“In Italy there is still a lot of focus on active fire fighting and not so much on prevention,” explains a Blue suitcase L...

Almost ten years have passed since around 600 people lost their lives in two shipwrecks, on 3 and 11 October 2013 off the coast of Lampedusa.In the 11th attack, at least 60 minors lost their lives, so much so that it was defined as "the massacre of children".Since 2016, the Day of Remembrance and Reception has been established on 3 October, as a warning that such tragedies should not be repeated. Since 2014, almost over 26,000 people have disappeared in the same way in the Mediterranean Sea while trying to reach European shores, according to the data provided by the Missing Migrants project of the World Organization for Migration (IOM). via Missing Migrants Project The last massacre took place at dawn on February 26th:dozens of bodies were dragged by the waves of the stormy sea onto the beach of Steccato di Cutro, in Calabria, after the shipwreck of a fishing boat leaving from Izmir, Turkey, with over 200 people on board. Over 60 people have died of this latest shipwreck at t...

On the occasion of International Mountain Day, celebrated on 11 December, the fourth was presented Legambiente report and the Italian Geological Committee, Glacier Caravan 2023, the final work of the campaign which monitored the health of six glaciers along the entire Alpine range from August to September.The report shows how the climate crisis is hitting the ice sheets of the Alps hard: 2023 was a record negative climate year, with heat peaks at high altitudes, zero temperatures on peaks above 5000 meters and 144 extreme weather events recorded in the Alpine regions since January.The number of extreme events from 2010 to 2022 rises to 632, with three regions – Lombardy, Veneto and Piedmont – among the most affected. The Belvedere Glacier is one of those chosen for the study:located in the Monte Rosa group, it is the largest in Piedmont.Its surface area has shrunk by 20% from the 1950s to today.In the last ten years it has lost 70 meters of thickness.The persistence of clim...