COAST-SCAPES attended EUROLAG11
COAST-SCAPES was represented at EUROLAG11, the 11th European Lagoons Conference, held in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland, between the 18th and the 21st of August 2026. The conference brought together researchers, practitioners and managers working on lagoons, estuaries and coastal transitional waters, with a focus on how warming and other pressures are changing these ecosystems.
Pierpaolo Campostrini of CORILA, a COAST-SCAPES partner and leader of the Venice Lagoon pilot site, presented "An integrated framework for assessing risk and resilience along the land-coast-lagoon continuum under climate change in the Venice Lagoon (IT)". The work was co-authored with colleagues from CORILA, OGS and the CMCC Foundation, which are all members of the COAST-SCAPES consortium. The presentation showed how COAST-SCAPES links biophysical processes and governance dynamics across interconnected coastal systems. It draws on Copernicus datasets and in situ observations, using hierarchical indicators to evaluate systemic risk and resilience under present and future scenarios. This supports the design of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) along resilience pathways, while stakeholder engagement runs through the whole process for co-designed and practical solutions. The Venice Lagoon serves as the case study for testing and refining this approach, which is intended to be transferable to other lagoon and coastal systems within the project and beyond.
Pierpaolo Campostrini also presented "Waterbirds as early indicators of Nature-based Restoration in the Venice Lagoon." The work is based on results from the REST-COAST project and highlights that habitat heterogeneity, rather than island size alone, is the main driver of avian diversity and breeding productivity in restored salt marshes. It also stresses the role of participatory governance, including the voluntary "Pact for the Lagoon" signed by public authorities, scientists and local stakeholders. These results complement COAST-SCAPES' work on stakeholder-informed resilience strategies.
Participation in EUROLAG11 gave the COAST-SCAPES project a chance to share its approach with the wider lagoon community and to exchange ideas with experts working on similar challenges. Abstracts are available in the EUROLAG11 abstract book. More information about the event can be found on the official conference website.
