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| Demonstrators of the movement “No Grandi navi – No big ships” protest in St. Mark Square against the passage of cruise ships in Venice |
Venice should be put on the United Nationsโ list of endangered cities and cruise ships should be banned from its fragile lagoon to prevent an ecological disaster, Italyโs main conservation group said on Monday.
The call came less than a month after a towering cruise ship collided with a dock and a tourist boat in Venice, injuring four people and rekindling a heated debate in Italy about how to protect the historic city, which draws some 30 million tourists a year.
โVenice is unique and we cannot allow it to be destroyed even more than it has been already,โ said Mariarita Signorini, national president of Italia Nostra (Our Italy), whose stated mission is to defend Italyโs cultural and natural heritage.
โVenice is one of the most endangered cities in the world,โ she told a news conference announcing the decision to ask the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to put the city on its List of World Heritage in Danger.
Venice and its lagoon are already on UNESCOโs list of World Heritage Sites but Italia Nostra says unbridled tourism, a steady exodus of longtime residents and environmental decay pose a huge threat to the cityโs survival.
According to UNESCOโs website, the danger list is meant to โencourage corrective actionโ.
While being put on the danger list would have no immediate consequences, Italia Nostra argues that this would compel national authorities to enact more safeguards.
It was not immediately clear what Veniceโs prospects were for being included on the list, which currently has 54 sites worldwide, some of them but by no means all in conflict zones.
โNOT JUST BUILDINGSโ
The June 2 collision between MSC Cruisesโ massive 2,679-passenger Opera and the moored โRiver Countessโ, which had 110 people on board, re-ignited calls for banning giant ships.
The accident conjured up memories of the 2012 accident involving the Costa Concordia, which overturned after hitting rocks near the island of Giglio, killing 32 people.
โIf something like that happened in the lagoon, it would be the end of the ecosystem,โ said Lidia Fersuoch, head of Italia Nostra in Venice. โVenice is not just buildings. The lagoon is a living thing.โ
Cruise ships enter the lagoon via one of the three โmouthsโ that connect it to the Adriatic Sea, pass near St. Marks Square and go through the Giudecca Canal to reach a passenger terminal.
Italia Nostra says they cause waves that damage historic buildings. The group wants a port for big ships built at one of the mouths where the Adriatic meets the lagoon.
REUTERS
