The focus group “From Knowledge to Action: Dialogue Between Communities Facing the Scourge of Drought”, organized as part of the YOU(th)CARE4Planet project, took place online on June 17, 2026 and involved participants from the Palermo and Caserta areas.

Drought and desertification are no longer distant phenomena or matters reserved for specialists: they directly affect the water we drink, the fields that produce our food, and the landscapes we live in every day. This awareness is what inspired the organization of this focus group, held within the “YOU(th)CARE4Planet – Youth Green Initiative for Change” project.

The meeting brought together people, experiences, and diverse regions with one shared goal: to understand what is already happening in the Mediterranean basin, to explore the responses currently being tested, and to identify starting points for everyone to do their part in addressing a problem that closely impacts communities and institutions alike.

The academic work of Dr. Sofia Maria Muscarella, a researcher from the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Forestry Sciences at the University of Palermo, closely aligns with the themes at the center of the focus group. Her career emphasizes the importance of soil health, its chemical composition, and its ability to retain water and nutrients, laying the foundation for training new generations of technicians and agronomists.

Her contribution to the project is rooted in these scientific principles. The core concepts of her academic work, a soil rich in organic matter that better retains water, the reuse of wastewater as a resource, and phytoremediation as a natural and replicable solution, formed the basis of the dialogue, providing the communities of Caserta and Palermo with concrete, research-based tools to address the challenge of desertification.

Soil: A Forgotten Ally in the Fight Against Drought

The meeting began with an introductory presentation on the mechanisms of desertification in the Mediterranean: increasingly scarce and irregular rainfall, longer and hotter summers, overexploited soils often left without cover, progressively losing fertility and the capacity to retain water.

This creates a vicious cycle: poorer soil holds less water, and with less water available, the soil becomes even poorer.

At the center of the discussion was soil itself, a resource that rarely gets attention but represents one of the most valuable allies in combating drought.

Soil that is cared for over time through organic farming practices, such as the use of compost, manure, crop residues, cover crops, and reduced tillage, regains organic matter and functions like a sponge.

In this way, void spaces in the soil increase, allowing it to absorb rainwater, retain it, and gradually release it to crops. Soil of this type performs better during periods of water scarcity.

From this emerges an important shift in perspective: combating drought is not only about the amount of water available but also about the soil’s ability to retain it, a result built over time through years of consistent care.

A Dialogue Between Regions: From Caserta to Palermo

The focus group offered a rich exchange of questions about local realities, both in the Caserta and Palermo areas, covering what is changing, what difficulties are experienced daily, and what solutions are already being tested.

The discussion concentrated on two very practical aspects:

• The tools, experiences, and forms of support already available in the region.
• What can be done immediately in agriculture without waiting for ideal conditions, for example, keeping the soil covered to reduce evaporation, increasing organic matter, selecting more efficient crops and irrigation methods, and recovering and reusing water whenever possible.

An interesting insight from the discussion was that, despite starting from different contexts, many challenges and solutions are quite similar.

The underlying questions remain the same, which is encouraging because it indicates that good practices identified in one region can also be valuable elsewhere.

Phytoremediation and the Example of the Green Wall of Ferla

One of the most engaging moments of the meeting revolved around phytoremediation, a natural and low-cost system for treating wastewater and making it reusable, for example, for irrigation or non-potable uses.

It became clear that the topic of water is particularly significant in the Palermo area, where several groups, especially activist organizations, are actively addressing it.

Among the active and replicable initiatives shared during the meeting, the example of the Green Wall of Ferla, a small town in the Syracuse area, was highlighted.

At the local comprehensive school, a system of plant containers has been installed that collects gray water from sinks, purifies it, and reuses it to flush toilets.

The result is highly tangible:

• Approximately 1,000 liters of potable water saved each year per student.
• This covers around a quarter of the school’s water needs for toilet flushing.

The initiative has gained recognition beyond national borders, demonstrating how a small action in a small town can produce a concrete impact. (Further details about the initiative are available on the website www.pareteverdeferla.it).

