Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida told Reuters that Italy must adapt to climate change due to its extended drought.
Lollobrigida said Italy needed to develop additional basins to absorb rainwater, rapidly fix leaking water networks, restore dams, and consider eliminating conventional, demanding crops from increasingly drier areas.
“The drought is not a (one-off) emergency, it is linked to climate change,” said the minister, a prominent member of the ruling nationalist Brothers of Italy party.
Italy had its worst drought in 70 years in 2022, and extended dry winter weather has fueled worries that 2023 will be even worse, frightening agricultural and industrial sectors that depend on abundant water supplies.
This month, the administration nominated a commissioner to manage the situation and supervise a task team of senior ministry officials.
“We must consume water better in agriculture, invest in research, use new drip irrigation methods and underground irrigation, and be organized to use every drop in the best way without dispersion,” Lollobrigida added.
He claimed that leaky pipes wasted 41.2% of national network water before reaching taps. The minister stated Germany has 6.5% water dispersion.
He noted that Italy required additional pools to collect rainwater, as precipitation had not significantly dropped but arrived in shorter, sharper bursts, as happened last week in northern Emilia Romagna, causing floods.
“We don’t keep rainwater because we only catch 11%,” he added.
He suggested fixing hundreds of Italy’s over 530 dilapidated dams, saying that 30% were blocked.
The minister denied that the government was trying to undermine EU efforts to decrease carbon emissions and green the economy, despite conceding that climate change caused the drought.
Since January, Italy has asked the EU to weaken a building energy efficiency guideline, phase out combustion engine automobiles, and reduce industrial emissions.
“I think we need to be more pragmatic and less ideological,” Lollobrigida added, warning that severe CO2-reduction measures may turn Italian industry “into a desert” while other nations did not.
“If we stop producing CO2 from one day to the next, but on the other side of the world some nations multiply production using energy with a strong environmental impact… the planet does not change much; in fact it probably gets worse,” he remarked.
