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Updated Monday, January 4, 2010 10:31 am TWN, By Peter Mayer, dpa



	Some predict that Venice could disappear altogether over the next century as ice from the poles melts and ocean and sea levels rise. (dpa) More Photos (2)

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Italians trying to keep Venice above water

Some opponents, including leftists, have condemned what they say is the less-than-transparent channeling of public funds into the private Consorzio Venezia Nuova.

But environmentalists, with support from Venice Mayor Massimo Cacciari, remain among the Mose's most bitter opponents.

The Mose will create “irreparable damage,” to the ecosystem of the lagoon — the Mediterranean's largest wetland boasting many species of birds and plants — said Luigi Lazzaro, a regional representative of the environmentalist group Legambiente.

To mark the opening day of the Copenhagen climate conference earlier this month, Lazzaro and other Legambiente activists unfurled a huge banner on St. Mark's Square with the slogan “Let's stop the planet's fever.”

Venice should be held up as an international symbol of the need for sustainable development, according to Gianfranco Bettin, a Venetian and leading member of Italy's Green Party, who also joined the demonstration.

“The Mose won't work because it has been designed to deal with exceptionally high tides that are temporary, and not for a permanent and progressive rise in sea levels,” Bettin said.

While it is up to the governments of the world to come up with measures to halt harmful global climate change, the environmentalists say Italian authorities should act at a local level through ecologically non-invasive schemes to save Venice from the sea.

However, most experts and scientists consulted by the government have dismissed these proposals in favor of the Mose, which, according to Zombardi, is currently working at 63 percent of capacity. It is expected be fully operational by 2014.

“The Mose will be able to deal with a rise in sea level of up to 60 centimeters over the next century,” she said, stressing that if such a surge were in fact to take place, then other Italian coastal towns and cities would be submerged long before Venice.

“If the levels grow more than 6O centimeters then the Mose would not be enough and we would have to look at other strategies,” she added.

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