CADSEALAND

The project is the result of the merging of two different streams of activity on the problem of protecting coastal areas: on the one hand, work relating to the protection of specific areas (often stimulated by catastrophic events), and on the other, initiatives aimed at developing general (at least at a national level) standards for assessing the “state of the coast”, its evolution and the causes of these changes.

The original proposal for creating guidelines for the protection of coastal areas was carried out by the Italian organization, DTSN (National Department for National Technical Services), which later became known as APAT (National Agency for Environment and Technical Services),and some preliminary work was carried out.

The present project was designed by CINFAI in the context of an integrated view of land-sea interaction.

The project runs simultaneously on two lines:

·         Horizontal: concentrating on the development of actions that are aimed at stimulating public institutions to define and develop guidelines for coastal management, based on an integrated view of coastal areas; in particular, an effort will be made to fulfill the recommendations of the European Parliament and Council concerning the implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Europe (2002/413/EC);

·         Vertical: in the same spirit described above, concentrating on the development of actions on specific coastal areas with the aim of maintaining connections with concrete territorial problems right from the start.

RELEVANT ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE PROJECT

The problem of protection (in particular from coastal erosion) is dramatic in several coastal areas of the Mediterranean and, more specifically, in the regions considered in the project: according to international documents, the percentage of protected coast in these regions is less than 20% (including some zeros!).
The problem of protecting the coast, in particular from erosion, is felt everywhere in the Italian, Greek, Rumanian areas considered in the project.
Cadsealand is based on many preliminary studies, data analysis, etc.

·         The main activities can be summarised as follows:

·         Development of an integrated land-sea strategy for the defence and management of coastal areas.

·         Promotion of the extension of the approach to eastern Europe.

·         Set up of a CADSES cooperation for protection and management of coastal areas.

·         Monitoring, study, experimentation concerning erosion in specific basins.

·         Review of information concerning coastal areas in the Eastern Mediterranean.

·         Training in preservation and management of coastal areas.

·         Diffusion of an integrated land-sea culture concerning coastal areas.

·         Definition of technical rules for coastal area preservation at regional level.

·         Coastal defence catalogue based on the interpretation of aero-photos and integrated with the available data construction information(type of defence, age, etc.),analysis of the impact of the structures on the coastal evolution.

RESULTS TO BE ACHIEVED BY THE END OF THE PROJECT

In line with the nature of the initiative, we expect results:

·         of immediate applicative nature, as the results of the proposed activities will be used immediately for the management of systems set up for the protection of some coastal areas (mostly from intrusions of marine water);

·         of more general impact, as we expect to establish rigorous and reliable standards for the assessment of the state of the coast and its evolution and their adoption by public authorities in the context of general guidelines for coast protection. It is also very important to develop an integrated land-sea view of coastal areas and instructional activities based on it, in particular for what concerns the planning of future developments in the CADSES area;

·         we expect to make a first, decisive step beyond the present lack of attention and coherence in the management of coastal areas. In particular, we plan to form the first nucleus of a stable work group able to cover all the different aspects of the problems in question (from earth sciences to engineering, economy, etc.) and merge them in an integrated land-sea view of coastal areas;

·         diffusion of information, teaching and formation, determination of standards and elaboration of guidelines should become routine activities and, perhaps, lead to a new institution operating at international level, in the CADSES area and, possibly, in bordering ones. Eventually, we hope the integrated vision of coastal areas to play a necessary role in spatial development planning.