September is the second warmest month ever observed in Italy, with an average temperature 3.1 degrees higher than the climatic average for the 1991-2020 period, according to experts from the Unimore Geophysical Observatory of Modena. This was announced yesterday in a note by Coldiretti, the largest association representing and assisting Italian agriculture, pointing out that, according to data compiled by the European Copernicus Observatory, the first nine months of 2023 were the hottest ever recorded on the planet, with an average temperature 0.52 degrees higher than the historical average. "Climate change has also unleashed the invasion of dangerous alien species, from the Asian bug to the blue crab, from the oriental chestnut gall wasp to Xylella, from the red-eyed midge to the Asian hornet to the yellow-legged hornet that attacks beehives, with total damage of more than a billion euros in the fields as well as in the seas, destroying crops and livestock farms". Coldietti underlined that "we are facing a clear trend toward tropicalization with a higher frequency of violent events, seasonal displacements, short and intense rainfall and the rapid transition from hot to bad weather with devastating effects". "In addition to crop cuts, climate change is also altering the distribution of crops along the Peninsula, where," Coldiretti continued, "olive cultivation in Italy has come close to the Alps; in the Po Valley, about half of the national production of tomatoes for canning. Durum wheat for pasta, typically Mediterranean crops, is now grown there, while vineyards have even reached the peaks; in the South, tropical crops are booming, from avocados to mangoes to bananas". "Agriculture is the economic activity that, more than any other, experiences the consequences of climate change on a daily basis, but it is also the sector most committed to countering it. We need," Coldiretti concluded, "investments, also thanks to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, for the maintenance, saving, recovery and regulation of water, a commitment to the spread of low-consumption irrigation systems, but also research and innovation for the development of resistant crops".
|