Joint Law Enforcement

The Venice "Moses Project," launched in 2003, was the largest major flood-control project in Italian history.

Affected by extreme weather, Venice was frequently flooded citywide, suffering a massive flood once every fifteen to twenty years. The project had been proposed as early as the late 1980s. "MOSE" was both an abbreviation for Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico and the name of a prophet in the Bible. Yet after this public welfare project was proposed, it went through prolonged neglect, questioning, debate, and delays, without receiving enough attention. It was not until more than thirty years later that over a hundred scientists unanimously affirmed the necessity of building flood barriers in 2003.

More than a dozen people from New Venice, the contractor for the Moses Project, were involved, including the group's leader, Giovanni Masaku, the "father of the Moses Project." He was also one of the members of the archaeology club.

He was friends with Venice's mayor, George Orsoni. Together with Giancarlo Galan, the project's main promoter, they often took yachts out to sea to fish.

Since the project began, it had faced opposition from environmental and conservation groups such as Italia Nostra, the Italian National Heritage Association, and the World Wide Fund for Nature. They believed the Venice Lagoon had immense ecological value, and that after the dikes were built, the lagoon and canals might become stagnant waters, causing serious harm to the water, soil, and aquatic species.

Environmental groups also demanded that the European Union intervene and stop it, because the construction of Moses would involve provisions and restrictions in environmental legislation such as the Natura 2000 Network, signed by European Union countries.

Many experts and ordinary citizens also opposed the construction. They believed the Moses Project's cost was not only rising steadily, but its annual maintenance costs were also excessively