Mission
The Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection (Istituto di Ricerca per la Protezione Idrogeologica – IRPI) is an institute of the Department of Earth System Sciences and Technology for the Environment (DTA), of the Italian National Research Council (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR). The mission of the institute is to design and execute scientific research and technological development in the fields of natural hazards, environmental protection, and the sustainable use of geo-resources. IRPI carries out its mission by operating at different geographical and temporal scales, and in different climatic, physiographic and geological zones.
Our goals are:
to produce new knowledge on potentially hazardous natural phenomena and their interactions with the natural and human environments,
to develop technologies, innovative services & products useful to the definition, prediction and mitigation of natural risks, to land planning, and to the sustainable and effective management of geo-environmental resources,
to conduct research and technological development (R&D) activities in the vast field of natural hazards and the protection of land and environmental,
to perform scientific and technological consulting for public authorities and private business. IRPI performs outreach activates, including training and dissemination, on natural hazards and their consequences.
The research & development activities focus on natural hazards, and specifically geo-hydrological hazards, including floods and flash floods, debris flows, landslides, erosion, hazards in glacial and coastal areas, ground subsidence, pollution and depletion of surface water and groundwater, and on the expected impact of climate change on the geo-hydrological hazards and the geo-resources. The primary goal is to improve current knowledge on geological, geomorphological, hydrological, hydraulic, hydrogeological, soil, seismic, geotechnical, geomechanical, geothermal and environmental issues, and to define new criteria, methods, models and tools for the prediction and prevention of geo-hydrological hazards and their consequences, for the definition and mitigation of geo-hydrological risks, and for the design of effective and sustainable adaptation strategies.
IRPI provides consulting services in the context of natural hazards (geological, geomorphological, hydrological, hydraulic risks), for the monitoring and characterization of soils and rocks, for soil conservation, for land planning and watershed management, for civil protection and for adaptation to climate and environmental changes. The products & services offered by IRPI consist of in situ and remote geo-monitoring (from the ground, by air, by satellite), hydro-meteorological and groundwater monitoring, the recognition and mapping of landslides and flooded areas, the design of operational landslide and flood forecasting systems, flood and landslide hazards and risk assessments, the evaluation of the availability and quality of water and of renewable geo-resources, the definition of mitigation and adaptation strategies, and training and dissemination services on natural hazards.
L’Istituto è riconosciuto competente sui rischi geo-idrologici, ed in particolare sul rischio da frana e da inondazione. Per il Dipartimento Nazionale della Protezione Civile abbiamo sviluppato ricerca applicata e fornito consulenza tecnico-scientifica a seguito di eventi calamitosi contribuendo, fra l’altro, ad identificare aree idrogeologicamente sicure per la costruzione di nuovi insediamenti nelle aree colpite dai terremoti del 1997 in Umbria e nelle Marche, del 2009 in Abruzzo, e del 2016 in Italia centrale, e valutando le condizioni di rischio residuo nelle aree colpite da eventi idro-meteorologici estremi; abbiamo monitorato le grandi frane di Montaguto (AV), del Rotolon (VI), e di Montescaglioso (MT), ed abbiamo progettato e sviluppato SANF – un sistema prototipale d’allertamento per la previsione della possibile occorrenza di frane indotte dalla pioggia in Italia.
IRPI collaborates to undergraduate and post-graduate education on natural, environmental and human-made hazards and risks, their prediction and mitigation, on soil conservation and land use planning, and on civil protection. The Institute carries out dissemination activities by working with schools, and informing the general public on the risks posed by landslides and floods to the population of Italy [http://polaris.irpi.cnr.it/].