BILATERAL PROJECT ITALY - CHINA

BILATERAL PROJECT ITALY - CHINA

"Coastal system changes over the Anthropocene: Natural Vs Induced drivers in China and Italy" is a Bilateral project between National Council of Research of Italy and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), funded for 3 years (2020-2022).  

Deltas, estuaries, lagoons form complex and highly fragile transition zones between river dominated lowlands and coastal marine systems. Such systems have proven to react sensitively to climate change and anthropogenic forces: the present morpho- hydro- geological setting and ecosystem of coastal systems result from human-induced processes superposed to the natural coastal zone evolution. 

Over the last decades, the coastal systems significantly shift toward anthropogenic influence jeopardizing the coastal environment and leading to a serious loss of biodiversity and ecosystem function. Erosion, land subsidence, saltwater intrusion, and pollution (e.g. microplastic, marine wastes, ghost nets) are among the more diffuse processes triggered by the combining of different anthropic contributions such as damming, engineering infrastructures, hydraulic works (including land reclamation) and groundwater exploitation. 

The Gulf of Venice and Laizhou Bay form key areas for the understanding of changes in coastal morphogenesis, environment, and ecosystem of the Adriatic Sea and the Bohai Sea driven by natural and anthropogenic forces. By joining the scientific capacities of Italian and Chinese partners we will be able to understand how climate and anthropogenic forcing control the delta, estuarine, and lagoon depositional systems and how much they affect their morphology and ecosystem. 

Italian coordinator: Sandra Donnici, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Istituto Geoscienze e Georisorse (CNR-IGG) (sandra.donnici(at)igg.cnr.it)  

Chinese coordinator: Cheng Tang, Chinese Academy of Sciences - Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research (CAS-YIC).