"On the scrubby banks of the rural swathes of the Venice lagoon, an evening chorus of cicadas underscores the distant whine of farmers' three-wheeled minivans. Dotted along the brackish fringes of the cultivated plots are scatterings of silvery-green bushes sea fennel. This plant is a member of a group of remarkable organisms known as halophytes plant species that thrive in saltwater. Long overlooked and found growing in the in-between spaces saltmarshes, coastlines, the fringes of lagoons halophytes straddle boundaries in both ecosystems and cuisines."
"Once known as the breadbasket of Venice, farmers on the island of Sant'Erasmo are facing a challenge that will soon become commonplace in coastal marshes worldwide. A trifecta of rising sea levels, increases in average temperature and decreases in rainfall is leading to a rise in the concentration of salts in the soil a death knell for many traditional crops, which can survive only up to a salt concentration of about 1.2% about one-third that of seawater."
On Sant'Erasmo island in the Venice lagoon, silvery-green sea fennel and other halophytes grow along brackish cultivated plots. Halophytes are salt-tolerant plant species that thrive in saltwater and occupy saltmarshes, coastlines and lagoon fringes, offering culinary and ecological value. Rising sea levels, higher average temperatures and reduced rainfall are increasing soil salinity, which threatens traditional crops that tolerate roughly 1.2% salt. The FAO estimates about 10% of global land is currently saline and projects this could rise to 24–32% because of the climate crisis. Researchers at the Tidal Garden are investigating the edible potential of halophytes to adapt coastal agriculture to these changes.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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