After the flood events of May 2023, President Bonaccini and the entire Region declared that nothing would be as before, that new limits would be imposed on land consumption, not only generically quantitative but clearly identified on the basis of a new management plan hydrogeological, finally adopting the scientific findings and stating that this had to be done “so that disasters do not happen again”. A year later, the mayors of the Romagna coast asked the Region to transform the existing colonies from Ravenna to Riccione into tourist facilities. We can only hope that no one in Bologna supports them
◆ The article by SAURO TURRONI
► It seems like nothing happened and yet just a year has passed since the most devastating flood that has ever hit Romagna. A few days ago the mayors of the Romagna coast met a regional commission with the aim of ask for changes to the regional landscape plan to allow them to transform existing colonies from Ravenna to Riccione into tourist facilities. And the commission should propose the approval of a policy document to the regional council to satisfy the wishes of the mayors.
How distant are the times when the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Emilia-Romagnain 1986, published the dossier “Sea colonies. The heritage of the colonies on the Romagna coast as an urban and environmental resource” in whose preface Vittorio Emiliani wrote: «the immediate future of coastal Romagna, its inhabitants (and economic operators) and its guests is at stake on these areas and on other land not yet cemented. Unfortunately, the attitude of the Region and the Municipalities involved does not give much hope, at least in the immediate future. Other areas of tourist-hotel expansion are foreseen in the urban plans as if the big amusement machine didn’t have already had cement indigestion and was not already feeling the repercussions of a much shorter season, variable and sometimes even elusive”.
There were still six years left untilEarth summit in Riowe hadn’t even started to deal with global warming, yet the devastating effects of climate change on the planet’s coasts appeared clear only to a small circle of scientists. Now, however, what an ever closer future holds for us is known to all, only the circle of deniers and the Oil & Gas lobbies continues to deny evidence of this. And, together with them, united by a single vision of consumption of resources and land, there are real estate developers, builders and those who think that it can be continue with the development and growth without limits as always.
After the flood events of May 2023 President Bonaccini and the entire Region declared that nothing would be the same as beforethat new limits would be imposed on land consumption, not only generically quantitative but clearly identified on the basis of a new hydrogeological plan, finally adopting the scientific elaborations and stating that this had to be done “so that disasters don’t happen again”. Just a few days ago the anniversary of the flood was celebrated in the affected cities but the mayors of the coast wasted no time in asking for freedom to work on the last areas that could restore naturalness to a territory that can no longer tolerate any more concrete, any other human pressure, any other works.
And say that Cervia saw its salt pans flooded While Ravenna was saved by the generous decision of some farmers who allowed their fields to be flooded to prevent the city from going under water While Cesenatico has seen some areas of its territory periodically flooded for decades. In some areas of the coast, between the beach and the built-up areas behind it, they have been built high reinforced concrete walls to prevent the sea from pouring onto the houses. Huge sums are spent every year in increasingly expensive nourishment and with increasing volumes of sand.
You should have understood what it really is like time to turn the pageto operate with a vision that takes into account all the factors in the field starting with dto what global warming holds for us in the immediate future, and therefore by the rise of sea levels. And therefore, to quote the words of Vittorio Emiliani, we need to bring back planning that has as its objective the fight against the effects of climate changewhich he identifies and proposes mitigation but also restoration actions, where possible, of all those natural elements that can contribute significantly to mitigating foreseeable damage. In some coastal areas the presence of the colonies allowed the reconstitution of the dunesdisappeared elsewhere for over half a century, while Animal species never seen before have returned to nest and ask for protection.
Why not then think about a great “unsealing” plan to be proposed to Europe as a virtuous example of ecological reconversion of a territory that seems irremediably lost? © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
