This year in Sicily, where more and where less, it rained. After years
of low rainfall it seems that perhaps we will have to suffer less, even
if some areas such as the south-eastern one have not been so lucky and
even if the water stress accumulated by the environment has certainly
not been overcome. The same cannot be said for the rest of Italy: in
Puglia and in particular in the Tavoliere reservoirs there are 100
million cubic meters less than in the same period last year and, if it
continues not to rain, there will be no water to irrigate the fields and
raise animals in the summer, nor enough drinking water for the
inhabitants. Another critical situation is that of north-western
Sardinia, in particular the area around Alghero where the reservoirs
record an average capacity lower by 44.8%. Problems also in Basilicata
in the province of Potenza which presents, compared to 2024, a water
deficit of 100 million cubic meters of water. Not to mention the fact
that in mid-March the amount of snow that fell on the northern Italian
mountains is almost 50% lower than that which fell last year and also
than the average recorded in the period 2011-2023. All this while some
areas of other Italian regions, such as Tuscany, have to deal with the
problems caused by high rainfall. Meanwhile, on March 22, this year too,
the International Water Day was celebrated, a celebration that as often
happens serves more to exorcise the problem than to make it evident. And
that it is a problem and of primary importance I don't think anyone can
doubt. Yet it does not seem so, given the probable repetition of
situations such as those in the province of Enna where, last autumn,
water supply was achieved every six days while the rates for the water
service are among the highest in Italy with an average cost for 2024,
calculated for a family of three with an annual consumption of 182 cubic
meters, of 766 euros against the 500 euros of the average annual Italian
cost (data from the Annual Report on the Integrated Water Service 2025
by Cittadinanza Attiva). Enna in fact has the honor, and its citizens
the burden, of being seventh in the ranking of the ten most expensive
provincial capitals in Italy. Faced with this situation, one would have
expected that the administrations, at least the local ones, would
implement measures, even temporary ones, to avoid the repetition or
worsening of the emergency and instead: many empty words, few temporary
proposals then not implemented, no long-term measures and everything
ended in nothing when the rain allowed, at least for now, the
restoration of the daily water supply. But the problem will certainly
recur and the fact that we don't know when is not an excuse for not
addressing the situation. On the contrary, it should be a stimulus to
look for long-term solutions, the only ones capable of guaranteeing a
possible coexistence with the water emergency which, far from being
temporary, will become structural. Therefore, if the strengthening of
the basins capable of storing rainwater, the maintenance of existing
dams that cannot be filled, the replacement of leaky water networks, the
rationalization of maintenance interventions are essential, much more
important are those interventions that try to address the problem by
going to the root. And it is precisely of roots and trees that we must
speak if we want to try to live with this emergency, created by that
part of humanity that believes it can devastate territories and habitats
without paying the price. Because trees are an important part of solving
the problem even if we seem to have forgotten it. First of all because
woods and forests are humid areas essential for the formation of clouds
and also for the subsequent return of water to the earth in the form of
precipitation, therefore for the regulation of the water cycle and the
climate. Then because trees have root systems that filter water,
purifying it and increasing the aquifers, our reserve of drinkable fresh
water, as well as retaining the soil, forming a barrier to leaching and
the subsequent desertification of the soil. And also because trees are
the most efficient regulators of atmospheric composition thanks to their
ability to sequester carbon dioxide and emit oxygen, mitigating the
effects of climate change. Not to mention the fact that woods and
forests are also optimal areas for the life of a large number of
microbial, plant and animal species and prevent the migration of wild
species to areas adjacent to those of human settlement, which could
increase the probability of species jumps, of which sars-cov-2 is just
one example. In light of all this, what is being done to protect this
heritage of primary importance? In Italy, 20 hectares of land are being
covered in concrete every day. Areas where there is not even a single
tree left, due to fires, are classified as wooded and forested areas.
Large and even centuries-old trees are being cut down to prevent them
from falling during the extreme weather events that have intensified,
without considering whether adequate pruning and maintenance could
eliminate the risk more painlessly. In their place, new saplings are
being planted, which will take decades to reach the size and importance
of those eliminated, unless they die first due to lack of care. We rely
on the FAO report on the State of the world's forests in 2024, which
speaks of a reduction (from 15.8 million hectares per year in the period
1990-2000 to 10.2 million hectares per year in the period 2015-2020) in
the rate of deforestation, even if it then adds that climate change has
caused the intensification of fires and attacks by parasites. The report
then speaks of the increase in global demand for wood and wood products,
which is estimated to reach 49% between 2020 and 2050, and which
concludes by saying that, to face the problems and growing demands, it
will be necessary to resort to five different types of innovation:
technological, social, political, institutional and financial. Once
again, technology is proposed as the panacea for all ills so as not to
admit that the path we continue to travel, that of unlimited
exploitation of resources and growth, is no longer viable if we, other
living beings and the planet that hosts us want to have a future.
