Slovenia’s coastal pearl is becoming an open laboratory looking for solutions to climate change
The picturesque Slovenian Piran has repeatedly fallen victim to natural disasters related to climate change. Local policy makers, scientists and everyday people are now taking decisive action to change the flow.
The Slovenian coast may be only 47 kilometers long, but it is definitely strong.
While the small towns of Izola, Portorož, Koper and Ankaran have a lot of charm, Piran, which lies at the top of the Piran peninsula, is the most spectacular in the group, famous for its stunning medieval architecture and picturesque views. Adriatic.
Despite the fact that the city has become a popular tourist destination due to its location, it has also become vulnerable to natural disasters, which have been further aggravated by climatic conditions.
In November 2019 and again in December 2020, the medieval city experienced severe floods caused by heavy rain and tides, causing landslides and roadblocks.
As the most probable cause of the increasingly frequent floods, which severely affected Piran and the surrounding region, they outlined the global rise in sea level due to climate change. But these climate-related challenges have now prompted policy makers and locals to take decisive action.
EVALUATION
Piran is now an associate partner in the European Commission’s Smart Climate Resistance Project for European Coastal Cities (SCORE), which aims to address the growing battles of coastal locations with “extreme weather events, coastal erosion and rising sea levels”.
As part of the project, Piran will become one of 10 cities across Europe that will become “living laboratories” looking for solutions to their most pressing climate challenges.
“The Municipality of Piran is proud to offer its associated partnership to the SHINK2C project, run by the Koper Science and Research Center and part of the EU-funded SCORE project worth 10 million euros,” said Piran Mayor Đenio Zadković. Europe on the rise.
With the help of the people of Piran, the Scientific Research Center of the Koper Mediterranean Institute for Environmental Studies will focus on ways to limit the consumption of drinking water and the possible creation of an early warning system for extreme weather conditions.
The SHINK2C project is Piran’s open laboratory vision of preventing the loss of drinking water, which indicates the unnecessary waste of clean water when flushing the toilet, which suggests that gray water should be diverted to tanks for this purpose.
This should further reduce the presence of wastewater in the Adriatic Sea.
The flushing system proposed by SHINK2C will take water from showers and bathtubs in Piran and use it in toilets instead of drinking water.
Meanwhile, another aspect of the project will seek to develop an early warning system for floods, storms and erosion.
More progress is expected in the near future, as the project only started in July this year and will continue to receive EU funding for the next four years.
Piran as a sustainable tourist destination
“We sincerely hope that our contribution to mitigating the challenges of climate change will not only be a drop in the ocean, but will offer viable solutions and good practices for the future of the wider population,” Zadković added.
The primary objective of SCORE is to mitigate the effects of a climate catastrophe on the inhabitants of coastal communities. Despite having less than 4,000 permanent residents, in 2019 Piran was the second most visited city in Slovenia after the capital Ljubljana, as according to some statistics it attracted more than 620,000 visitors.
The willingness of locals in Piran to tackle climate challenges is part of what makes the city and the entire municipality a popular destination for sustainable tourism.
“Slovenia has always been considered the gold standard in our region in marketing the country to passengers from abroad,” says travelogue and author from Prague Mark Baker. Europe on the rise.
“This is mainly because – at least so far – they have articulated a clear approach based on values (as opposed to attractiveness). Slovenia is ‘slow’, ‘clean’, ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’. In my experience, other regional destination marketing organizations admire Slovenia for this and have at least to some extent set their countries and cities more in this direction, “adds Baker.
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