How Italy will change with the La Spezia diving center. Minister Musumeci speaks
After the inauguration of the La Spezia diving center, the next step will be the definition of a framework law, a strategic plan to bring together public, private and international cooperation. Pierluigi Mennitti's interview with Nello Musumeci , taken from the latest issue of Start Magazine's quarterly
The underwater space, between the surface of the sea and its seabed, represents, together with space, the new frontier of human exploration. But it is also already today, and will increasingly be so in the coming decades, the place where critical infrastructures are located, vital for global security and that of individual nations: gas pipelines, oil pipelines, cabling networks, the backbone of the global Internet. It is all condensed in the concept of the underwater dimension, a new universe still to be studied and largely discovered, if it is true that we only know and have mapped 20% of the seabed. These constitute a significant gap in current strategic discourses and debates on maritime security. But they also represent an extraordinary opportunity for economic and scientific growth, as well as an environmental treasure to be protected and preserved. Defense and more. We discussed this with the Sicilian Minister of Maritime Policies and Civil Protection Nello Musumeci, starting from the recent initiative which has projected Italy into the forefront of the European strategic debate.
Minister, the National Diving Dimension Center recently inaugurated in La Spezia represents a milestone in the development of Italian diving capabilities. What are the main objectives of this hub and how will it contribute to Italy's underwater defense and submarine dominance?
In the near future, Italy is called to play a competitive role in two dimensions that pose enormous challenges: space and underwater. In particular, the latter constitutes an extraordinary growth opportunity for our country, not only for the aspects linked purely to the defense of national interests, but also for those typically connected to the blue economy. The La Spezia hub, which I have just inaugurated with the Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto, also constitutes a first concrete reference for European countries. So far, on this issue, Brussels does not seem to me to have made much progress on a regulatory level and our government's initiative could represent a first serious discussion for the European Commission.
It took an attack like the one on the Nord Stream gas pipeline to draw public attention to the strategic importance of the space under the sea. Until now, these aspects had remained limited to the interests of experts and small study groups, even in a country like Italy with over eight thousand kilometers of coastline.
As Italians we still do not have a maritime conscience, it has been a limitation of ours for centuries, despite our geographical projection on the Mediterranean and the exciting season of the Maritime Republics. Even today the dominant culture is, to use a Dante term, land rather than maritime. We should therefore not be surprised if we still know little about the underwater reality. But today the attention towards the sea is growing at a dizzying rate and the geopolitical context has brought this element of nature back to the center of the attention and interests of world powers. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had the courage not only to establish a structure for the sea, but also to finance the Ligurian hub so that it represented the essential tool around which to build a diving strategy, in an increasingly difficult international context.
Considering the strategic importance of sensitive underwater infrastructures, what are the ongoing initiatives to guarantee the security and defense of such installations in the Italian maritime context?
Our first task is to work according to the objectives indicated by the Sea Plan that Cipom, i.e. the specific inter-ministerial committee, launched with the assistance of the administrations of several ministries and private experts. In my opinion, we first need a framework law, a strategic plan, which brings together public and private sectors and international cooperation. It is not possible to act in such a delicate and complex context without a regulatory framework, which will then have to be compared with the lines that the European Parliament and the new Commission will indicate in the next legislature.
What areas is the government's initiative focusing on following the birth of the La Spezia hub?
In the underwater dimension we must work on three aspects. One is purely regulatory, the others concern high technology and the blue economy. Around these three aspects we must request the collaboration of the scientific community, academies and large industries called upon to provide a very significant contribution. Hundreds of companies with very respectable turnovers are already involved in diving in Italy. In this context, important roles belong, just to give an example, to the Leonardo Foundation and Fincantieri, which constitutes a highly prestigious business card in the world for Italian industry.
How is the Ministry of the Sea collaborating with other agencies and allied countries to ensure effective and shared underwater defense in an international context that has become unstable and aggressive?
