Venice, “Fondaco crisis for 300”, PD: Government opens a table?

Venice. The MOSE (Mose) system keeps high water away from Venice, but "too much" MOSE compromises the lagoon's habitat. After the technical-administrative committee that manages the Venice MOSE system established that the system of mobile dams between the Venetian lagoon and the Adriatic Sea will be raised when the tide exceeds 110 centimeters, rather than 120, given the increased frequency of high tides, Luana Zanella, an AVS MP, called Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin to emphasize that there is more to "protect."

“The activation of the Mose and the closure of the lagoon, determines the interruption of the ecological continuity between the lagoon and the sea, causing serious damage to the biodiversity present”, explains the parliamentarian, recalling that precisely “in relation to the presence and the high environmental value of the habitats and of the animal and plant species, the Venice Lagoon is identified almost entirely as a Special Protection Area within the Natura 2000 Network by the European Commission” to “promote the protection and conservation of biological diversity”.

But climate change is making itself felt in Venice. 2024 will be remembered as a record year for high water, with 79 cases of tides exceeding 80 centimeters recorded in the first four months of the year alone, an absolute record since 1872. And to the rising sea level we must add subsidence, that is, the sinking of the ground which in the case of Venice is mainly due to the emptying of the aquifer.

The Mose therefore distances "the perception of the rise in sea level, in reality this continues to advance and as predicted and already widely announced by scientists for years, at this rate, the raising of the floodgates will become so frequent as to inexorably compromise the fragile lagoon ecosystem, in which there is a unique concentration of biodiversity", highlights Zanella.

Which therefore, in the question filed yesterday in the Chamber and seen by 'Dire', asks Pichetto what he intends to do "to ensure compliance with site-specific protection and conservation measures for the habitats and animal and plant species present in the Venice lagoon and to achieve a new model capable of making the city of Venice safe, while at the same time safeguarding the natural ecosystem of the largest coastal lagoon in the Mediterranean basin".

The municipal councilor for Tourism Simone Venturini also spoke about Mose (and not only) today on the second day of work of the “Forum of possibilities Sumus aqua, the intelligence of water regenerates Venice”: the relationship with water “has marked the history of Venice over the centuries, which was great when it knew how to play with modernity and exploit science, also making strong choices.

Today we must treasure this past, but not as a nostalgic memory, but rather as a projection into the future, talking about a contemporary Venice”. And with Mose, raising the banks, sewers, enclosing the Basilica against high water, or the Al mare hospital on the Lido, Venice “is developing scientific know-how that is already a model throughout the world”, for cities, for example, that must challenge the power of water, Venturini said.