MOSE (EXPERIMENTAL ELECTROMECHANICAL MODULE; ITALIAN: MODULO SPERIMENTALE ELETTROMECCANICO) Overview / summary of the initiative Title: MoSE (Experimental Electromechanical Module; Italian: MOdulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico) Country: Italy (Veneto region) Thematic area: Security, Climate change Objective(s): 1. To protect from flooding the city of Venice and the Venetian Lagoon, with its towns, villages and inhabitants along with its iconic historic, artistic and environmental heritage. 2. To contribute to the socio-economic growth of the area and hence to the development of the port and related activities. 3. To guarantee the existing and future port activities inside the Lagoon in its various specificities of Chioggia, Cavallino and Venice. Timeline: The launch of the project started in 1973, when for the first time the Italian Government took in consideration the realisation of mechanic structures to prevent Venice from flooding. 2003 (start of the works)-2019 (estimation) Scale of the initiative: EUR 5.493 million (2014 estimation) Scope of the initiative • Focused on new knowledge creation (basic research, TRLs 1-4): TO A CERTAIN EXTENT; the development and following implementation of the MoSE project have focused on knowledge creation and prototypes development since the 1980s. However, this is useful to the construction at the three inlets of the Venice lagoon and mobile barriers. • Focused on knowledge application (applied research, TRLs 5-9): YES; the MoSE project aims to apply the developed technological solutions and to demonstrate its validity. Source of funding (public/private/public-private): Public funding: since 2003 (year of start of the works) the national government has been the financial promoter of the MoSE. The Law 443 of 2001, is the legislative instrument that establishes procedures and methods of financing for the realization of the great strategic infrastructures in Italy for the decade from 2002 to 2013, among which the MoSE project. Since 2003, other funds have been allocated to the Consortium Venezia Nuova. The MoSE consortium also relies on lending from credit institutions (private banks) and the European Investment Bank (EIB)1. Granularity of the initiative (initiative, policy approach) The MOSE is a project. Source (webpage) http://www.camera.it/temiap/temi16/2011scheda[064].pdf Articles: http://www.lastampa.it/2017/10/11/scienza/ambiente/inchiesta/venezia-e-il-suo-mose-storia-di-un-fallimento- mfwrL5oVafcx0pBZf1w70K/pagina.html http://www.lastampa.it/2017/10/12/esteri/lastampa-in-english/venice-and-mose-story-of-a-failure- 2XRaxsCgFhcmKEXidalyxJ/pagina.html http://www.ilpost.it/2014/06/18/mose/ Reports https://www.mosevenezia.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/mose-e-salvaguardia.pdf+ Videos L'evoluzione morfologica della laguna di Venezia (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIQ8tfgBpCI&t=790s) “In alto mare”, Report, RaiTre, 22/05/2017 (http://www.report.rai.it/dl/Report/puntata/ContentItem-c36818ca-3cee- 4b5b-8106-127567bc70a0.html) Brief description of the initiative: 1 http://www.eib.org/about/accountability/complaints/cases/mose-venice.htm The MoSE is an integrated defence system consisting of a series of swing-floating fan winding pads capable of isolating the Venetian lagoon from the Adriatic Sea during dangerous high tide events (between 110 cm and 3 meters). The system does not obstruct navigation, does not interfere with port activities and does not alter the landscape. These works are geared to other complementary interventions such as strengthening the coasts, rising shores and pavements and retraining the lagoon, which today due to floods and morphological degradation, is progressively descending to the sea and the ground level is declining. In parallel with the construction of MOSE, the Venice Water Authority and Venice Local Authority are raising quaysides and paving in the city in order to protect built-up areas in the lagoon from medium high tides (below 110 centimetres (43 in), the height at which the mobile barriers will come into operation). Important activities are also underway to redress pollution in the industrial area of Porto Marghera, at the edge of the central lagoon. Construction began simultaneously in 2003 at all three lagoon inlets, and as of December 2016, more than 87% of the project has been completed. The infrastructural megaproject in the lagoon around Venice, is nearing its completion after almost 15 years of building. I: Background, origin, mission and ambition Ia: Origin Floods have caused damage since ancient times and have become ever more frequent and intense as a result of the combined effect of the rise in sea level and the drop-in land level caused by natural and man-induced phenomena. Today, towns and villages in the lagoon are an average of 23 centimetres (9.1 in) lower with respect to the water level than at the beginning of the 1900s and each year, thousands of floods cause serious problems for the inhabitants as well as deterioration of architecture, urban structures and the ecosystem. Over the entire lagoon area, there is also a constant risk of