INGV hosts the kick off meeting of SAVEMEDCOASTS-2, the second operational phase of the European project aimed at mitigating the risks related to the effects of sea level rise on the Mediterranean coastal areas
The meeting between the partners that will officially kick off the second operational phase of the European project SAVEMEDCOASTS, which started last December 2, 2019. The aim of the project is to prevent the effects of global sea level rise by the end of this century, caused by climate change.
SAVEMEDCOASTS-2 (Sea Level Rise Scenarios along the Mediterranean Coasts-2), therefore continues the activities of the previous SAVEMEDCOASTS project carried out between 2017 and 2019, and is again coordinated by INGV with funding provided by the European Union Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (DG-ECHO) for the two-year period 2019-2021, proposing itself as a supporter of European civil protection in the assessment of coastal risks
“Among the activities envisaged by the project”, explains Marco Anzidei, INGV researcher and coordinator of SAVEMEDCOASTS-2, “raise awareness among coastal communities of the effects of sea level rise caused by climate change and subsidence in specific areas of the Mediterranean, thus integrating climate projections into the management of natural disasters”.
During today's meeting, the partners INGV, ISOTECH (Cyprus), CGIAM (Italy), AUTH (University of Thessaloniki, Greece), CTTC (Spain), CMCC Foundation (Italy) and FARBAS (Italy) and the Municipality of Venice (Italy) will discuss the project activities, in particular the use of satellite and topographic data which will be analyzed together with the IPCC climate data (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and other independent research to create risk scenarios in specific areas, informing interested parties.
"In this second phase of the project", continues Anzidei, "efforts will be concentrated on some of the main river deltas and lagoon areas of the Mediterranean, where natural and anthropic subsidence accelerates the effects of marine ingression, with consequent greater risks of submersion of coastal stretches of high natural and economic value and cascading effects on human activities”.
In particular, with the Municipality of Venice, project partner, the new scenarios expected for this coastal city between now and 2100 will be evaluated to prepare the population for emergencies such as that of last November 2019, when the sea level reached 188 cm height.
Since the effects exerted by storm surges, floods, coastal erosion and tsunamis will be amplified with a higher sea level than the current one, SAVEMEDCOASTS-2 aims to mitigate these risks, providing multi-temporal scenarios of marine ingression for the next decades, preparing people and political subjects to address these changes also through targeted awareness and education campaigns.
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Link to the SAVEMEDCOASTS website
Photos - A moment of the meeting of the second operational phase of the SAVEMEDCOASTS project
