Exploring water scarcity and drought in Sicilian agriculture: Actors’ performance of European policy instruments

Abstract

Water scarcity and drought (WS-D) are growing concerns throughout Europe and especially in Southern Regions. This study focuses on agriculture on Sicily, Italy. It explores the way(s) European policies to tackle WS-D are actively performed by the actors in the Sicilian water and agricultural sectors, in order to uncover potential disparities between the European policies on paper and how they are shaped in the practice. To do so, a qualitative research approach was used. Actors were retraced in the field, outlining the physical and political landscapes that they have shaped and in which they act; their interpretation of WS-D and their behavior towards such phenomena were continuously under study. While the policies on paper present various measures to tackle WS-D, the performed policies (in practice) are different and the use of available measures is often limited. The involved actors identified tools and measures within the Water Framework Directive and Rural Development Programme, available to tackle WS-D issues. However these are not fully implemented and their embedding presents complexities. Access to measures set under the RDP seems hampered for farmers. Not only because of bureaucratic and financial constraints, more so because of ideas of farming size, excluding small and many medium farms. Low level of information and participation also limits the involvement of farmers in the regional water-agricultural governance. Parallel to it, complex water governance, financial constraints and social acceptance issues give rise to barriers in the implementation of policy instruments. Behind this, the interpretations of WS-D phenomena result to be different according different stakeholders.