On the outcome of the UNESCO workshop on The Ecological Implications of Climate Change on the Venice Lagoon and its relevance to the BEWG

In spring 2011, under the auspices and organization of the UNESCO Venice's office, the Institute of Marine Sciences of the Italian National Research Council (CNR-ISMAR), brought together in Venice an international group of experts on lagoons and estuaries to discuss the major ecological implications of Climate Changes on the La-goon of Venice for the end of this century (Tagliapietra et al., 2011). The discussion was based on the available climate change scenarios and on the outputs of a previous UNESCO workshop on Sea Level Rise prospecting (Umgiesser et al., 2011). These workshops were aimed at providing a scientific contribution to highlight the rele-vance of Venice and its lagoon as a worldwide and challenging issue in the Climate Change context. General effects of climate change on the lagoon functioning (e.g. sea level rise, acidifi-cation, temperature raise, biological invasions, phenological and physiological changes) were discussed, with a major focus on the benthic communities. It was con-cluded that there is a need to strengthen a coordinated and large-scale research effort on the relationship between lagoon metabolism and hydrology and on the related biological patterns. Ad hoc research programs with experimental studies and obser-vational monitoring should be implemented to improve our understanding of eco-logical responses to Climate Change. This will enable the implementation of adaptive management policies to face proactively the change and to mitigate deleterious ef-fects as much as possible. The rapid adoption of a long-term strategy is needed, in-cluding careful economic and territorial planning addressing the reduction of loads and pressures on the lagoon. Climate-related ecological changes that are currently being observed in Mediterranean lagoons are likely to occur in the near future at higher latitudes. A stronger cooperation between scientists and institutions from dif-ferent biogeographic regions, including the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic seas, is encouraged through the BEWG activities.