‘We can’t let the animals die’: drought leaves Sicilian farmers facing uncertain future

Rainfall is down 40% since 2003 and experts predict a third of Sicily will be desert by 2030

Every morning, as soon as he wakes up, Luca Cammarata looks to the sky in the hope that some clouds on the horizon will bring a few drops of water. On his farm in the Sicilian interior, it hasn't rained for months. Cammarata's 200 goats graze on a parched landscape resembling a lunar surface, forced to eat dry weeds and drink from a muddy pond.

The 53-year-old has never experienced a drought like it. If things continue like this," he said, I will be forced to butcher my livestock and close down my farm."