Italy
<BR>Phillip Chung
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<BR>Italy, a peninsula located on the edge of Europe that juts into the Mediterranean Sea, is heavily plagued by three main environmental issues, in order of importance; air pollution, water pollution, and rising sea levels.  Air pollution is the greatest problem in Italy because of how little has been done to bring about environmental reform.  As air pollution becomes a greater and greater problem, the few attempts at change have been insufficient to make a difference.  Water pollution is secondary to air pollution but still a large problem.  Italy is a coastal country and they rely heavily on the ocean.  Rising sea levels due to global warming, while dangerous, is not an immediate threat to the safety and health of Italy, aside from Venice, in addition very little can be done by Italy alone since rising sea levels are a global problem.  Primary government agencies responsible for confronting environmental issues in Italy are the Ministry for Ecology, the Ministry of Culture and Environmental Quality, the National Council for Research, and the Ministry for Coordination of Scientific and Technological Research (“Nations Encyclopedia”).  Italy, which relies heavily on its tourism industry, has been slower than other European nations to enact reform and bring about change.  
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<BR>Italy’s primary environmental concern is air pollution, largely due to high usage of transportation.  Italy ranks third in highest per capita of car ownership with nearly 690 motor vehicles for every 1000 people.  U.N. sources estimate that carbon monoxide emissions increased 12% from 1985 to 1989 and that Italy’s level of carbon dioxide emission ranks tenth in the world with an estimated 407.7 million metric tons per year, 7.03 metric tons per capita (“Nations Encyclopedia”).   In addition, nitrogen oxide emissions (a by-product of many motor vehicles that run on gasoline) have continued to rise to dangerous levels.  Air pollution has been linked to affecting nearly 10% of Italy’s forests and damaging many structures and the health of its citizens (“Land and Resources, Environmental Issues”).  In an effort to reduce some of Italy’s air pollution problems, the government has made a few attempts at reducing motor vehicle usage.  Italy has had three “car-free Sundays” where the citizens were encouraged not to drive for one day and find other means of transportation to get where they needed to get to.  Levels of benzene dropped nearly 40% on the first of these “car-free” days and has encouraged many citizens to regulate their usage of cars.  Many citizens would even like to see these periods extended which shows that the general public is willing to make changes to help the environment.  Another solution rises with the popularity of the electric car.  There is even a program where for a fee, members can use magnetic swipe cards to access any one of around 600 electric cars from several parking areas in the city (Scmuckal).
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<BR>Another of Italy’s major environmental concerns deals with water pollution, which makes sense considering how most of Italy is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea.  Most of these pollutants stem from industrial and agricultural contaminants that run off into rivers, lakes, and the ocean (“Nations Encyclopedia”).  Much more has been done in terms of water pollution by the government than combating air pollution.  In 1982, the waste law was enacted, which requires legal authorization for handling, processing, treatment, and disposal of industrial and municipal waste.  A sad aspect of water pollution however is that treatment and disposal facilities are inadequate to handle the 19.1 million tons of solid waste produced by Italy per year (“Nations Encyclopedia”).  Many of the changes and reforms brought about by the Italian government are showing remarkable progress however, as many of Italy’s coastlines are much cleaner than they were years before (Scmuckal).  Clean coastlines are vital to Italy’s tourism industry so many legal measures are being passed and staying in place.  
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<BR>The third environmental concern is rising sea levels.  This is largely due to the effects of Global Warming, which is very visible in Venice.  Venice is a city in northeast Italy made up of 118 small islands all separated by canals and connected by bridges.  One of the biggest problems with rising sea levels in Venice is that it essentially causes the sinking of the city.  With higher tides, low level floods regularly overwhelm the city making many of the low areas uninhabitable.  Sea levels have been seen to rise at an average of about 2 millimeters per year, which is pretty bad when you consider that most of Venice is also sinking at an average of 2 millimeters, sometimes more, per year (Berg).  Since rising sea levels are not just a local issue but a global one, not many steps have been taken by Italy specifically aside from their efforts in combating Global Warming.  The sinking of Venice is largely attributed with the wearing away of the city’s foundations, the largest cause of which are high speed motorboats that race through the canals and churn the water that erode buildings.  As of the mid 1980’s little to no efforts have been made to regulate the number and speed of powerboats in the Grand Canal (“Nations Encyclopedia”).  
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<BR>In order to combat the problem of rising sea levels, the Italian government instituted a project named MOSE, which is an acronym for Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico, Italian for Experimental Electromechanical Module.  MOSE is also the Italian word for Moses, which alludes to the biblical figure who parted the red sea.  The purpose of MOSE is to raise man-made flood gates when water levels reach dangerous levels to prevent the flooding of the city.  78 gates are planned to be installed each 92 ft. long, 65 ft. wide, and weighing 300 tons ("MOSE Project, Venice, Venetian Lagoon, Italy").  These will be installed at the bottom of 78 channels where canals lead into the city of Venice.  Each gate is essentially a metal box where compressed air will be pumped in to raise the gates.  With the gates raised they will effectively seal off the channel preventing water from entering the city and essentially acting as a dam.  By preventing the inflow of water, Venice won’t be flooded by rising tides.  In addition, the gates will protect the lagoon within Venice from sea level rises of up to 60 cm.  Each gate operates independently of each other depending on the strength and level of the tide that approaches the channels.  These gates will rise when the tide is expected to be higher than 110 meters and retract when the danger passes.  Rising sea level has led to the flooding of Venice with swells up to 151 cm above the tidal datum point as recently as 2012.  The highest recorded flood was in 1966 with levels reaching 194 cm above the tidal datum point.  A sea level rise of 80 cm would bring the ocean to a height of 110 meters and subject Venice to flooding twice a day.  The floodgates installed by the MOSE project is an example of information technology that Italy has initiated in order to bring about change on one of their most pressing environmental issues.  The floodgates themselves are not necessarily IT but the devices put in place to monitor sea levels are.  These monitoring devices work with the floodgates to protect Venice when sea levels approach dangerous levels.  In addition to water levels, factors such as wind and pressure will affect how the system should react to enforce passage of water.  All of the data, compiled together, will help achieve the most efficient use of the floodgates in preventing rising sea levels from entering the lagoon that Venice is in.  


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<BR>Here is a list of my references:
<BR>References:
<BR>1.“Nations Encyclopedia”
<BR>http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Europe/Italy-ENVIRONMENT.html
<BR>2."Natural Environment Italy"
<BR>http://www.zainoo.com/en/italy/nature-environment
<BR>3.Scmuckal, Kelly. "Italy's Environmental Struggle"
<BR>http://www.alma.edu/departments/polsci/payerhin/Ppr1-211-01/schmuckal.htm
<BR>4."Land and Resources, Environmental Issues"
<BR>http://www.countriesquest.com/europe/italy/land_and_resources/environmental_issues.htm
<BR>5.Berg, Nate. "As Sea Levels Rise, Venice Sinks"
<BR>http://www.indexmundi.com/italy/environment_current_issues.html
<BR>6."MOSE Project, Venice, Venetian Lagoon, Italy"
<BR>http://www.water-technology.net/projects/mose-project/