Venice is built on an archipelago of 122 islands made by 150 canals in a shallow lagoon. The islands on which the city is built are connected by more than 400 bridges.( newworldencyclopedia.org, 2009) With a changing world climate Venice is one of the few world heritage centers that is at risk of dissapearing all together.
Floods are becoming more and more frequent as a sea level rises. It has suffered previously from subsidence when the water level was altered due to industry draining it. Another cause of this is the size and weight of the buildings, full of marble and yet they are only built on mood, added to this the continual weight of all the thousands of tourists. This is a load for which it was never intended, on some days it is so full that people can hardly move. (Davis, 2004)
Venice monuments have been crumbling because of the floods and even when repaired are still left weaker than they used to be. Obviously as the sea levels rise this affects the water levels in the lagoon and causes floods as a consequence. As you can see a combination of frequent floods and subsiding fundations is a very great threat of Venice disapearing all together. (Newman, 2009) Also global warming is causing the ice of the poles to melt which in turn increases the sea level, this combined with the land sinking is a very bad combination. Especially when its governmnet claims that it has insuficient funds for maintaining buildings, cleaning canals and raise fundations. (Davis, 2004)