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Successfully completed International Conference "Protect the Coast, Adapt to Climate Change!"

Published on 13/06/2022 (last modified 13/06/2022)

 

As part of the cross-border project AdriaClim, in Split was organised an international hybrid two-day conference "Protect the coast, adapt to climate change!" on June 7 and 8, 2022. The conference brought together more than 100 leading international experts, policy actors and decision makers  in the field of climate change.  The conference was attended by representatives of all 19 partner organizations from Croatia and Italy, which brings together the AdriaClim project. The conference is organized by the Public Institution RERA, one of the project partners.

 

The main goals of the conference was  to raise awareness on the impacts of climate change on the Adriatic coast and to enable experts from universities, research and training centers to provide policy-makers and the general public with up-to-date value-added information on the impact of climate change on the Adriatic Sea.

The conference was organized in three speaking sessions: Climate change and impacts on the coast; Monitoring and observation of climate change: tools, models and innovations and Protection of our territories from climate change: experiences, ideas, good practices but also conference hosted a poster session.


At the beginning of the conference, words of welcome to the participants were expressed by Matea Dorčić, Head of the Administrative Department for Tourism and Maritime Affairs of the Split-Dalmatia County, Marjan Dumanić, PI RERA S.D.,   Marin Miletić, Interreg V A Italy-Croatia Project Manager and Andrea Valentini from the Regional Agency for Prevention, Environment and Energy Emilia-Romagna (Arpae), leading partner of the AdriaClim project.

Among the speakers at the conference were renowned scientists in the field of climate change and marine ecology, such as Angel Borja, Chief Investigator at AZTI (Spain) and Assistant Professor at King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia; Lidija Srnec, Head of Division, Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service (DHMZ);  Piero Lionello, University of Salento; Giovanni Coppini, Foundation Euro Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change (CMCC); Giancarlo Gusmaroli, Italian Centre for River Restoration - MedSea Foundation; Veljko Srzić,  Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy,  Carlo Cacciamani, National Agency for Meteorology and Climatology, ItaliaMeteo Agency;  Sanda Skejić,  The Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries Split (IZOR); Chunxue Yang, National Research Council, Institute of Marine Science (CNR-ISMAR); Giacomo Magnabosco, Department of Architecture and Arts, IUAV, Cora Hörstmann, Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography Marseille (MIO); Stefano Menegon, National Research Council, Institute of Marine Science (CNR-ISMAR);  Stefania Šestanović,  The Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries Split (IZOR); Andrea Vitlov Kurtin, Zadra NOVA Agency for development of Zadar County; Davide Bonaldo, National Research Council, Institute of Marine Science (CNR-ISMAR), Chiara Tringali, Energy agency of Friuli Venezia Giulia Region;  Giovanni Vincentini, Municipality of Padova; Kristian Horvath, Meteorological Research and Development, Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service (DHMZ), Giulie Galluccio, Foundation Euro Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change (CMCC); Drmač Ilja, Energy Institute Hrvoje Požar  in Zagreb and Ivan Sekovski, UNEP MAP PAP/RAC.

Through the poster session, the conference provided an opportunity to present projects and implemented practices related to the issue of how we can better adapt to climate change to cope with current challenges. In the poster sections, the participants highlighted the results of current projects dealing with the conference topics: climate science, environmental science or Earth science.

There were nine projects presented in the poster section: A Machine Learning approach to assess coastal risks related to extreme weather events on the municipalities of the Veneto region (Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change); Development of a High-Resolution Biogeochemical Model  For the Adriatic Sea (University of Bologna), Watercare (Department of Marine Studies, University of Split), AdriaClim (CMCC), Validation/calibration of the emilia-romagna pilot area ocean model for climate downscaling (University of Bologna); Modelling the sacca di goro (northern italy) combining hydrodynamic and ecological processes: the cascade project (Arpae-SIMC Emilia Romagna), AdriaClim Observations in ERM Pilot Area: Benthic nutrients (nterdepartmental Research Centre for Environmental Sciences -CIRSA, Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna; Climate Indicators based on River Discharge over the Adriatic Sea using EFAS (1991-2020) (University of Bologna) and  The Molecular Life of the Adriatic Sea Phytoplankton – AdriLife (Ruder Boskovic Institute, Center for Marine Research).
At the end of the conference, Andrea Valentini from the Regional Agency for Prevention, Environment and Energy Emilia-Romagna (Arpae), a leading project partner, said that the conference was a very important event for Croatia-Italy cooperation because it provides exchange of experiences sea and coast from the negative impact of climate change.
- The AdriaClim project provides answers to a number of questions related to climate change and skills important for decision-makers on adaptation plans because they generally do not have specific information about what is happening in the field. The situation is urgent and we see and live the negative effects of climate change every day. I think we have spent too much time discussing instead of taking concrete steps towards adapting to climate change. The message is that we do not have time because we have already moved too far and we must act. Action is the key word, Valentini pointed out.
Conference "Protect the coast, adapt to climate change!" was  held as part of the AdriaticClim project funded by the Interreg Italy-Croatia program, which brings together nineteen partners from Italy and Croatia who are working to find solutions to the effects of climate change on coastal areas and islands of the Adriatic Sea.
 

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