"Venice will be submerged, we need to be quick."The alarm of the expert Andrea Rinaldo who will receive the "Nobel for water"

Tomorrow the professor will receive the Prize in Stockholm:«I will quote Greta Thunberg»

«Keeping Venice alive and vital will not be easy».This is what Andrea Rinaldo, a hydrologist who will receive the "Nobel Prize for Water" tomorrow, says.He lives in Stockholm, but was born in the Venetian capital in 1954.At just 12 years old he experienced firsthand the Acqua Granda, an unprecedented flood that overwhelmed the city in '66.«I remember one meter and 90 meters who didn't come down for 20 hours, the panic because no one understood what was happening, the misery left by the retreating wave», he says.«Today we predict that the sea will be one meter higher in a hundred years.Meanwhile, in the rest of the world, Antarctic ice has shrunk this year as never before.And if we lose Greenland, nothing more than a meter of sea rise.We will have 7.The impression is that the change is not linear, but accelerating", he adds in an interview with the Republic.

«The climate is not right or left»

In tomorrow's speech he lets it be known that he will also mention another well-known Stockholm citizen, Greta Thunberg.«I would be happy to meet you.I admire what she says and we should listen to her more", he explains in conversation with Elena Dusi.«Young people must be listened to.They are our watchdogs.Even in Sweden, a country that respects science like no other, Thunberg's voice no longer resonates as it once did", continues the expert.In the long-awaited speech, the Nobel Prize winner for water will say that «the climate is neither right-wing nor left-wing.It is changing because of man and it is doing so more and more rapidly.We must also be quick in our response."The current situation, adds the expert, is "dramatic".

«The solution?Living with the emergency"

Rinaldo recognizes that the basic solution would be to stop emissions.But he is keen to clarify his vision on the topic:«From what pulpit can we today ask developing countries to slow down their path towards a well-being which they are just emerging from?More realistic is to try to adapt to change with practical solutions.In Italy this means, for example, deciding where a swollen river should overflow."

What is the Nobel Prize for water

Is called Stockholm Water Prize and it is an award that has been awarded every year since 1991 to professors who have worked on particularly relevant research in the hydraulic field.It is now known as the Nobel Prize for water because the selection and award ceremony are very similar to those of the famous Nobel Prize.The prize is awarded by Siwi, Stockholm International Water Institute, in collaboration with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.The Italian Rinaldo will receive the award tomorrow 23 August in the golden room of the City Hall in Stockholm in the presence of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.