The challenges of the new National Climate Adaptation Plan and the Climate Law: in-depth analysis with institutions, experts, and politicians in the Italian Chamber of Deputies. The Life European Project CLIMAX PO for adaptation to climate change in the Po Basin District kicks off. English press release of the project.

The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently confirmed the alarming news: global warming, with an increase in global average temperature of 1.1°C compared to the pre-industrial era (1850-1900), is already causing widespread and disastrous impacts all around the world. Exceeding the 1.5°C threshold by the end of the century will likely have devastating effects on the global ecosystem and on future generations. It is essential therefore to contain overheating within the critical threshold and reverse course with ambitious climate policies capable of reducing global climate-altering emissions by 43% by 2030, through the phasing-out of subsidies to fossil fuels by 2030, the decarbonisation of the electricity sector with the phasing-out of coal and fossil gas, by 2030 for OECD countries and by 2040 globally, and through accelerating a just transition towards a fossil-free and 100% renewable future, according to calculations by Legambiente.

The climate emergency was discussed today in Rome, in the new Chamber of Parliamentary Groups of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, in an in-depth conference on the themes of the National Climate Adaptation Plan and Climate Law, organized on the occasion of the launch of the Life European project Climax Po, and which was attended by numerous experts and institutional and political representatives, including Vannia Gava, Deputy Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, Sergio Costa, Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies, Alessandro Manuel Benvenuto, Quaestor of the Chamber of Deputies, Laura D’Aprile and Silvano Pecora (MASE), Titti Postiglione, Deputy Head of DPC and Coordinator of the Steering Committee for Meteorology and Climatology, and Elena López-Gunn, of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change. The morning continued with a round table moderated by Andrea Gavazzoli and with the participation of Chiara Braga (PD), Silvia Fregolent (IV), Erica Mazzetti (FI), Angelo Bonelli (AVS), Massimo Milani (FDI), with closing remarks by Alessandro Bratti, Secretary General AdBPo and Vice-President of the Board of the European Environment Agency.

“The Climax Po project that we presented together with all the actively involved partners – said the Secretary General of the Po River District Authority Alessandro Bratti – represents a very concrete application of the Climate Change Adaptation Plan. A climate change that increasingly requires actions suited to critical issues, of both managerial and infrastructural nature, useful for limiting its most negative effects; Climax Po helps to address these issues by combining various approaches, none of which can be negligible”.

The Po River District (DIP). Characteristics and criticality of a climate hot spot

The Po River district covers approximately 87,000 square kilometers and includes eight regions (Piedmont, Valle d’Aosta, Liguria, Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Marche), the Autonomous Province of Trento and some French and Swiss territories. Almost a third of the Italian population, around 20 million, lives in the district. Over 40% of the national GDP, 55% of hydroelectric production and over 3 million hectares of agricultural land are produced in this area. Within the entire basin there are 684 Natura2000 sites and 420 local, regional and national protected natural areas. The Po River is therefore a natural ecosystem rich in species and habitats of extreme value preserved within 37 Special Protection Areas and 49 Special Conservation Areas identified pursuant to the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, and 13 protected natural areas of local, regional, or national interest.

The IPCC Assessment Reports include the DIP in the continental European areas that will experience a change in rainfall regime and an increase in extreme hydrometeorological events. According to global circulation climate models, the DIP is located in the European transition zone of rainfall variation, characterized by a high degree of forecast indeterminacy which generates uncertainty about future climate developments.

The meteorological-hydrological monitoring activities by the Environmental Agencies of the District confirm and, in some cases, reinforce the national trends of temperature increase.

In terms of rainfall, an increase in the intensity of individual rainfall events was observed but at the same time an overall reduction in the number of total events was also measured, with the result of a significant decrease in average rainfall in the Po River district of about 20% on an annual basis, and 35% in the January-August period. The progressive decrease in rainfall over the last thirty years has resulted in a significant drop in the average flow rate of the river at the closure of the basin (Pontelagoscuro section of the Po), equal to 20% on an annual basis and 45% in the summer season. In the Po River basin, these changes are amplified and immediately detectable in the delicate delta system, which can therefore be considered a summary indicator of the state of the entire basin (climatic hot spot).

Every year, on average, about 25 billion cubic meters of water are withdrawn for various uses, of which almost 80% is destined for irrigation while the remainder is destined to satisfy industrial and civil uses. Most of the withdrawn volumes of water come from surface sources, but an important contribution is provided by underground aquifers, particularly to satisfy civil and industrial uses. Since 2000, there have been no less than seven years in which the hydroclimatic balance (difference between rainfall and evapotranspiration) of the district was strongly negative. In the same period, mainly due to the high average temperatures, the demand for water increased in some sectors, particularly in agriculture. Greater demand and less availability are making it increasingly difficult to manage water resources on a district scale.

LIFE CLIMAX PO – CLIMate Adaptation for the PO river basin district

Drought and its impacts are not only the result of global warming but they are also influenced by factors such as soil sealing, poor management of rivers and natural areas, the inefficiency of production activities compared to the exploitation of natural resources.

To address climate change and related environmental challenges – in line with the National Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change (SNACC) which recognizes the Po River Basin District as a special national case well suited to constitute a pilot area for climate adaptation – the Life Climax Po project was born, co-financed by the LIFE program of the European Union, to make the management of water resources in the Po basin smarter. The project aims to identify, develop, and implement activities and practices that promote adaptation to climate change through climate-smart management of water resources at the river basin district scale. The project, lasting 9 years (2023-2032), takes up the main aspects reported in the SNACC and fosters its implementation.

The project partnership, which sees the Po River Basin District Authority (AdBPo) as leading partner, covers the entire territory of the district and involves all levels of governance (national, regional, local) as well as three large Research Institutions: the Interregional Agency for the Po River (AIPO), the Regional Agency for Prevention, Environment and Energy (ARPAE) of Emilia-Romagna, the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection (ARPA) of Piedmont, the University of Bologna, the National Association of Reclamation, Irrigation and Land Improvements (ANBI), the Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change Foundation (CMCC), the Metropolitan City of Bologna, the Regional Agency for Agricultural Services and Forests (ERSAF), the national Legambiente and its regional committees of Piedmont, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto, the Turin Polytechnic, the Turin Metropolitan Water Company (SMAT), the Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont and Lombardy Regions, Sogesca Srl , Arpa Lombardy and the regional sections of ANBI for Emilia Romagna, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto.

The Project, therefore, aims to improve district governance for the management of water resources and to guarantee: political security, financing and technical coordination; the production of shared climate knowledge through the implementation of specific tools and methodologies; capacity building and awareness, increasing stakeholder participation; the improvement of water security and climate resilience through selected pilot actions, which can be replicated both within and beyond the river basin; the mobilization of complementary funding that will support the implementation of the extension of measures focused on remediation, flood risk mitigation and prevention, planning integration; the tools and the activation of public involvement.