The coastal community of the Ebro delta will be involved in meetings, seminars, games, and interactive activities to understand problems and perspectives related to sea level rise.
Coming up next 5th of May, will be held the next session of ‘Know Risk Flood ‘ science dissemination campaign aimed at schools and local stakeholders. This session closes a series of sessions held in Venice and Metaponto in Italy and Chalastra in Greece. The meeting of the researchers of the SAVEMEDCOASTS-2 project with the local populations is coordinated by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), the Technological Centre of Telecommunications of Catalonia (CTTC) and the ISOTECH of Cyprus, partners of the project. The aim is to raise the awareness of coastal communities on sea level rise and its consequences, including economic ones, exploring needs and gaps and possible ways of intervention for mitigation and adaptation.
The Ebro River Delta Park, in the province of Tarragona, is a natural area included in the Ramsar Convention, which includes wetlands of international importance. Its mouth is currently protected by small river islands and is a stopping point for hundreds of species of migratory birds. The Ebro River Delta was chosen as a case study in the SAVEMEDCOASTS-2 project as, due to the low elevation, it is highly exposed to the effects of sea level rise, coastal erosion, storm surges and extreme events. An example of extreme events was the storm Gloria in 2020 that claimed lives, destroyed beaches, and severely damaged crops and sewage and drainage systems. Like many other deltas in the world, the Ebro is also affected by the phenomenon of land subsidence, due to natural and anthropogenic causes, which here causes a local acceleration of sea level rise, favouring floods. In addition, the presence of dams along the river reduced the supply and deposition of sediment, causing the coast to retreat.
In the Know Risk Flood campaign for schools, researchers from INGV and CTCC will involve students of the Institut Escola El Perello in seminars and interactive games. The proposed activities will aim at describing what the Ebro Delta will look like in the future and understanding how to protect this natural environment.
The meeting with stakeholders will be held on May 5th, 2022, at the Centre Fluvial del Delta, in Deltebre. The aim is not only to transfer scientific knowledge about the causes and effects of sea level rise, but also to raise awareness among coastal communities about this phenomenon, identifying specific needs and mitigation and adaptation strategies. The ISOTECH researchers, addressing decision makers in particular, will apply a participatory method of Decision Support System, based on the study of the perception of the population residing in coastal areas.