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CLIMATE CRISIS

Environmental activists pour green dye in Venice canal

Environmental activists from the group Extinction Rebellion poured dye into Venice's Grand Canal and several Italian rivers Saturday in protest against the "failure" of ongoing international climate talks to deliver results.

Published: 10 December 2023 10:24 CET
A gondola cruises on the Grand Canal after Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists poured fluorescein near the Rialto bridge in Venice to turn the water green during a protest against the COP28 'fail' on climate
A gondola cruises on the Grand Canal after Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists poured fluorescein near the Rialto bridge in Venice to turn the water green during a protest against the COP28 'fail' on climate, on December 9, 2023. (Photo by Marco SABADIN / AFP)

In the middle of the afternoon, the activists poured a fluorescent green liquid into the Grand Canal, Venice, in the midst of passers-by, gondolas and tourists, according to images posted on social networks.

At the same time, activists hanging from ropes and harnesses unfurled a banner from Venice’s famous Rialto Bridge reading “COP28: while the government talks, we’re hanging on by a thread”.

Extinction Rebellion Italy said on X, formerly Twitter, that it had sprayed a “harmless” fluorescein dye in the Venice waters.

“The climate crisis is already having a disastrous impact on Italy, science tells us it’s going to get worse and politicians are wasting time with farce,” the group lamented in a statement.

“We are revolting against this inaction, we cannot remain silent while our future is sold out to the fossil industries!”

Similar actions were carried out in the Tiber in Rome, in a canal in Milan and in the Po in Turin, according to images posted on social networks.

READ ALSO: MYSTERY SOLVED: Why Venice’s Grand Canal turned green

In May, environmental activists painted the basin of Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain black after deadly floods in northeast Italy, which they claimed was a “warning” about climate change.

China said on Saturday it saw progress in reaching a climate deal at a key United Nations COP28 summit in Dubai, despite a last-minute push by the OPEC oil cartel to resist a phase-out of fossil fuels.

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VENICE

Italian scientists predict parts of Venice will be underwater by 2150

New research by Italian scientists estimated that large areas of Venice including the famous Saint Mark’s Square will be submerged by 2150 due to rising sea levels and the city’s sinking foundations.

Published: 20 June 2024 12:53 CEST
Italian scientists predict parts of Venice will be underwater by 2150

A new study carried out by scientists at Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) found that tide levels in the Venetian lagoon are rising at a rate of approximately half a centimetre per year on average. 

Researchers predicted that the rise will result in some areas of the main island being permanently underwater by 2150, with Saint Mark’s Square forecast to be constantly submerged by 70 centimetres of water. 

The exact increase rates weren’t the same across the lagoon, with figures ranging from 4.22 millimetres at the Venice Lido to nearly 6 millimetres in Chioggia, in the southern section of the lagoon.

The study, which combined records from Venice’s tidal centre with satellite data on land subsidence, also concluded that the western side of the city, which includes the Santa Croce, San Polo and Dorsoduro districts, will be among the worst-affected areas.

INGV researchers pointed to rising sea levels in the Venetian lagoon as being emblematic of a wider phenomenon registered across the entire Mediterranean sea, whose levels have increased by some 18 centimetres since the beginning of the 20th century.  

“Sea level increase, particularly if accelerated locally by subsidence, is leading to increasingly severe and widespread coastal erosion, beach retreat and marine flooding with very significant environmental and socioeconomic impacts for populations,” INGV researcher Marco Anzidei said.

READ ALSO: Italy to suffer ‘exceptionally hot’ temperatures this summer

Venice has experienced increasingly frequent severe flooding in recent years as the city was hit by some 58 high tides (acque alte) of 110 centimetres or more between 2019 and 2023 – more than twice the number recorded between 2009 and 2013.

A 187-centimetre acqua alta – the second-highest tide in Venice’s history – caused the death of two people and hundreds of millions of euros in damage in November 2019.

A long-planned system of mobile barriers aimed at protecting the city from high tides became operational in late 2020 and has since been activated on over 80 occasions. 

But the MOSE sluice gates, which are placed at the lagoon’s main entry points and raised whenever high tides hit, have long been criticised by experts as just a short-term fix to rising sea levels.

READ ALSO: ‘Extreme’ climate blamed for world’s worst wine harvest in 62 years

A 2021 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted a rise in the mean regional sea level of 28-55 centimetres by 2100 in their most optimistic scenario, and 63-101 centimetres in the worst-case scenario.

Experts have forecast that, in either case, the barriers will have to be raised so frequently that they will endanger the survival of Venice’s port industry and the lagoon will gradually turn into a marsh, which may ultimately result in the loss of many local wildlife species.

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