US EditionStudy Outlines Four Options for Saving Venice from Rising Seas
Scientists say ring dikes or dams may be the best long-term protection, but large projects could take 30 to 50 years to build.
- Scientists from Europe, led by oceanographer Piero Lionello from the University of Salento in Italy, published research in Scientific Reports examining four strategies to protect Venice from rising sea levels, as the UNESCO World Heritage Site faces potential loss within three centuries.
- Over the past 150 years, Venice and its lagoon have faced increasing floods, with 18 of 28 extreme flooding events where more than 60 percent of the city was submerged occurring in the last 23 years.
- While the current 'open lagoon' strategy becomes ineffective as seas rise by 1.25 meters, building Ring dikes could protect against sea-level rise of up to 6 meters, with estimates suggesting costs between €0.5 and €4.5 billion.
- Enclosing the lagoon entirely could protect against rises of up to 10 meters, costing at least €30 billion, while relocating Venice remains the most extreme option with a €100 billion price tag.
- Lionello and team warn that policymakers must begin planning now, as large-scale engineering projects can take up to 50 years to get underway, emphasizing that radical transformations are essential to saving Venice.
24 Articles
24 Articles
A study published on Friday in the journal "Scientific Reports" puts precise figures on the rise of the waters in Venice. There will be painful choices to make between economy, tourism, nature and heritage. And time is running out because the solutions will take decades.
Interview with the climatologist Piero Lionello, author of a study. "Against the rise of the sea there are four strategies, from the barrier of the lagoon to a dam around the city. To the extreme hypothesis: disassemble Venice and rebuild it elsewhere."
Long-term adaptation pathways for Venice and its lagoon under sea-level rise
The substantial risks posed to Venice and its lagoon by ongoing and projected sea-level rise (SLR) require unprecedented long-term adaptation strategies. We map the evolution of development pathways and the progressive shrinking of the solution space as SLR advances, identifying adaptation tipping points and analysing the relative pros and cons of alternative measures. The analysis highlights trade-offs among environmental quality, heritage pres…
Relocating Venice among the options explored to protect the city against sea-level rise
Relocating the city of Venice is among four potential options—including movable barriers, ring dikes and closing the Venetian Lagoon—that could help it adapt to future sea-level rise over the next 200 years, according to a new study.
Venice is the city of love, famous for its canals and gondolas, but the city is threatened by rising sea levels. Solutions to preserve the city for the distant future exist—from dikes around the city to relocating heritage—but every approach comes at a price. This is written by an international group of scientists, including members of the Dutch water institute Deltares, in the scientific journal Scientific Reports. "We hope that this will be di…
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