In Italy, due to abandonment, concreting and changes in use, another 4,000 hectares of agricultural land were lost in 2023. A phenomenon also due to the installation of ground-based photovoltaic systems that involved approximately 400 hectares, or 9.5% of the agricultural land consumed in the year, with Sardinia being among the top regions in this area.
This is what we read in the ISPRA 2024 Report presented today in Rome and which reveals, at the level of macro-geographical divisions, a greater incidence of agricultural land converted to photovoltaic in the North, with 46.5% of the approximately 400 hectares, compared to 40% in the South and Islands and 13.5% in Central Italy.
Veneto, with just over 17% of the total, opens the regional ranking, followed by Piedmont and Sicily, with about 14% each, and Lazio with a share of 11.5%. And then, as anticipated, there is Sardinia, with 11 percent (or 44 hectares of land, equal to about 65 football fields).
At a national level, Ispra points out, if we consider the loss of soil that occurred not only in the last year, but in the period between 2006 and 2023, the economic impact is estimated between 7 billion and 9 billion euros per year. The lost value of stock (i.e. the absolute loss of natural capital) of the same period varies between 19 and 25 billion euros.
(Online Union)