The images are iconic — gondolas gliding down picturesque canals, flanked by historic buildings. They're the images that show up time and time again on social media and are the reason so many tourists flock to Venice, Italy.
But the canals also highlight a major, climate-related problem facing the city. And if it's not fixed soon, many residents fear the famous waterways, along with the city they call home, may eventually cease to exist.
What's happening?
Venice is located along the Venetian Lagoon, the body of water that has helped shape the city's identity for centuries. But as CNN reported, that lagoon now threatens the city's future.
As canals were added to the lagoon and city, more ships came to Venice, causing higher tides and occasional floods. But as human-caused pollution causes the planet to warm and global sea levels to rise, Venice is seeing more frequent flooding than ever before.
Earlier this decade, the city put into operation a system called MOSE, 78 hinged steel floodgates that rise when needed, keeping the city dry when it would otherwise flood.
MOSE was designed to be put into use just a few times per year. Instead, in its first 14 months, it was used 33 times, per CNN — with each instance costing about $200,000.
Combined with other issues like day-trip tourists who use up city resources without spending much money, and the city's full-time population falling below 50,000, some residents worry that Venice is at an inflection point.
Why is this so concerning?
Venice is just one of many locations dealing with the weather-based effects of a warming climate.
As more pollution is released into our atmosphere, the toxic gases trap heat into our planet. Along with causing warmer temperatures, this also causes more frequent, and more severe, events such as hurricanes, droughts, and, yes, floods.
Global sea levels also continue to rise. In 2024, above-average ocean warming led to a rise of 0.23 inches, higher than the 0.17 inches originally forecast. In all, the global sea level has risen by 4 inches since NASA's satellite monitoring began in 1993.
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Many residents and officials are taking action to try to keep the Venice they know from dying off completely, by looking at better transportation systems and ways to promote sustainable tourism.
Local scientists are studying ways to help preserve the lagoon, as scores of scientists globally work on ways to combat rising sea levels. But residents agree these changes need to come soon.
"There's not going to be another Venice," Emanuele Dal Carlo, founder of a vacation-rental platform just for Venice residents, told CNN. "Once you have helped change this place forever, it's not coming back."
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