Facing engineering problems in the fragile karst environment

This contribution, as an introduction to the main topic of the session “Engineering problems in karst”, aims at providing some guidelines about how to deal with engineering problems in karst environments: these include, but are not limited to, pollution, different types of geological hazards (sinkholes and subsidence, flash floods, etc.), and the related geotechnical constraints. Eventually, the assessment of human impacts on karst landscapes, with specific regard to the disturbance induced by man’s activities, is discussed, pointing out to the problems in managing water resources in karst, and providing some guidelines for possible developments in this fragile environment.