Drought, Bonelli asks for a state of crisis: “Who has seen the commissioner appointed by Meloni?”

“Once upon a time there was a commissioner against droughtappointed by the Meloni government. But who saw him? And above all, what did he do?”. So Angel Bonellispokesperson for Europa Verde and deputy of Verdi e Sinistra, launches accusations against the government while the country – especially in the South and the Islands suffers from the lack of water –: “The silence of Prime Minister Meloni stands out, as she has not managed to utter a word on the disaster underway in our country”.

From May 2023 it is Nicholas of the Water to lead the control room on the water emergency wanted by the Meloni government. The manager was the head of Veneto Agricoltura, after having been director of Arpav and having held the same role for President Luca Zaia.

“As far as we are concerned, it is necessary to declare the state of climate crisis and adopt consequent measures”, Bonelli’s request recalls how “in Sicily, drought and desertification have caused damages for over 3 billion euros, with a 70% reduction in cereal production and 45% in tree crops. In some areas particularly affected by drought, vineyards and citrus groves have been uprooted”. And he continues: “In Puglia, olive production is expected to drop by 50%, while in Basilicata, wheat production could decrease by 90%. The situation is also serious in Abruzzo and Calabria”.

Summer 2024, according to Copernicus data, it was the hottest ever. The temperature of our seas has reached 30 degrees, causing the proliferation of mucilage, with damage to biodiversity and the economy and the entry into our seas of alien species, “of which 134 have been recorded as dangerous for the environmental balance”.

Coldiretti also raised the alarmwith the South besieged by the lack of rain in a 2024 that is also confirmed in Italy as the hottest ever. According to new data from Isac Cnr, the first seven months of the year recorded a temperature of 1.55 degrees higher than the average from 1880 to today, with a peak of 1.72 degrees right in the South.

In this context, the difficulty of local administrators emerges. The governor and FdI representative Mark Marsilio has requested a state of emergency for Abruzzo. The President of the Sicilian Region Renato Schifani has requested derogation powers to restore abandoned desalination plants. The President of Sardinia Alessandra Todde he complained about the government’s lack of resources to deal with the emergency.

And the lack of drinking water, necessary for irrigating the fields, worries epidemiologists such as Max Ciccozzi: “The drought is also a public health problem. Who would consume fruit and vegetables without problems?”.