Between 18 and 21 October 2022 was held the 17th Plinius Conference on Mediterranean Risks in Frascati, Italy.
The Conference contemplated 6 main topics:
- Diagnosis, trends, causality, and prediction of extreme weather events in a changing climate;
- Earth Observation data and techniques for the definition, characterization and monitoring of natural hazards;
- Hydro-geological effects of extreme events;
- Socio-economic impacts: exposure, vulnerability, prospective, and adaptation;
- Safeguarding and management of cultural and natural heritage at risk from climate extreme events;
- Impacts of climate change and extremes on ecosystems and agriculture;
- Air quality and Health in the Mediterranean.
Pinhas Alpert (TAU, Israel) and María-Carmen Llasat (UB, Barcelona), chaired session 4. Its objective was to provide a multidisciplinary forum for presentations and discussions of our current state of knowledge about the socio-economic impacts of both Mediterranean Storms and their evolution in a context of global change, and the interplay between air quality and human health, with special incidence in adaptation constraints, challenges and tipping points. The session also addressed how we communicate and educate population, policy makers and relevant stakeholders about natural hazards and disaster risk reduction, and how to address innovative means and mechanisms developed to achieve effective participation of the citizens in the different phases of the risk prevention and management.
Along this session, Francesca Munerol in representation of Antonio Parodi (CIMA) presented the I-CHANGE project that dealt with a great part of these objectives. Francesca Munerol herself presented the Genoa Living Lab, while Pinhas Alpert and María Carmen Llasat presented the Jerusalem and Genoa Living Labs, respectively. The three Living Labs are focused on extreme rainfall, pollution and heat waves, and in all three cases the campaigns with the “Meteotracker” mobile sensors were shown.
In the case of Genoa, landslides and wind storms must be added, while the peculiarity of the Israel LL focuses on the use of antennas for communication via mobile telephony to estimate humidity and precipitation. Barcelona LL added, for its part, the use of the FLOODUP App in citizen science to collect information on floods.
