Studying the state of health of the sea by investigating the effects of human activity and those of climate change.
And, vice versa, also check how water conditions can affect human health.
This is the goal of "Sea Care", a collaboration agreement signed today between the Navy and the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) in La Spezia on board the sailing training ship Amerigo Vespucci.
The agreement was signed by the Chief of Staff of the Navy, team admiral
Enrico Credendino
, and the president of the ISS,
Silvio Brusaferro.
The research project on health risks related to environment and climate in the Planetary Health vision, lasting three years, will be carried out through the monitoring of samples collected along the ordinary routes of both the Amerigo Vespucci and other naval units of the Navy in territorial and international waters.
"This project is an example of how the synergy between the country's excellences can contribute to redesigning future health scenarios from a planetary health perspective - said Brusaferro - Thanks to this alliance we have the opportunity to develop a standardized approach. that will enable us to take an accurate and extensive photograph of the state of health of the sea ".
Andrea Piccioli
, Director General of the ISS, who will coordinate the activities for the Institute, underlined the value of this model for the future: "The Institute's researchers will follow the ships of our Navy all over the world for three years - he explained - On board, collaborating with the crew and sampling, there will always be young researchers, the most aware of the inseparable link between caring for the individual and caring for the planet, this project is also a tribute to future generations ".
In fact, one of the main objectives is the creation of a uniform methodological approach for the entire duration of the project, to overcome the limits of the current site-specific analyzes on marine pollution, often conducted with inhomogeneous methods, and to return an overall picture of the contamination of our seas and how all this impacts on human health and climate change.
"Protecting the marine environment is one of the tasks of the Navy and one of the priorities that I have placed at the basis of my mandate, just as a priority is the improvement of the health and psychophysical well-being of the Navy personnel - underlined Admiral Credendino - This collaboration manages to achieve both objectives and is an example of how two companies of excellence can collaborate with each other in the interest of the country system ".
The sampling and laboratory activities will start in June on board the Vespucci, awarded by Unesco the banner of "UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development", where some ISS researchers will embark during the summer training campaigns.