The Blue Economy Forum, organized by the Ljubljana Office in collaboration with the Italian Embassy in Slovenia, took place on December 4th, 2024, at the InnoRenew CoE research institute in Izola, Slovenia. This initiative followed an online event on the infrastructure sector held in December 2020, in partnership with OICE, the trade association representing Italian engineering, architecture, and technical-economic consultancy organizations.
The forum addressed environmental protection from climate change in maritime and hydrogeological fields, presenting preventive measures and infrastructural interventions. Key topics included the risks of sea level rise and flood prevention measures, especially relevant after the severe floods in Slovenia and parts of Italy in 2023. The forum also discussed the logistical integration of the coast from a sustainable growth perspective.
These issues align with the interests of Slovenia and Italy, particularly under the Trilateral Cooperation Agreement in the Northern Adriatic, involving Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia, launched in December 2020. This agreement focuses on protecting the Adriatic Sea in terms of connectivity, blue economy, maritime safety, and environmental protection. In December 2023, Slovenia assumed the Presidency of the Barcelona Convention (COP23), aimed at protecting the Mediterranean Sea from pollution risks, under the MAP United Nations Action Plan for the Mediterranean.
The forum began with institutional greetings from Giacomo Ricciotti, Director of the ICE Office in Ljubljana, Giuseppe Cavagna, the Italian Ambassador to Slovenia, and Lidija Kegljevič Zagorc, Secretary of State of the Slovenian Ministry of Natural Resources. This was followed by a technical session on climate change analysis, featuring contributions from Italian and Slovenian academic and business representatives.
Primož Banovec from the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the University of Ljubljana presented a recent study on the impact of sea level rise on the Slovenian coast with long-term projections. Michele Greco from the University of Basilicata discussed the European project Save Medcoast, which uses modeling tools to prevent natural disasters caused by sea level rise in vulnerable Mediterranean coastal areas.
Beatrice Majone from OICE introduced the association, highlighting the complexity of the Italian territory and presenting solutions designed by associated firms and companies to address critical issues. Representatives from Italian companies in the sector, including Enrico Altran from AcegasApsAmga, Marco Politi from DBA Group, Davide Russo from Idrostudi, Stefano Ripari from Politecnica Ingegneria e Architettura, and Diego Santaliana from Polo Tecnologico dell’Alto Adriatico, participated in a panel on prevention measures and infrastructural adaptation to hydrogeological risks.
In the session on best practices in flood prevention and management, Armando Brath from the University of Bologna and Ervin Vivoda, Director of the Water Department of the Slovenian Ministry of Natural Resources, reported on the 2023 floods in Emilia-Romagna and Slovenia.
A session curated by Intesa Sanpaolo Bank followed, with an introductory speech by Luigi Fuzio, CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Slovenia, and presentations on port infrastructure and maritime economy by Massimo Deandreis, General Manager of SRM Research Center for Economic Studies of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group, and Alessandro Panaro, Head of the Maritime & Energy Service of SRM.
The forum concluded with a panel on the risks of loss and conservation measures of marine biodiversity in the Northern Adriatic, featuring representatives from Slovenian and Italian research institutes: Hana Hanžek-Turnšek of YouSea Institute in Piran, Tina Kosjek of the Department of Environmental Sciences at the Jožef Stefan Institute in Ljubljana, Jerneja Penca of the Mediterranean Institute for Environmental Studies at the Science and Research Centre in Koper, Martina Orlando-Bonaca of the National Institute of Biology in Ljubljana, and Vinko Bandelj of the OGS-National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics in Trieste.
The program and some presentations in English, in PDF format, are available at the following LINK.