It is clear that security, even in the underwater dimension, remains in the prerogative of the Navy, which has exercised – and continues to exercise – its defensive function of protection also on those extraordinarily important energy and communication infrastructures that cross the underwater area and which are of interest to Italy but also to other countries. The economic data is instead linked to a series of supply chains and objectives, both known and new. Among all, I would like to underline the importance of rare earths, minerals indispensable for fueling the most innovative and future-oriented industrial activity.
As Minister of Civil Protection too, I want to underline a hope that we are cultivating in collaboration with universities, on the marine geology side: the possibility of obtaining useful answers in seismic prediction from the seabed. This would allow us to inaugurate a completely new season in earthquake risk mitigation.
These are just some of the many themes linked to the underwater dimension, which are therefore not limited to defense aspects – which still remain priorities – but embrace fields and interests of the economy, high technology, geology, but also environmental protection. All issues that sooner or later will also have to be addressed at European level, under the aegis of the Commission. Beyond the security aspect, on which collaboration with our European partners has been firm since the post-war period, there is therefore the need for the European Union to take the issue head-on. And if Italy presents itself with ready-made plans, it will inevitably become a privileged interlocutor. The economic and military powers will tend to make their weight felt, but I am sure that if we operate in a spirit of collaboration, in a context of shared rules, everyone will have their own space and will be able to enhance it according to the skills they will be able to bring to bear. field.
What are the next steps to be ready for discussion with European partners ?
In the meantime, let's start from our house. I have already set the theme of the underwater dimension on the agenda for the next Cipom meeting. I asked for and obtained the collaboration of the Leonardo Foundation and other public and private entities. We will work to soon arrive at a draft of rules, the framework law that will allow us to open a serious discussion with the leaders of the European Union and with other countries.
Among the aspects that are not strictly defensive we have also mentioned the environmental issue. Climate change, for example, can have significant impacts on maritime space and underwater operations. What initiatives is the Italian government taking to address environmental and marine resource management challenges?
With the Minister of Business and Made in Italy Adolfo Urso we are working on a link to the accounting tool that concerns the dimensions of space and underwater, naturally for our respective skills, referring above all to economic and environmental aspects. The resources will be aimed at specific initiatives. Speaking of the underwater dimension, we cannot fail to take into account the health conditions of the sea. My fellow countryman Giovanni Verga said that the sea has no countries, it belongs to those who know how to listen to it. And if we had the patience to listen to it, the sea would tell us that it is suffering. Abandoned nets, piles of plastic, fuel spills, poisoned river waters, rising temperatures are elements we must deal with, identifying effective interventions to neutralize their devastating effects.
A country alone, however willing, would not be able to achieve results in the face of such global challenges.
But it is an indispensable challenge, important to play, aware that, just to not go too far, dozens of states converge on the Mediterranean with very different sensitivities and attention towards environmental issues. The effort must therefore be sought at an international level. We must know that it will take time, but as far as Italy is concerned, the Meloni government has declared without ifs or buts that the protection of the climate and the environment constitutes a priority on the political agenda of this legislature.
Inaugurating the La Spezia hub, you stated that "the underwater dimension must become an opportunity for man even before it is for the wealth of a nation". Can you briefly explain to us what you mean by this concept?
The sea constitutes an essential element of the planet and human conduct, especially today in a context of extraordinary technological progress, must be characterized by great respect and not only with an economic approach. When I described the expectations linked to marine geology, i.e. man's hopes of knowing ahead of time the arrival of an earthquake, I was referring to an extraordinary achievement of a not strictly economic nature. Man's right to safeguard his life is not only constitutional, it is first of all physiological. We therefore have every interest in looking at the underwater dimension through the ethics of responsibility, with full awareness of the consequences of our operational choices. And this applies to everyone, at every level.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/polo-subacqueo-la-spezia-intervista-musumeci/ on Sat, 30 Mar 2024 06:22:40 +0000.