The ANBI Council and Irrigants d’Europe – IE met on 9th of April in Brussels a delegation of Italian MEPs, members of the EU Environment and Agriculture Commissions (Camilla Laureti, Salvatore De Meo, Annalisa Corrado, Stefano Bonaccini, Nicola Procaccini, Francesco Ventola, Michele Picaro, Flavio Tosi), presenting together two position papers on the Water Resilient Europe Strategy.
Francesco Vincenzi, President of ANBI, recalled the critical hydrogeological situation of the Peninsula: “In Italy, 47% of the territory is considered degraded and this percentage reaches 60% in Europe: it is therefore important that the European Council has reached an agreement, albeit provisional, with the European Parliament on a directive, which determines the references for soil monitoring, also defining principles for the reduction of its consumption with particular attention to waterproofing. In Italy, the proposed law against indiscriminate land consumption has been lying in the parliamentary recesses since 2013…”.
ANBI’s President firmly pointed out that “Healthy soils are the basis of good water management and plant nutrition, both irremissible to guarantee a sufficient production of high-quality food. Moreover, the soil hosts over 25% of biodiversity and constitutes the largest carbon reserve on the planet”. A carbon sink that can be significantly increased by a joint water and agriculture management.
“Furthermore, – added Massimo Gargano, General Director of ANBI – a thriving soil, rich in organic matter, retains more rainwater, acting both as a sponge and filter for the water going to be stored into the subsoil. Healthy soils are able to reduce the hydrogeological risk. For this reason, the Land Reclamation and Irrigation Consortia, associated to ANBI, are involved – often proactively- in experimental projects for the regeneration of the rural landscape promoting the implementation of sustainable crop husbandry and water & land management.”
The provisional European agreement on the Water Resilient Europe Strategy, which is now beginning the process for its final approval, maintains the ambitious, but non-binding, goal of achieving healthy soils by 2050.
“It is important – concluded Vincenzi – not only that the European Council and Parliament have agreed on the need to implement a common monitoring methodology throughout the EU, but also to start controls on new pollutants, such as PFAS, whose presence, like that of microplastics, not only harms the environment, but in our country hinders the use of waste water in agriculture.”
Irrigants d’Europe underlines that a close eye must be kept on the correct and effective application of the Water/Energy/Food/Environment (WEFE) nexus, working on the connections among components to finally end the short-sighted “river bed centric” vision carried out by the Water Frame Directive (WFD). A different perspective, embracing the complexity of water interconnections, shall facilitate reaching those WFD’s goals we all agreed upon.