Drought and water crisis – which in the summer of 2024 put agriculture in crisis in Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata and Puglia, above all – have also reached dangerous conditions in Sardinia. And the ‘shepherds without a flag’ raise their voices.
1) Drought and water crisis, the summer catastrophe in Southern Italy and the islands
The water disaster in Sicily, in the summer of 2024, attracted the attention of the international press with a series of reports from Reuters, Euronews, the New York Times, the Guardian among others (1,2,3,4).
The state of emergency, declared in Rome on 3 May 2024, and the interventions carried out so far – which have included drastic water rationing for civil and agricultural uses – have obviously not been enough to deal with the emergency. (5)
Desertification is the increasingly current risk, which is extending throughout Southern Italy where most of the water basins are in serious difficulty. Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria are the most affected regions. An ‘unstoppable’ decrease in the hydrometric levels of surface water is also detected in Molise, Abruzzo, Campania and Lazio. (6)
2) Sardinia on its last legs
ISPRA, the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research noted at the end of June 2024 an ‘average water severity for the hydrographic districts of Sardinia and the Central Apennines, with some localized critical issues’. (7)
ANBI, the association of basin consortia, has in turn recorded a ‘danger’ or ‘alert’ condition as of 31 July 2024 regarding the status indicator for monitoring and early warning of drought for the entire island. (8)
2.1) Sardinia, the critical issues
Dangerous conditions are certified by ANBI in all the water basins of Sardinia, with the sole exception of the Liscia dam in Gallura:
– the Cixerri artificial lake, in the province of Cagliari, is at 13,59% of its reservoir capacity
– danger and restrictions on water supply also thirst the fields of Sulcis, in the south-west of Sardinia, as well as those of Ogliastra and Nuoro on the eastern side. And again,
– ‘irrigation was interrupted in the Posada district, where the Maccheronis basin is at 26,8% of capacity and in the countryside of Torpè, Siniscola [Baronia, province of Nuoro], Budoni and San Teodoro [province of Sassari, North- East]’.
3) The voice of the Sardinian shepherds
Many forests and preforests of Sardinia – which still characterize around 50% of the island territory (9) – show signs of suffering. It refers to ‘many filirea, lentisk, strawberry tree, cork oak and holm oak plants are showing increasingly evident signs of suffering. The areas most affected by this phenomenon are Sarrabus-Gerrei [South-East], Ogliastra and Baronia, where it has not rained regularly for about a year.
A situation like this has never occurred to this extent and this is also borne out by the elderly people who live in the affected areas. This scenario will create further problems for livestock farms that have been struggling for some time with the water crisis due to low rainfall.
Livestock companies that operate with wild grazing will have difficulty finding sustenance for their animals, given the now compromised situation for this year. For the above, the competent regional bodies are asked to monitor and analyze the situation by discussing with the farmers operating in the affected areas to find concrete solutions‘. (10)
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) Greta Ruffino. ‘Without farmers, Sicily as we know would not exist’: Drought takes its toll on crops and livestock. Euronews. 10.6.24 https://tinyurl.com/335e8wwv
(2) Danilo Arnone, Angelo Amante. Sicily’s only natural lake drying up as island grapples with drought. Reuters. 8.7.24 https://tinyurl.com/4yny8n5d
(3) Emma Buboli. After Losing Crops to Drought, Sicily Fears Losing Tourism, Too. New York Times. 24.7.24 https://tinyurl.com/2txjda6s
(4) Lorenzo Tundo. ‘The land is becoming desert’: drought pushes
Sicily’s farming heritage to the brink. The Guardian. 19.8.24 https://tinyurl.com/yzym4w37
(5) Drought, Santanchè attacks the New York Times for the investigation on Sicily. The opposition rises up: “They shift the blame onto journalists.” The Daily Fact. 25.7.24 https://tinyurl.com/2vtuvfzr
(6) Lorenzo Tundo. Drought strangles the South: “In 3 weeks there will be no water in the fields of Puglia. In Sicily, sowing in the Gelese area is compromised.” The Daily Fact. 25.7.25 https://tinyurl.com/mr2ckc9x
(7) ISPRA. Update on the state of water severity in Italy, update 28.6.24 https://tinyurl.com/4ywx68x9
(8) ANBI, Autonomous Region of Sardinia. Bulletin 31.7.24 https://tinyurl.com/mrxrx6f3
(9) Autonomous Region of Sardinia. Environment. Forests https://tinyurl.com/mt7jj4sf
(10) Sardinian shepherds without flag, press release 22.8.24. Signatories
Fabio Pisu, Nenneddu Sanna, Gianuario Falchi, Mario Carai
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
