Effects of Climate Change on the Morphological Stability of the Mediterranean Coasts: Consequences for Tourism

Over the last decades, the Mediterranean coasts have experienced intense development, mainly due to the growing role of tourism, maritime trade, and energy industry. This situation has favoured a rapid expansion of urban coastal settlements and infrastructures, thus producing negative effects, such as an irreversible reshaping of the littorals, a transformation of their natural resources, and a decrease of their resilience. At present, climate change is worsening this condition by causing modifications on both weather and hydrodynamic processes. In this respect, the past and present impacts of climate change on the morphological stability of the Mediterranean coasts and their effects on tourism have been recently analysed. Data interpretation has shown that the littorals differently respond to this occurrence in relation to their characteristics and to local weather and hydrodynamic conditions. The results have proved that erosion and flooding are two major threats to the preservation of the coasts; they are endangering the beach-based tourism mainly causing land loss and serious damages to human settlements and activities. As in the Mediterranean coasts population is growing and social and economic interests are increasing, the implementation of flood and coastal erosion risk management strategies is necessary to face future challenges related to climate change and to increase coastal resilience.