Climate change is causing major impacts on natural and anthropic environment, on people’s quality of life and health, on the safety and security of communities, on agriculture, economy and employment.

According to ISPI, the Italian Institute for International Political Studies, 80% of natural disasters are due to climate change impact. It’s foreseen that by 2050 up to 143 million people will be forced to migrate due to food insecurity and famine sprang from climate change.

Climate change directly affects the water cycle, impacting on quantity, duration, temporal and spatial distribution of rainfall, causing prolonged droughts, devastating floods and landslides.

Extreme climate events are striking with intensified impact more and more frequently. Climate change has as well dramatic impacts on the hydro-geological equilibrium of anthropized territory causing enormous damage to populations and economic systems. To recover such damages involves soaring public and private investments and multi-year sacrifices.
According to the European Severe Weather Database, in July 2023 more than 4,100 extreme weather events (heat waves, prolonged droughts, sudden intense rainfall, hailstorms, tornadoes and flash floods) occurred in Europe.

Awareness must be raised on how water, a natural resource as precious as finite, the keystone element for a thriving environment and socio-economic vibrant communities, needs to be governed to guarantee the hydro-geological safety of the territory and, therefore, the development of communities. Adaptive water regulation involves new infrastructures and modernisation of governance, aiming to collect and store the resource when in excess to be then available for efficient and sustainable uses during the highly probable subsequent long spells of water scarcity.

The event “The New Frontiers of Water Harvesting, Irrigation and Reuse” organized in collaboration with ANBI (Italian Association for Irrigation and Drainage)  is intended to be an opportunity for knowledge exchange, reflection and discussion on the consequences of climate change.

Particularly, the intensification of drought and desertification phenomena in the socio-economic and agricultural contexts will be on focus, as well as the measures and actions that could be undertaken to reconcile the needs of all users and stakeholders. The event is therefore an opportunity to present an Italian experience, which sees the Consorzi di Bonifica e Irrigazione on the frontline playing an important role.

SPEAKERS

• MR. FRANCESCO VINCENZI President ANBI;
• MRS. CATERINA TRUGLIA Vice Director ANBI
• MRS. RAFFAELLA ZUCARO Director CER-Canale Emiliano Romagnolo;
• MR. ADRIANO BATTILANI Secretary Irrigants d’Europe;
• MR. LUCA DE CARLO President of  Commissione Agricoltura Senato della Repubblica.