an extreme catastrophic event such as that of 4 November 1966 when a tide of 194 centimetres above sea level submerged Venice, Chioggia and the other built-up areas. Floods effects are exacerbated due to greater erosion by the sea caused by human interventions to facilitate port activities (e.g. through the construction of jetties and artificial canals); establishment of the industrial Porto Marghera area; and increased wash from motorized boats, which all aggravate erosion of morphological structures and the foundations of quaysides and buildings. In the future, the high-water phenomenon may be further aggravated by the predicted rise in sea level as a result of global warming. Following the flood of 4 November 1966 when Venice, Chioggia and the other built-up areas in the lagoon were submerged by a tide of 194 centimetres (76 in), the first Special Law for Venice (Law 171/73) declared the problem of safeguarding the city to be of "priority national interest". This marked the beginning of a long legislative and technical process to guarantee Venice and the lagoon an effective sea defence system. In 1984, due to the persistence of Venice lagoon flooding problems, the government – on the basis of a strong political consensus on this matter2 - enacted a second Special Law for Venice (Law 789/84). The new law, besides establishing the “Comitatone” (Italian: Comitato di indirizzo, coordinamento e controllo; chaired by the Italian head of government and composed (all with equal vote weight) by several Ministers, the Governor of the Veneto Region, the Mayors of Venice and Chioggia and two other mayors of the municipalities concerned) entrusted to the Consorzio Venezia Nuova (CVN, New Venice Consortium) the share of the project under the responsibility of the State. The CVN is the consortium of local and national enterprises in the construction and engineering sector (the tendering process was not open to foreign consortia) in charge of designing and implementing a safeguarding project for Venice. To the Venetian Water Authority (ministerial body, of the Ministry for Infrastructures), the role of controller of the budget allocated to the consortium and the achievement of the objectives. The CVN presented a complex system of interventions to safeguard Venice (the REA "Riequilibrio E Ambiente", "Rebalancing and the Environment" Project), which included mobile barriers at the inlets to regulate tides in the lagoon. In this context, between 1988 and 1992, experiments were carried out on a prototype gate (MOdulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico, hence the name MOSE) and in 1989, a conceptual design for the mobile barriers was drawn up. This was completed in 1992 and subsequently approved by the Higher Council of Public Works then subjected to an Environmental Impact Assessment procedure and further developed as requested by the Comitatone. In 2002 the final design was presented and on 3 April 2003, the Comitatone gave the go-ahead for its implementation. In 2003 construction sites opened at the three lagoon inlets of Lido, Malamocco and Chioggia. Regarding the name “MoSE”: before the acronym was used to describe the entire flood protection system, MOSE referred to the 1:1 scale prototype of a gate that had been tested between 1988 and 1992 at the Lido inlet. The name also holds a secondary meaning: "MOSE" alludes to the biblical character Moses ("Mosè" in Italian), who is remembered for parting the Red Sea. After the official start of the works on the 14th May 2003, other milestones of the project are: - 2003: Major allocation of funds from the central government with the Law 443/2001, aimed to define and fund the main infrastructures for the future of the country; the law also established a new governance structure, according to which the main decisions for the safeguard of the Venetian lagoon should be taken 2 https://www.mosevenezia.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/mose-e-salvaguardia.pdf with the agreement of the local municipalities and the Veneto region: the body identified as responsible for mediating among the parties is the CIPE (Inter-ministerial committee for the economic planning); - 2013: beginning of the trials on the MoSE project (for tax evasion, unlawful funding and bribes), with the detention of several public officials (among whom the former Minister for Infrastructures and the Mayor of the City of Venice at that time), arrest warrants for more than 100 people and consequent start of the compulsory administration; - 2016: the competences of the Venice Water Authority (renamed Provveditorato alle Opere pubbliche del Triveneto; Italian: Agency to the Public Works of the Northeast of Italy) are conferred to the newly established Metropolitan city of Venice (new administrative layer established in 2014); Over the last years the length of the project has been repeatedly extended (especially due to the corruption and tax evasion trials since 2013), and the budget foreseen increased. Ib: Initiator The Italian central government, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport; with the support of local authorities (Region and municipalities).