More than 300 participants will dig into the latest data and assess the future scenarios for mitigation of climate change effects on our coasts.

On Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 October 2022, Venice – one of the most symbolic cities with regards to vulnerability to sea level rise – is hosting the Sea Level Rise Conference 2022, an international conference organized by the Joint Programming Initiative – JPI, which will see the participation of researchers from the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics – OGS, the National Research Council – CNR, the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change Foundation – CMCC and the Emilia Romagna Region.

More than 300 participants are gathering in the prestigious venue of the San Giovanni Evangelista School, to delve into scientific knowledge on sea level rise and identify the main research paths for the upcoming decades, at regional and local scale in Europe. “We will assess, among other things, the needs for the development and implementation of mitigation and adaptation policies in the coastal areas of the most vulnerable regions”, explains Angelo Camerlenghi, researcher at OGS and Vice Chair of JPI Oceans, precising that “researchers, private and public social and political actors will take part to the meeting”.

The organization of the conference has been coordinated by two intergovernmental European associations: the Joint Programming Initiative – JPI Climate and Oceans with the support of Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden. These associations created the Knowledge Hub on Sea Level Rise, a European platform for the interchange of information and the planning of knowledge-spreading initiatives with regards to sea level rise in European coasts, co-directed by Nadia Pinardi, professor at the Physics and Astronomy “Augusto Righi” Department at the University of Bologna. Italy contributes to the two initiatives through the Ministry for University and Research (MUR) and the National Technological Cluster Blue Italian Growth (BIG).

“The Conference is the arrival point of a series of meetings among scientists, coast managers and policy makers which took place in the past two years. These meetings stressed the knowledge gaps on local sea level rise and coastal extreme events and proposed solutions for the future” Prof. Nadia Pinardi explains.

The conference is hosted in Venice thanks to the contributions of the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics – OGS, the Consortium for coordination of research activities concerning the Venice lagoon system – CORILA and the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change Foundation – CMCC, with the participation of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. It is sponsored by the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and the Italian economic contribution is granted by the project Sustainable Blue Economy and Blue Skills, financed by MUR to OGS.

“Sea level rise is a key topic in the research politics in Italy, and it is present in the strategic agendas of both the National Plan for Research (PNR) 2021-2027 and the European Partnership Sustainable Blue Economy (SBEP) coordinated by Italy” explains Pierpaolo Campostrini, General Director of CORILA and member of the Knowledge Hub on Sea Level Rise Council, and concludes: “Venice is the perfect place to present the European initiative and discuss on these topics, also thanks to the presence of important scientific institutions which study these phenomena”.

Conference webpage