Programme: Interreg Italia-Croazia 2014-2020

Call: Cluster

Project acronym: SeCure

Project title: Saltwater intrusion and climate change: monitoring, countermeasures and informed governance

Description:
The standard Projects MoST, Asteris, and Change We Care developed within the Interreg V-A IT-HR (MAC IT-HR in the following) allowed significant advances both in i) the characterization of the process of saltwater intrusion under the effects of climate change in the Adriatic low-lying coastal areas of Italy and Croatia and ii) proposing best practices for facing this scourge. Specifically, the monitoring networks established by these three Projects helped to design and realize countermeasures aimed at mitigating the salinization of farmland soils and water bodies, thus enhancing agricultural productivity. In addition, from the gained experiences, specific guidelines were developed by each of the three projects at the local scale considered in each pilot site.

SeCure, which is allocated in the Cluster Adaptation to climate changes "governance and capacity building", is aimed to maximize i) the main outcomes and the experiences developed in MAC IT-HR projects, ii) synergies between the projects to enhance visibility and transferability, fully exploit and consolidate the results achieved so far, and increase the knowledge base on the saltwater contamination of the northern Adriatic coastlands in preparation for the next programming period, in particular Specific objective 2.4.

First, SeCure will allow to extend to one more year the monitoring activities of the three joint projects giving the opportunity to use a longer time window for improving the characterization of the saltwater intrusion, which is subject to a wide range of natural forcing conditions and climate change. Second, SeCure will take advantage of one more year of monitoring to assess the effectiveness of the realized countermeasures in terms of water quality and agricultural productivity. Third, comparison and integration of the different experiences coming from MAC IT-HR PPs will allow to upscale the guidelines previously developed at local scale to the more general and wider view point of the entire Adriatic basin focusing on lowlying coastal farmlands.


Starting date: 01/05/2022
Duration: 14 months

Project partners:
    • LP: Università degli Studi di Padova – Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering – ICEA - Italy
    • PP1: CNR - Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources (CNR IGG) - Italy
    • PP2: Regione Veneto – Soil and Cost Defence Directorate - Italy
    • PP3: University of Split - Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy - Croatia
    • PP4: Regional Development Agency Dubrovnik-Neretva County (DUNEA) - Croatia
    • PP5: Public Institution for Management of Protected Natural Areas of Dubrovnik-Neretva County - Croatia
    • PP6: Hrvatske Vode - Water Management Institute - Croatia


Budget: 600.000,00 Euro
ERDF amount: 510.000,00 Euro
FDR amount: 90.000,00 Euro

Budget Università degli Studi di Padova (UNIPD), Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering – ICEA: 120.000,00 Euro


Contact at Università degli Studi di Padova (UNIPD), Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering – ICEA:
Prof. Paolo Salandin paolo.salandin@unipd.it
Prof. Pietro Teatini pietro.teatini@unipd.it

Website: https://www.italy-croatia.eu/web/secure

Final video of the project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=941uycGsBfg