Coastal Nature-based Solution: a proposal for the Italian context starting from the Danish case study.

In Europe, territories which are particularly exposed and affected by climate change are Coastal Areas. These territories are home to about 41% of EU’s total population living less than 50km from the sea (Eurostat 2011); they cover about 13% of EU’s total land mass and are to be considered outstanding ‘’dynamic environmental and socioeconomic systems that provide services including wildlife habitat, erosion and flooding protection, and economic and recreational activities ‘’ .?? Coastal NBS become design elements of paramount importance to tackle negative side-effects of Climate Change on Coastal Areas, being able to enhance territorial resilience, conserve biodiversity, mitigate climate change, provide socio-economic benefits, preserve cultural and aesthetic values in coastal areas, having at the same time a holistic and sustainable approach. However, even if NBS represent a great alternative to grey infrastructures (unlikely to withstand future climate events) research on the matter and practical implementations are lacking at scale. To facilitate the implementation process of Coastal NBS at the EU level, this dissertation examinates how Coastal NBS have been adopted in recent Climate Adaptation and Climate Mitigation projects in Denmark, to protect and enhance exposed coastal areas. Denmark is an excellent case study given its low-lying morphological character which exacerbate its exposure to wind and water hazards (coastal erosion, storm surges and sea level rise, floodings), and given its substantial and progressive loss of coastal and marine biodiversity over the last few decades.?? The dissertation provides a broad overview on what anthropogenic Climate Change is and how it directly affects both human well-being and the natural environment at the same time. Afterwards, the thesis outlines what NBS are in general terms, how the concept NBS changed over the past decades and how NBS are adopted and implemented at the European policy-making level as Adaptation and Mitigation measures. Finally, the thesis will analyze in depth the role of different Coastal NBS best-practices in Denmark, how they work, what their multiple benefits are (ecosystem services) and define ways to frame and up-scale those solutions to another similar contexts in the EU which is Italy.??