Tidal areas, such as lagoons and estuaries, are complex and delicate environments subject to rapid morphological and ecological change, often in response to strong human interference. The social and environmental problems connected to current trends of tidal areas evolution have been recognised by the International Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, signed by 94 countries, which lists 844 protected sites of international importance, 445 of which are located in Europe.

The main objective of the TIDE project is the development and validation of comprehensive dynamical models of saltmarsh and upper intertidal systems incorporating both physical and ecological processes. Useful models of tidal systems cannot in fact separately describe their biology and physics without failing to predict the overall system behaviour. Progress in tidal research requires a new generation of models with far reaching economic and environmental benefits.
The project also aims at constructing an internet-accessible data base of models and observations on tidal environments intended to serve as a reference source of information on tidal systems for scientific, policy-making and educational purposes.

The morphodynamic/ecological models which will be developed within the TIDE project have an important potential for environment preservation. A better understanding of system functioning will allow the prediction of effects due to preservation interventions, environmental use change and climatic changes. Further, the holistic approach adopted in the TIDE project will allow a global assessment of effects on the physical and ecological part of tidal systems. Other expected applications include the planning of preservation activities as the restoration or construction of artificial salt marshes. As an example, attempts to construct artificial salt marshes where they have disappeared due to erosion (e.g. in the Lagoon of Venice) have produced mixed results and no clear procedure has yet been devised to reliably establish an "healthy" salt marsh and its ecosystem.

It is often difficult to reconcile the conclusions from scientific studies with the economic and public understanding of the exploitation of coastal systems. Increased levels of public and commercial understanding of ecological and sustainability issues are essential to prevent divergent views dominating issues of coastal zone management. Further, the implementation of a successful management policy requires the evaluation of public attitude to the control that may be required to preserve coastal system. The TIDE socio-economic work will investigate the implications of policy change on the perception of coastal management by the public and those that use the coast for their livelihood (farmers, fishermen etc). This work is closely coupled to the goals of the EU in terms of social objectives and integrated policy development. In particular, potential benefits may be expected in environmental conservation and in the employment and health/safety sectors. The requirements linked to these goals are different and often contrasting, and an important contribution of the TIDE project is the formulation of management approaches capable of reconciling them to a satisfactory degree.
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