Nuova metodologia di valutazione del rischio da erosione costiera. Caso studio: Regione Calabria

The coastal environment represents a dynamic ecosystem, whose evolution is continually conditioned by the action of numerous climatic and anthropic factors, which affect both the coasts and the hydrographic basins. In recent decades, the growing anthropization of coastal areas and the effects of climate change, in terms of both sea level rise and the increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, have caused severe surface losses in the emerged coast. As a result, awareness of the need for better coastal zone management has increased in recent years and there has been a widespread and growing interest in coastal risk assessment methodologies. However, the national and international panorama, in terms of coastal risk assessment, is characterized not only by the presence of different calculation methodologies depending on the coastal region in question, but above all by a great variety and dispersion of factors on which these methodologiesare based. At present, in fact, there is no methodology that is of general validity, which can incorporate all the factors that influence coastal risk, in which the characteristic parameters of the area are calibrated according to a standardized procedure, such as the one proposed in this thesis. The new risk assessment methodology, proposed in this study, is index-based and is of general validity, and allows to take into account all the hazard and vulnerability factors that come into play in the coastal erosion process. Also, this methodology can be integrated on a free access GIS platform, in order to provide administrations, individuals and stakeholders with valid support both in the planning phase of coastal works and in the management phase of the coastal areas. The developed methodology was calibrated through its application in 54 sample locations in the Calabria region.