https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
of low rainfall it seems that perhaps we will have to suffer less, even
if some areas such as the south-eastern one have not been so lucky and
even if the water stress accumulated by the environment has certainly
not been overcome. The same cannot be said for the rest of Italy: in
Puglia and in particular in the Tavoliere reservoirs there are 100
million cubic meters less than in the same period last year and, if it
continues not to rain, there will be no water to irrigate the fields and
raise animals in the summer, nor enough drinking water for the
inhabitants. Another critical situation is that of north-western
Sardinia, in particular the area around Alghero where the reservoirs
record an average capacity lower by 44.8%. Problems also in Basilicata
in the province of Potenza which presents, compared to 2024, a water
deficit of 100 million cubic meters of water. Not to mention the fact
that in mid-March the amount of snow that fell on the northern Italian
mountains is almost 50% lower than that which fell last year and also
than the average recorded in the period 2011-2023. All this while some
areas of other Italian regions, such as Tuscany, have to deal with the
problems caused by high rainfall. Meanwhile, on March 22, this year too,
the International Water Day was celebrated, a celebration that as often
happens serves more to exorcise the problem than to make it evident. And
that it is a problem and of primary importance I don't think anyone can
doubt. Yet it does not seem so, given the probable repetition of
situations such as those in the province of Enna where, last autumn,
water supply was achieved every six days while the rates for the water
service are among the highest in Italy with an average cost for 2024,
calculated for a family of three with an annual consumption of 182 cubic
meters, of 766 euros against the 500 euros of the average annual Italian
cost (data from the Annual Report on the Integrated Water Service 2025
by Cittadinanza Attiva). Enna in fact has the honor, and its citizens
the burden, of being seventh in the ranking of the ten most expensive
provincial capitals in Italy. Faced with this situation, one would have
expected that the administrations, at least the local ones, would
implement measures, even temporary ones, to avoid the repetition or
worsening of the emergency and instead: many empty words, few temporary
proposals then not implemented, no long-term measures and everything
ended in nothing when the rain allowed, at least for now, the
restoration of the daily water supply. But the problem will certainly
recur and the fact that we don't know when is not an excuse for not
addressing the situation. On the contrary, it should be a stimulus to
look for long-term solutions, the only ones capable of guaranteeing a
possible coexistence with the water emergency which, far from being
temporary, will become structural. Therefore, if the strengthening of
the basins capable of storing rainwater, the maintenance of existing
dams that cannot be filled, the replacement of leaky water networks, the
rationalization of maintenance interventions are essential, much more
important are those interventions that try to address the problem by
going to the root. And it is precisely of roots and trees that we must
speak if we want to try to live with this emergency, created by that
part of humanity that believes it can devastate territories and habitats
without paying the price. Because trees are an important part of solving
the problem even if we seem to have forgotten it. First of all because
woods and forests are humid areas essential for the formation of clouds
and also for the subsequent return of water to the earth in the form of
precipitation, therefore for the regulation of the water cycle and the
climate. Then because trees have root systems that filter water,
purifying it and increasing the aquifers, our reserve of drinkable fresh
water, as well as retaining the soil, forming a barrier to leaching and
the subsequent desertification of the soil. And also because trees are
the most efficient regulators of atmospheric composition thanks to their
ability to sequester carbon dioxide and emit oxygen, mitigating the
effects of climate change. Not to mention the fact that woods and
forests are also optimal areas for the life of a large number of
microbial, plant and animal species and prevent the migration of wild
species to areas adjacent to those of human settlement, which could
increase the probability of species jumps, of which sars-cov-2 is just
one example. In light of all this, what is being done to protect this
heritage of primary importance? In Italy, 20 hectares of land are being
covered in concrete every day. Areas where there is not even a single
tree left, due to fires, are classified as wooded and forested areas.
Large and even centuries-old trees are being cut down to prevent them
from falling during the extreme weather events that have intensified,
without considering whether adequate pruning and maintenance could
eliminate the risk more painlessly. In their place, new saplings are
being planted, which will take decades to reach the size and importance
of those eliminated, unless they die first due to lack of care. We rely
on the FAO report on the State of the world's forests in 2024, which
speaks of a reduction (from 15.8 million hectares per year in the period
1990-2000 to 10.2 million hectares per year in the period 2015-2020) in
the rate of deforestation, even if it then adds that climate change has
caused the intensification of fires and attacks by parasites. The report
then speaks of the increase in global demand for wood and wood products,
which is estimated to reach 49% between 2020 and 2050, and which
concludes by saying that, to face the problems and growing demands, it
will be necessary to resort to five different types of innovation:
technological, social, political, institutional and financial. Once
again, technology is proposed as the panacea for all ills so as not to
admit that the path we continue to travel, that of unlimited
exploitation of resources and growth, is no longer viable if we, other
living beings and the planet that hosts us want to have a future.
https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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