In situ and Earth Observation data show that global sea level is rising faster than in previous centuries and its rising rate has accelerated in recent years, in coincidence with the rise of global temperatures.
Global mean sea level is expected to increase from 75 to 190 cmby 2100 (www.ipcc.ch; Veermer and Rahmstorf, PNAS 106, 51, 2009), this representing among the most serious impacts of climate change to face in the next years. These values will be even larger in subsiding coasts of the Mediterranean, entailing widespread environmental changes, coastal retreat, marine flooding and loss of land, which will be subtracted to human activities. Sea level rise will amplify the impacts exerted by a multitude of hazards (storm surges flooding, coastal erosion and tsunamis) on infrastructure and building integrity, people safety, economic assets and cultural heritage. Together with vulnerability and exposure, hazard frequency and intensity will be responsible of multi-hazard scenarios, translating climate change impacts into socio-economic loss that will require civil protection measures. While the European Flood Directive 2007/60/EC supports flood risk management plans to reduce the consequences of river and coastal flooding, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 highlights the need to adopt a multi-hazard approach at all the levels of management and across all sectors. Still today do not exist protocols or risk assessment methods resulting from a shared and participatory approach involving science, communities and protection organizations. SAVEMEDCOASTS intends to fill these gaps to address the challenge of mitigating these risks, providing multi-temporal scenarios of expected inland extension of marine flooding in consequence of sea level rise, preparing people to face the next changes.
