He is one of the most authoritative figures in the world, with experience in Italy, in Europe and at the United Nations. And now he has put his expertise at the service of sustainable development, starting with water management. An interview with Professor Romano Prodi.
He has been Italian prime minister twice and President of the European Commission. A professor at the University of Bologna, he chairs the joint United Nations–African Union working group on peacekeeping missions in Africa. And since 2012 he has been the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for the Sahel, the strip of African territory that stretches beneath the Sahara Desert, linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea.
He is Romano Prodi who, having established the Fondazione per la collaborazione tra popoli, is increasingly called upon to bring his own testimony, the fruit of a unique experience, to initiatives concerning the sustainable development of Africa and the rest of the world. Such as on 21 March at the Labirinto della Masone, in the province of Parma, where the first edition of Labirinto d'acque was held — a biennial summit organised on the occasion of World Water Day and dedicated to the most precious resource, the only one that made it possible for life to begin on our planet, Earth.
On this occasion, Prodi spoke, among other things, about the state of health of Lake Chad, one of the hydrographic basins most severely affected by the negative consequences of global warming, such as desertification and drought. His testimony was tinged with bitterness, because since 2015 not a single field expedition has been organised by the United Nations international working group to assess the situation on the ground. Yet around the lake — now declared inaccessible by the states controlling the territory due to the presence of Boko Haram terrorists — the population continues to grow, placing even greater strain on a territory on the verge of collapse. Today, nearly 50 million people live around the basin. In 1991, there were 21 million.
Water, the element that represents life, is also the symbol of one of the gravest threats of our time: climate change. One of the risks is that in just twenty years' time more than 5 billion people will not have enough water. How did we manage to turn the origin of life into a source of conflict?
The world has been left without authority, without coordination. Without authority, countries and peoples are left to fend for themselves. It is clear that in this way everything falls apart, that conflict becomes the norm. Conflict is not always synonymous with war, however: it can be a conflict of interests, a policy that takes no account of the presence of others. I am saddened, but not surprised, to see this "disorder" around water, because today I see it in every manifestation at the global level. The powerful dominate the less powerful. That is why I have insisted so strongly on establishing a world water authority that can at least bring the problems to light. It is clear that, given the weakness of the United Nations in certain situations, I harbour no illusions that there could be a water authority with overall control — but at least one that advances a sense of collective interest.
In 2015 at Expo, speaking about Lake Chad, you sounded the alarm about the social dangers linked to the drying up of this African basin. As well as being a tragedy for biodiversity, it represents a problem for the question of migration. "What are we waiting for? For millions of them to arrive on our shores?" you had said. What has changed in these two years?
This feeds into the broader problem of refugees. I realise it is not easy to treat climate refugees in a particular or different way, and I also realise that there has been no integrated action for Africa, which is the centre of the world at this moment. If Europe and China do not come together — even if this statement may seem absurd — the problem of migrants becomes unsolvable: either both forces and energies are pooled, or we will never enable Africa to make the leap forward that it rightly deserves.
The Chinese are the most active in Africa because, possessing only 7 per cent of the world's arable land and 20 per cent of the global population, they need to find energy, land and raw materials. For them, therefore, Africa represents territorial expansion, and over these years they have done some interesting things — but things that have made them unpopular, because they are seen as wielding disproportionate power. Europeans, for their part, carry the legacy of colonialism on their shoulders; so only by bringing Europe and China together can particular interests be tempered in the general interest of us all. But if you ask me whether that moment is close, my answer is no. The point of compromise is a project for Africa — which means investments that have neither the flavour of oppression nor of colonialism.
It is not only Lake Chad. The question of the River Nile and its exploitation is also creating tensions, particularly between Ethiopia and Egypt. What are the hottest hotspots in Africa?
The entire sub-Saharan zone, all the way down to and including the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is the most dramatic area. Whereas from the standpoint of explosive demographic potential, Nigeria dominates everything else. Did you know that by mid-century Nigeria will have the same number of inhabitants as the European Union?
And is there a place in Africa that is giving grounds for hope?
African growth, in general, is not bad. Over the past ten years there has been the beginnings of a ferment and a sense of hope. Africa, taken as a whole, is growing faster than the global average, but with the demographic increase under way, growth in individual countries is quite limited. But, I repeat, the beginnings of a transformation are there, even if the starting point is very low. Despite the positive performance of the last ten years, Africa's share of the global context is, in percentage terms, the same as it was in the 1980s.
Tackling the challenge of climate change means, at the same time, fighting inequalities and promoting social inclusion. You recently led a task force of experts that produced a New Deal for Europe to strengthen social infrastructure. In what way can this influence the very issue of combating inequalities?
This is a very important chapter, because Europe, which was the cradle of the welfare state, has since 1980 been spending proportionally less and less on the welfare state due to the arrival of new doctrines and different interests. Then came the definitive collapse with the economic crisis: from 2008 onwards, the backlog of investment in the welfare state has been enormous, and the local authorities responsible for managing it have had fewer and fewer resources at their disposal.
The New Deal for Europe says that all the European banks — the deposits and loans institutions where they exist and, alternatively, public banks — must join forces to carry out a major project to make up for the time lost during the crisis. With a public guarantee, investments can be made at very low interest rates without taking anything away from the competence of nations and local authorities, who remain the ones that define social policies. At the same time, however, it provides them with the means — the investments — to achieve the goal. How to manage them is then their responsibility. Those who lack the means find in this project a major supply of material tools, at truly affordable costs, so they can genuinely make a leap forward. For now, the response from the European Commission and the authorities has been very positive; the task now is to push ahead with implementation.
What do you expect from the new legislature on issues related to sustainability, starting with climate?
Sustainability, thank goodness, is becoming common awareness. It has not yet become common policy. I hope it will in the future.