Stories: SAFEGUARDING THE VENETIAN LAGOON

The Venetian lagoon is subject to several factors that destroy its structures and biodiversity, most notably climate change and human intervention. High tides flood Venice regularily, especially the San Marco Square. The lagoon is sinking while sea levels are rising, which causes damage to the lagoon structures and of course to the infrastructure of the city of Venice. The Consorzio Venezia Nuova and others have been working to preserve the lagoon for decades, while other services also help safeguard this ecosystem. They help protect salt marshes and mudflats, reinforce their banks or reconstruct them entirely. But to save the lagoon from flooding an enormous and controversial project of flood gates (MOSE) at the three lagoon inlets is underway.

$Charles Ray\'s sculpture The Boy with a Frog stands on the very tip of the Punta della Dogana in Venice while a large cruise ship passes through the Grand Canal. Heavy traffic of these large ships is believed to cause deterioration of the biodiversity of the lagoon, because large ships displace a lot of water, cause waves that affect salt marshes as well as buildings in the city, but also displace the soil on the bottom which in turn deepens the lagoon and carries away the important organisms that make the lagoon ecosystem.$
$In the past, the industrial district of Marghera built a deep canal to allow the passage of big cargo ships through the lagoon. Because the lagoon ecosystem is fragile and sensitive to changes on the bottom, this was a major influence that again helped change the lagoon\'s dynamics.$