Small Daily Actions and the Role of Institutions

The discussion then shifted to the practical actions that everyone can take to use water more sustainably:

• collecting and reusing water whenever possible,
• covering garden soil with straw or plant residues to reduce evaporation,
• choosing plants best suited to the context,
• repairing leaks
• reducing daily waste,
• and recovering and reusing instead of discarding.

However, a shared awareness emerged: individual contributions are valuable, but they are not enough on their own.

To tackle a problem of this scale, the role of institutions is also essential. Institutions need to plan with a long-term vision, invest in building and maintaining infrastructure for water collection and reuse, support and promote those adopting good practices, and guide communities with clear regulations and environmental education.

The hummingbird does its part, but it needs the “big animals of the forest” to do theirs as well.

Proposals Emerged During the Meeting

Some initial ideas for action emerged from the discussion, which participants were invited to expand upon in the subsequent phases of the project:

• Focus on practices that increase the organic matter in the soil to make it more resilient to drought,
• Give more space and continuity to already active initiatives in the region, activists, schools, associations, by encouraging their visibility and networking,
• Explore phytoremediation and water reuse as concrete, natural, and easily replicable solutions, following the model provided by the Ferla experience,
• Maintain open and consistent dialogue with institutions so that small individual actions can receive broader and longer-lasting support.

We asked her three questions to delve deeper into some of the topics discussed during the meeting.

The focus group was led by Sofia Maria Muscarella, a researcher at the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Forestry Sciences at the University of Palermo.

During the focus group, you highlighted how drought and desertification are becoming increasingly urgent challenges for the Mediterranean. What are the main priorities that institutions, local communities, and citizens should focus on today?

“The priority is to move beyond an emergency approach to water resource management and adopt an integrated vision that views water and soil as a single system. Too often, we focus exclusively on water availability, forgetting that the characteristics and quality of the soil also determine its capacity to absorb, store, and release water. Healthy soil represents the first natural infrastructure against drought.

Institutions need to invest in maintaining water networks, modernizing infrastructure, and ensuring the safe reuse of treated wastewater, as well as promoting agricultural practices that preserve soil fertility. Local communities can encourage shared management of natural resources and recognize the value of knowledge developed in their territories. Citizens are tasked with adopting responsible behaviors and supporting policies aimed at environmental sustainability. Resilience is not born from a single intervention but from the ability to integrate scientific research, planning, and participation.”

YOU(th)CARE4Planet promotes the involvement of young people in the ecological transition. What contribution can the younger generations make to building territories more resilient to climate change?

“Youth represent a strategic element of the ecological transition, not only because they will inherit the effects of climate change, but because they can begin contributing to solutions today. Their role should not be limited to raising awareness; they must be included in decision-making processes, intervention planning, and the experimentation of new practices.

The younger generations have a natural inclination for innovation, the use of digital technologies, and the creation of collaborative networks that transcend geographic boundaries. If supported by strong scientific training and appropriate participatory tools, they can transform knowledge into concrete actions for their territories. Projects like YOU(th)CARE4Planet demonstrate that when young people are enabled to contribute actively, they are not merely recipients of environmental policies but become drivers of their implementation.”

If you could leave a message for the project partners and the citizens of the Mediterranean, what concrete action would you recommend starting with to truly make a difference?

“The starting point is to recognize that soil conservation must become a priority alongside water conservation. We often take soil for granted, yet it is a complex ecosystem that takes centuries to form but can degrade in just a few years if managed unsustainably.

The most tangible action is to promote practices that preserve soil fertility, increase its organic matter content, and enhance its water retention capacity. At the same time, it is essential to strengthen collaboration between researchers, institutions, agricultural businesses, and citizens so that scientific knowledge can be translated into actionable, practical interventions. The Mediterranean faces shared challenges that transcend administrative and national boundaries. Therefore, sharing experiences, best practices, and research findings is indispensable. Cooperation is one of the most effective tools for building territories capable of adapting to climate change.”

Conclusion

The focus group “From Knowledge to Action” reaffirms the value of the approach promoted by YOU(th)CARE4Planet:

fostering dialogue between regions, generations, and diverse expertise to transform scientific knowledge about drought and desertification into concrete and replicable practices.