AMMIRARE project to increase beach resilience through natural-based solutions: meeting in Cecina (Livorno) to involve socio-economic actors and present activities for this stretch of coastline
Businesses, institutions, environmental associations and citizens took part in the December 2024 event held in Cecina (in the province of Livorno) for the involvement of all the local players in the Italy-France Maritime Interreg project AMMIRARE, coordinated by the Sant'Anna School. An experience of participation and awareness-raising on the impacts of climate change on the Cecina coastline and the nature-based solutions that the AMMIRARE project proposes for this territory. The Sant'Anna School, together with the Municipality of Cecina, organised an event involving about 30 people from various public and private organisations. The event was opened by Alessandro Bechini, councillor for territorial government and deputy mayor of the municipality of Cecina, who emphasised the importance of the project and its activities for the territory. With the Cecina event, the research team of the Sant'Anna School launched the first of many initiatives to raise awareness and promote the involvement of various local actors that will be carried out over the next three years of the project.
During the event, the AMMIRARE project was presented as well as the natural-based solutions that will be adopted at the Marina di Cecina beach to increase its resilience against the negative impacts of climate change, such as coastal erosion and fragility against intense sea storms. The objective of the day was to present to local stakeholders, interested in preserving the coast and its shoreline, the activities that the Sant'Anna School will implement together with the project partners.
During this first event, participants were able to express their perceptions regarding some of the solutions proposed for Marina di Cecina: improving the resilience of the dune through the repopulation of typical species, dune cordon and ecological beach concept are the three solutions discussed and argued by the AMMIRARE partners. For each solution, the positive and negative points were set out by the various parties and then discussed in a final discussion. ‘I do not see any negative aspects to these solutions and they can be useful against erosion,’ confirmed a referent from the tourist accommodation sector, “They can limit the attractiveness of the beach by reducing beach availability,” argued some local referents. These are just some of the perceptions expressed during the event, which will be analysed in depth by the research team of the Sant'Anna School. The event was also an opportunity to organise an interactive activity to identify the preliminary perceptions of the participants, giving them the opportunity to write down on some anonymous post-it notes the positive and negative aspects according to the category that represents them with regard to each ‘nature-based solution’. The preliminary results see as positive aspects an improvement in the resilience of the coastline in connection with nature and the preservation of the beach, also on an aesthetic level. The negative aspects, on the other hand, are related to concerns about maintenance costs and the unattractiveness of a ‘natural’ beach with the presence of organic detritus, such as wood and beached Posidonia.
The coast of Marina di Cecina is divided into two areas, one north of the Cecina river, characterised by a strong presence of beached Posidonia Oceanica, which often represents a management problem for bathing establishments and beach users, especially during intense sea storms. The part of the coast south of the river, on the other hand, is affected by strong coastal erosion that has caused the shoreline to recede by more than 100 metres in the last 50 years, leaving only a small stretch of beach available for users. Through the implementation of experimental natural-based solutions, the project aims to increase the resilience of the Marina di Cecina beach system. However, the implementation of natural-based solutions alone is not sufficient to improve resilience, as the cooperation and active involvement of all local actors gravitating around the coast is necessary. The research team's challenge is to survey the perceptions of different categories of stakeholders (institutions, economic actors, associations) on the proposed nature-based solutions and to put in place engagement activities to improve stakeholderacceptance and understanding towards these types of solutions that increase coastal resilience and also improve biodiversity and habitats.
‘It was an important experience to better understand the coastal socio-economic fabric of Cecina, fundamental to better set up engagement activities that can improve stakeholder perception of nature-based solutions. The next step will be to bring together the results of this first activity and to fine-tune the involvement initiatives that are most relevant and beneficial to the territory,' commented the research team of the Sant'Anna School at the end of this meeting.
Cover photo: the beach at Marina di Cecina.
