ITALY – Offshoring drilling threatened to submerge parts of the delta, which is already bracing against a barrage of problematic, climate change-induced conditions. Environmental groups have won a landmark case against a project to drill for offshore gas in Italy’s Po Delta, a Unesco-designated biosphere reserve.

The 500 km2 wetlands located around an hour south of Venice are some of the largest and richest in the Mediterranean. Partly created by slow sedimentation and partly by human reclamation efforts, the park is a complex mosaic of lagoons, marshes, beaches and farmland veined with rivers. The delta is engaged in a long-standing battle against the encroaching Adriatic Sea and the reignited gas project prompted fresh fears of flooding. (Euronews)

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