The future of coastal ecosystems: learning from Venice

Abstract

Venice and its lagoon have survived throughout the centuries due to continuous human actions aimed at maintaining a dynamic equilibrium between the two major opposing forces, land and water, threatening this delicate environment. Two coordinated symposia, organised by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei 1 and the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti 2 were a welcome opportunity for a general overview on the environmental and social problems of this unique town. Lectures pointed out how the recent history of Venice may be regarded as an example of a much broader problem: the future of coastal ecosystems on alluvial substrates directly exposed to the climatic change. As a consequence, the issue under discussion can be widened from a problem of local interest (although with major social, economic and cultural evidence) to a potential threat for many of the most densely populated areas of the Earth. During the long history of Venice, a number of soft or more substantial interventions became necessary. Most notably, amongst the latter, those pursued by the Venice Republic to preserve its ‘marine’ vocation, namely the diversion of entire major rivers debouching into the lagoon (XII–XIV century AD) and the construction of sea defences (the ‘murazzi’, in 1738). The industrial revolution in the XIX century, with the development of steam navigation, forced a number of further substantial interventions, like the narrowing of inlets with the construction of long jetties protruding into the sea. In the period 1920–1930, a new extended industrial pole was reclaimed at the boundary of the lagoon (Porto Marghera); after World War II the plants were reconstructed and the total area further