Rischio geomorfologico indotto da elevato carico turistico: il caso della Spiaggia dei Conigli (Isola di Lampedusa)

Spiaggia dei Conigli, the main tourist resource of Lampedusa, forms a delicate ecosystem with its fragile vegetation, the loggerhead turtle oviposition and the great number of tourists, an average of 2400 tourists a day. This large amount of people provokes the accelerated erosion of the back slopes and approach paths. The fast erosion carries other type of sediments to the beach other than the natural ones. These sediments, stones and muddy debris flow, worsen the sedimentological characteristics of the beach for the turtle oviposition (buried stones, fragipan formation) as well as for its tourist value (stony surface, albedo). Both of these two environmental impacts as well as the rock falls on the beach and paths constitute an increasing geomorphological risk, for the swimmers safety and for the tourist quality. This study examines the causes, distribution and monitoring methods for the geomorphological risk at Spiaggia dei Conigli and its back slope, therefore proposing some simple interventions in order to reduce the risk.