In the South Adriatic, climate change is no longer tomorrow’s challenge: it is today’s reality. Floods sweep away roads, wildfires threaten forests and homes, and Mediterranean storms grow stronger year after year. For communities on both sides of the sea, the real question is not “if” these disasters will happen, but “how ready we are when they do”.
On 25 and 26 September in Bari, a new answer began to take shape. At the headquarters of ASSET Puglia, Italian and Greek partners gathered for the launch of SAFER – Systems of Advanced technologies For Environment protection and Risks prevention, a project funded by the Interreg South Adriatic Programme 2021–2027. Their shared mission: to protect people and places through cooperation and technology.
SAFER will work on three simple but powerful promises: anticipate risks before they strike, alert in real time with smarter digital systems, and prepare institutions and citizens with the right knowledge and tools.
Pilot actions in Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria and Ithaca will serve as living laboratories where innovation meets everyday life.
By 2027, SAFER aims to leave behind more than studies or reports. It will deliver:
- an operational early warning system, a tool that collects and analyses data to send timely alerts before floods, storms or wildfires strike;
- a cross-border Observatory, a network of Italian and Greek experts working together to monitor climate risks, share good practices and develop common solutions for safer communities;
- practical toolkits for administrations, and and communication campaigns to help communities feel safer and more capable of reacting to the unexpected.
Behind this effort is a strong partnership: ASSET Puglia (Lead Partner), the Southern Apennines District Basin Authority (Italy), the Center for Security Studies – KEMEA (Greece), the National Technical University of Athens – Research Committee (Greece), and the Municipality of Ithaca (Greece). Different institutions, united by the same responsibility: protecting the South Adriatic.
More than a project, SAFER is a shared commitment: advanced technologies for protection without borders, against climate risks, for people and places.
