Venice, 20 February 2026. Today, at the headquarters of the Lagoon Authority, Palazzo X Savi, the Pact for Ecological Restoration Actions in the Venice Lagoon was signed. This shared commitment document aims to strengthen collaboration among institutions, the scientific community, civil society organisations, and citizens to enhance the resilience of lagoon ecosystems.

The main signatory entities of the Pact are the CMCC – Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change, the Lagoon Authority, the Port System Authority of the Northern Adriatic Sea – Ports of Venice and Chioggia, and CORILA – Consortium for the Coordination of Research on the Venice Lagoon System.

The initiative was born within the framework of the European project REST-COAST – Large-scale RESToration of COASTal ecosystems through rivers-to-sea connectivity (Horizon 2020 – Green Deal) and represents one of its main outcomes, in terms of proposing governance tools. The Pact is, in fact, conceived as a guidance instrument to support ecological restoration policies and practices in the medium to long term, in line with the European Green Deal and strategies for biodiversity and adaptation to climate change.

The document supports a transition in lagoon governance, promoting a model based on stable institutional cooperation, integration between technical-scientific expertise and decision-making responsibilities, and continuous monitoring of interventions and their effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Along this path, representatives of civil society organisations are gathered in a permanent discussion forum dedicated to lagoon restoration (referred to in the project as “CORE-PLAT”), contributing to the definition of priorities, sharing knowledge, and evaluating the outcomes of actions taken, thereby strengthening the participatory dimension and legitimacy of decisions.

The Pact also intends to promote the integration of good ecological restoration practices, developed and validated within the REST-COAST project, into the planning and technical specifications of current and future interventions in the lagoon.

Antonio Navarra, President of the CMCC Foundation – Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change, stated: “Climate sciences play a crucial role in supporting effective institutional dialogue, involving policymakers, local communities and stakeholders in building effective solutions for the future of the Venice lagoon. The signing of the Pact for Ecological Restoration Actions is a very significant moment for the CMCC because it demonstrates that an advanced scientific institution such as ours not only strives to make the most advanced scientific knowledge available to support decision-making processes, but is also actively engaged in ensuring that this knowledge can be best applied in the specific social, economic and environmental context. In fact, integrating scientific knowledge, effective coastal restoration practices, and innovative planning tools enables the design of interventions tailored to the territory’s needs and consistent with the challenges posed by climate change. The climate and environmental risk models used in the RestCoast project, together with enhanced in-situ monitoring and the use of artificial intelligence, are the result of applying the most innovative technologies in this field of research. They allow us to provide highly detailed data on the lagoon ecosystem to support risk assessment and the planning of adaptation measures. Alongside these tools, co-design processes enable alignment of scientific results with the priorities of all interested parties, thereby improving the effectiveness of decision-making. From the RestCoast experience, through the stable integration of multidisciplinary scientific research expertise, institutions and all stakeholders, the benefits of innovative solutions emerge, which can guarantee Venice’s lagoon a safer, more sustainable and more resilient future in the face of ongoing changes.”

Matteo Gasparato, President of the Port System Authority of the Northern Adriatic Sea, stated: “Venice is its port and the port is Venice. This means that protecting the lagoon and developing the port are not alternative objectives but are part of the same institutional responsibility. The lagoon is an entirely human-made environment, shaped over more than a thousand years of interventions to protect the city and enable navigation: our task today is to continue this history with technological, scientific and environmental tools suited to the 21st century. The interventions currently promoted by the Port System Authority, aimed at increasing navigational accessibility while simultaneously protecting the ecosystem, should be seen from this perspective. The maintenance dredging projects currently under environmental impact assessment, developed within the Channelling project and in line with what is set out in the Pact, provide an authentic contribution to the reconstruction and rebalancing of lagoon morphology. The management of hydrodynamic flows, the correct placement of sediments, the creation of morphological structures, together with the definition of cross-sections compatible with the needs of the port system, greatly reduce erosion phenomena and re-establish a more coherent relationship between navigable channels and saltmarshes, in a logic of active maintenance.”

Roberto Rossetto, President of the Venice Lagoon Authority – New Water Magistrate, stated: “Climate change is currently underway, and the continuous occurrence of extreme events is increasingly affecting life on our planet. With the Intervention Programme prepared by the then Water Magistrate at the time, following the Acqua Granda of 1966, works to safeguard Venice and its lagoon were set in motion. Following a long and demanding approval process, the MOSE System was built. Since 2020, MOSE has been activated 151 times, and we are now in the sixth safeguarding season. Thanks to the realisation of this complex system of works, Venice, the most beautiful and fragile city in the world, is also the best protected. However, the challenges to be faced are much more complex and articulated. The erosion of morphological structures and lagoon beds encourages the colonisation by alien species, such as the blue crab and the small sea walnut, which put the lagoon ecosystem at risk and, with it, the survival of native species, with an ever greater risk of biodiversity loss. Within the REST-COAST Project – Large-scale RESToration of COASTal ecosystems through rivers-to-sea connectivity (Horizon 2020 – Green Deal), these problems have been scientifically addressed, and guidelines for integrating effective ecological restoration practices into lagoon management have been established. Everyone must work together to implement a specific ecological strategy for the Venice Lagoon. The document being signed promotes institutional cooperation that integrates scientific and institutional expertise, creating a virtuous model to be preserved and implemented over time. The governance of the lagoon is now changing thanks to the establishment of the Venice Lagoon Authority – New Water Magistrate, equipped with a Management Committee, which includes the four competent ministries, the Veneto Region, the Metropolitan City and the Municipality of Venice, for the sharing of objectives and strategies, as well as a Technical Committee for the approval of interventions. The Authority has also established a dedicated high-level Scientific Committee to guide decisions in an appropriate, modern, and science-based manner. In collaboration with the Port System Authority of the Northern Adriatic Sea and the other Public Administrations in the area, and with the support of research institutes, the Lagoon Authority will work to develop and propose solutions capable of safeguarding Venice, the traditional activities of the Lagoon, and the very life of the lagoon people.”

Francesco Musco, President of CORILA – Consortium for the Coordination of Research on the Venice Lagoon System, stated: “The signing of the Pact marks an important step in building truly integrated governance of the lagoon system. Venice and its lagoon form a complex ecosystem, in which environmental, infrastructural, economic and social components interact continuously: their management requires a permanent scientific knowledge base to effectively support public decision-making.”

CORILA was established, under the supervision of the Ministry of Universities and Research, precisely for this purpose: to coordinate scientific research on the lagoon system, make it operational and put it at the service of institutions. Through collaboration among its members — Iuav University of Venice, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, CNR and OGS — CORILA integrates multidisciplinary expertise in analysis, territorial planning and design, environmental economics, physical and ecosystemic processes, oceanography and advanced modelling. This integration enables translating data, monitoring, and predictive scenarios into concrete tools for evaluation and policy support.

Cover picture by Alessandra M. on Unsplash