"Even the beaches of Montalbano are at risk of erosion". When in
September 2024, the Corriere della Sera published this headline, youcan't laugh or cry - if in doubt, it's better to curse. Legambiente's
dossier on the coastal erosion affecting the island had just come out.
The data is dramatic, as well as true, but the Corriere della
bourgeoisie of Italy feels the need to insert a fictional character,
probably to attract people to read the rest. Not only by reinforcing the
tourist-centric vision of Sicily, as if there was any need, but also by
showing that it doesn't know how to do its job. Because it would have
been enough to use the main data of the report, that is, that 76.5% of
the Sicilian coast is at risk of erosion. A data that is not surprising
and that can be associated with the experience of all of us. Since I no
longer live in Sicily, every time I return I notice that the beach is
swallowed up by the sea. In the last year alone I have observed this
phenomenon in Gela, Marina di Ragusa, Mazara del Vallo and Catania. If
my personal observations were not enough, there are also the reports of
degraded coastal infrastructures, of seafronts invaded by sand or even
collapsing. As Legambiente points out, "the whole of Sicily is affected
by this phenomenon and the causes are various. First of all, climate
change causes or worsens an already very serious situation: Sicily is
the Italian region most affected by meteorological and hydrological
phenomena, including heavy rains and storm surges that aggravate erosion
mainly during the winter. In the period 2010-2023 there were 154 (...).
However, the main causes of coastal erosion in Sicily are undoubtedly
anthropic: here the worst data on land consumption are recorded, in
particular if we consider coastal land consumption on the regional
total, equal to 56.44%, the highest in Italy. Since it is still growing,
considering that land consumption in coastal municipalities increased by
5.82% over the period 2006-2021".
We underestimated the building boom of the second half of the twentieth
century, when the Sicilian coasts were invaded by the building outrages
of those who wanted to build their second and third homes by the sea.
And which still exerts a legacy on the imagination that is difficult to
counter. Why shouldn't you have a nice villa by the sea? It is a
phenomenon that, in my opinion, is rarely talked about, due to its
complexity, mainly linked to mafia and paramafia interests. Cities like
Licata, Cinisi, Marsala, Capo d'Orlando (and I say the most sensational
cases that I personally know, add the other examples yourself) have been
devastated in their landscape profiles, with all the consequences we
know in terms of pollution and poor services. The coasts are empty in
winter and saturated in summer. But the causes of the ferocious advance
of coastal erosion are in fact many, as Legambiente claims. The basin
authority of the hydrographic district of the region reminds us, with
the usual technical and abstruse language: "removal of river inert
materials; rigid hydraulic engineering works in the hydrographic basins,
along the river channels and along the coasts (groynes, barriers,
embankments, ..); anthropization of the coastal strip; destruction of
coastal dune systems; reduction of the contribution of sediments from
upstream and from the sea (dams, ports, etc.); variation of
meteorological-climatic and oceanographic characteristics (tides)". Even
in these cases, shared reflections are lacking. I insert a few as an
example. In my opinion, too little is said about the impact of some
poorly designed and worse built ports, I am thinking for example of the
port of Gela which will go down in history for being a port that is
perpetually silted up (but dozens of other cases could be cited). At the
same time, too little is said about the annual destruction of dunes, a
precious and vital ecosystem of coastal areas, due to that senseless
obsession of municipal administrations, supported by beach owners and a
good part of the citizens, to have to guarantee flat and "clean"
beaches, that is, without algae or various sediments. And too little is
said about the impact of industrial infrastructures. Here too, there are
many cases to cite, ranging from the gas pipelines of Mazara and Gela to
the thermoelectric power plant of Termini Imerese, from the military
arsenal of Augusta to the refinery of Milazzo. In short: the fronts to
deal with and fight on are countless. On the coasts, environmental
associations manage to guarantee constant monitoring and also carry out
good work, I think of the historic experience of Goletta Verde
(Legambiente) on the state of marine waters, the Greenpeace denunciation
reports on the effects of the climate crisis or the work of Plastic Free
and similar associations that free the beaches from waste. But what is
missing, at least this is my feeling, is a constant presence on coastal
erosion, perhaps initially to be thought of in the form of coordination
between existing entities and imagining activating new paths of
struggle. Protecting and preserving marine environments, trying to stop
the erasure of meters and meters of beaches, is more vital than ever on
an island like Sicily. Today more than ever, faced with the retreat of
the coasts, we must move forward, with inventiveness and radicality.
Without forgetting to rediscover the pride of an identity based on
history and stories linked to the sea. Making sure, above all, not to
leave the ball to the institutions. In October 2024, four public bodies
- the Region, Arpa Sicilia, the National System for Environmental
Protection (Snpa) and Ispra - are issuing a press release. What do all
these institutions want to do? They are committed, I quote the press
release, to "strengthen collaboration in order to develop a scientific
study on desertification and coastal erosion of Sicily. This is the goal
that President Renato Schifani, Regional Councillor for Territory and
Environment Giusi Savarino, General Director of Arpa Sicilia Vincenzo
Infantino, President of Snpa Stefano Laporta and Director of Ispra Maria
Siclari set themselves in the meeting that took place at Palazzo
d'Orléans". Understood? These people are still studying! Even more: they
are keeping their promise to study. As if there were no data - which are
often processed by the same bodies, as I have had the opportunity to
show. It is true: to fight coastal erosion, we must fight the
institutions that allowed its origin and continue to allow its advance.
Or, if you prefer, we must erode the institutions.
https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
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