Report
Coastal Ecosystems
Only 15% of the planet's coastline is still in its natural state. The remaining 85% has been anthropomorphised through invasive and destructive human interventions. Coastlines are the connecting line between the ocean expanses and the land, and because of this they represent a crossroads of life and complex mechanisms that stabilise life on the planet. Shores are the nesting grounds for dozens of species, whose survival ensures the balance of the seas and oceans, and underpin the reproductive process of fish species that are essential for meeting human food needs. Posidonia oceanica captures CO2, dunes counteract erosion: the defence of coastal areas is therefore not just an aesthetic need, a whim or the abstruse idea of a group of radical environmentalists, but the only way towards the survival of the human species and the planet as we know it.
■ In the background clean-up operations on a beach by the organisation Saving the Ocean. Photo OCG Saving The Ocean
Causes
The decline of coastal ecosystems is again attributable to the action of man, who for his own pleasure or advantage has cemented them, carrying out heavy transformations to make the coasts usable for mass tourism, chemical industrial plants, and nuclear and energy power stations. In Sicily, we have three emblematic examples: the Augusta chemical plant, a stone's throw from one of the most beautiful Greek cities in the world, Siracusa, on the Ionian coast; the Enel power plant in Porto Empedocle, in the shadow of the Valley of the Temples in the Mediterranean; and last but not least in terms of monstrosity and pollution levels, the Milazzo refinery, overlooking the Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The environmental degradation of these areas is extremely high. If we then think that they are all located near World Heritage Sites, we can understand how crazy these choices have been.
Consequences
Degraded coastlines devoid of life are leading us towards the complete desertification of the seas. Destroying the reproductive environments of fish species means destroying the food reserves that allow millions of people to subsist. It also means increasing the speed of global warming, as all those aquatic plants that sequester CO2 from the atmosphere, such as the Mediterranean's Posidonia Oceanica, which has sequestered between 11% and 42% of carbon dioxide in our basin⁴ since the Industrial Revolution, will be lost. But not only that. It also means destroying the economic value of the coasts: seaside tourism in Italy in 2019 brought in profits of around 6.6 billion⁵.
Projects
There are many projects underway in the Mediterranean and all over the world to protect coastal ecosystems, carried out by associations and companies working in the green economy such as Legambiente, WWF, or the beautiful Posidonia Oceanica reforestation project by zeroCO2.
Solutions
The watchword is Restoration, active or passive. In the area of passive Restoration, the European community has obliged EU countries to reach a quota of 30% of protected areas. In Italy we are still lagging behind, with a quota of just over 4%, of which only 0.01% are fully protected marine areas⁶. Active Restoration, on the other hand, would act proactively on those ecosystems that have been severely degraded or have disappeared altogether, through restoration or regeneration actions, such as Posidonia Oceanica meadows planted by zeroCO2, or the creation of coastal dunes that encourage their reappearance, or even with beach reclamation projects to rid beaches of waste. In short, the solutions have already been thought of, are effective and have a positive economic impact on human beings. All that is needed is ‘only’ the political will and cooperation of everyone to improve the condition of our coastlines.
¹ Science - Vol. 278, No. 5341 - Estimates of Coastal Populations
² Worl Economic Forum - Centre for Nature and Climate
³ Gitnux - Beach Pollution Statistics in 2024
⁴ WWF - Mediterranean Marine Initiative. Gli effetti del cambiamento climatico nel Mediterraneo.
⁵ FederTurismo
⁶ How Mediterranean countries are performing to protect their sea - Gomei M., Abdulla A., Schröder C., Yadav S., Sánchez A., Rodríguez D., Abdul Malak D. (2019).