Controversy
The project has met resistance from environmentalist and conservationist groups such as Italia Nostra. The World Wide Fund for Nature has commented negatively on the project.
The main criticisms of the MOSE project, opposed since the beginning by environmentalists and certain political forces, are related to the costs to the Italian State of construction, management and maintenance, said to be much higher than alternative systems which other countries (the Netherlands and England) have employed to resolve similar problems. In addition, according to those opposing MOSE, the system with its monolithic integrated conception is not "gradual, experimental and reversible" in line with the criteria specified by the Special Law for the Safeguarding of Venice. There have also been criticisms of the environmental impact of the barriers, not just at the inlets where complex levelling will be carried out (as the part of the seabed where the barriers will be installed must be flat) and the lagoon bed will be reinforced to accommodate the gates (which will rest on thousands of concrete piles driven into the bottom for metres underground), but also on the hydrogeological balance and delicate ecosystem of the lagoon. The NO MOSE front also emphasises what could be a number of critical points in the structure of the system and its ineffectiveness to cope with the forecast increase in sea level.
Read more about this topic: MOSE Project
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