Every summer (but also beyond), it is always the same story: the Italian coasts are facing the same challenge, between crowded beaches, tourist pressure to the stars and waste that accumulate in an uncontrolled way between sand and sea. A phenomenon not a little whose management, however, has often been fragmented, slow and decidedly never coordinated.
But something is changing. In Emilia-Romagna, an innovative project is born that combines advanced technology and environmental protection: it is called J1er and is the first integrated digital system for coastal and marine monitoring, conceived by the Italian startup Justonearth (specialized in the automatic analysis of geospace data, multi-specialties and hyperspectral ones, applied to terrestrial, marine and urban contexts) as part of the program) Ecosister (Spoke 5 – University of Ferrara).
The goal is simple but ambitious: transforming a complex problem such as marine pollution into a clear, shared and useful data flow to intervene in real time.
Any collected data, each report sent, each identified anomaly becomes part of a dynamic and transparent system for the protection of the environment, explains Luigi Borgogno, General Manager of Justonearth.
A “digital twin” to monitor the coast
The heart of the project is the creation of a real digital twin of the Romagna coast: a dynamic and constantly updated digital model that allows you to keep the presence and dispersion of waste, tourist flows and the impact of human activities under control and dispersion, in addition to the pollutants transported by rivers and marine currents.
To do this, J1er combines satellite data from the European Copernicus program, information collected directly on the field, artificial intelligence models and a blockchain system to certify and track all information.
The result is a platform open to public bodies, businesses and citizens, which can access reliable and updated data to move from a reactive management to a proactive and shared model of environmental protection.
Technology and participation for a replicable model
The project represents an important change of step: no longer only monitoring, but a system capable of growing together with the territory thanks to the active participation of people and the constant collection of information.
“We do not just map the present – underlines Borgogno – we build a tool that evolves with the territory and with the contribution of the community.”
After experimentation in Emilia-Romagna, the goal is to extend this model to other sections of coast, in Italy and abroad, creating modular and replicable technology for the protection of marine and urban ecosystems.
The J1er project was carried out by Justonearth thanks to the loan received within the program Ecosister-Ecosystem for Sustainable Transition in Emilia-Romagna (Spoke 5-University of Ferrara) with the co -financing of the European Union – Next Generation EU.
