Sardinian forests in agony, the Region: «Dramatic and alarming scenario»

Under observation, but not under control. On the contrary: there is talk of a " dramatic scenario", of an "alarming" spread and of a "need for urgent measures" in the resolution of the regional council adopted yesterday that allocates - or rather, redirects - the first funds to address the phenomenon that is destroying forests and Mediterranean scrub in numerous and extensive areas of Sardinia.

In the official document, therefore, the almost reassuring tones used at the end of the technical roundtable meeting convened on Tuesday morning are abandoned, when the regional department for the Environment and the heads of the regional companies had spoken of monitoring that had been underway for years and of a problem under observation.

The desolation

The tragedy is well known. Trees such as oaks and holm oaks (but not only) and other vegetation have gone, in recent weeks, from a healthy green color to yellow-brown. The panorama of death appears desolate starting from Sarrabus, in the province of Cagliari, to go up to Ogliastra and up to Gallura. With an increasingly large extension that also reaches large parts of Oristano. The cause? Drought, of course: in the eastern sectors there has been no rain for months and months. But the dryness could have also favored the spread of a pathogen, phytophthora cinnamomi, which attacks the roots and kills the plants, whose diffusion appears to be rampant. To ascertain whether these are phenomena that have added up, triggering the beginning of a disaster, the Region has so far allocated one million and 150 thousand euros. Money rushed to understand what is happening. As for the containment measures: we will see.

The resolution

The opening of the resolution is descriptive: "The causes of the deterioration phenomenon, already under observation by the Technical Table for over a year, are probably attributable to the long period of drought", caused by "the low rainfall of recent years, and the succession of particularly hot seasons, such as summer 2023, which did not allow the plants to recover and made them particularly vulnerable to the attack of pathogens, causing widespread mortality in all the affected territories". And so far, everything seems fine. Except that in recent weeks, also following the complaints - in this newspaper and from the countryside - a monitoring activity has been started, conducted through "the analysis of satellite images" and "with the aid of drones and field surveys". The conclusion is weighty: " a dramatic scenario of plant deaths due to desiccation has emerged on thousands of hectares affected by the phenomenon that is spreading in an alarming way" , we read in the resolution, "and which requires urgent measures to understand the causes and implement the first safety interventions. The most relevant aspect", the act continues, " is the extension, both in terms of the affected surface area and the number of plants affected: the first alarm signals are arriving from other parts of Sardinia". In short: the situation is out of control.

The first funds

So here is the money: allocations that come after those disbursed in previous years that, apparently, have not led to great results. Or maybe they are the same budget items, but remodeled. In any case: for the first "monitoring activities of the extension, causes and intensity of the phenomenon" 750 thousand euros are allocated (half a million for this year and the rest for next year). Waiting to find other funds. Another 400 thousand euros are arriving for "the activation of a regional network for the phytosanitary monitoring of forests, as a permanent infrastructure for monitoring the phytosanitary state and decision-making support for the technical table". The operation is entrusted to Agris (Agency for Agricultural Research) and Forestas: the same bodies that should have intervened until now. In the meantime, there are those who wait for the rain.

Enrico Fresu