Coldiretti: Land up for grabs has increased by 60% in 20 years.

Since the beginning of the year, nearly 57,000 hectares of land and forests have burned in Italy. And, compared to 2024, if current averages continue, the number of hectares burned by year-end could increase by approximately 5%. Compared to the average of the last 20 years, the number of hectares burned in Italy has increased by almost 60%.

This is revealed by an analysis by Coldiretti of Effis data, a European system that monitors large-scale fires and widespread with the fire emergency threatening vast areas of Southern Italy, starting with Campania, "where," the agricultural organization comments, "the situation in the Vesuvius National Park is dramatic."

"The fire risks erasing," Coldiretti emphasizes, "a priceless heritage of biodiversity, starting with some of the area's prized products, such as Lacryma Cristi DOP, for which the grape harvest was about to begin, Vesuvian apricots, and Pomodorino del Piennolo DOP." "There is also damage," the agricultural representatives point out, "to agritourism businesses and related tasting tours. But the potential effects of smoke and ash pollution are of concern."

This fire phenomenon is fueled by high temperatures and wind, but also by "the difficulties of managing the national forest heritage," says Coldiretti, emphasizing that "only two out of three forests in Italy are actively managed with cultivation, while the rest are neglected and therefore more vulnerable, especially to fires that destroy hundreds of hectares every year, causing enormous environmental and economic damage."

Coldiretti points out that it will take up to 15 years to rebuild the forests reduced to ashes by the fire, with damage to the environment, the economy, jobs, and tourism. "In addition to the effects of extreme weather," Coldiretti concludes, "man-made factors also play a role: approximately 60% of fires are intentional."

For this reason, Coldiretti concludes, "it is necessary to maintain the conditions for constant oversight by agricultural businesses as active sentinels of the territory, especially in inland areas, with a key role also in preventing hydrogeological instability."

(Unioneonline)