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Related Projects

The EU-funded project ALFAwetlands aims to help expand the geospatial knowledge base for these ecosystems. Its co-creation approach envisions enabling the support of more inclusive and community-based approaches to restoring wetlands. Experimental data and living labs will be leveraged to integrate interdisciplinary and multi-actor research on associated ecological, environmental, social and economic issues. ALFAwetlands will assess the overall societal and well-being impacts of wetland restoration at local, national and EU levels.

Forests play a critical role in mitigating climate change and supporting biodiversity, but many natural and semi-natural ecosystems are under threat from environmental degradation and human activities. These challenges hinder efforts to create sustainable and climate-neutral societies. Without effective restoration and protection, forests will struggle to provide essential services like carbon storage and habitat for wildlife. To restore and protect forest ecosystems, the EU-funded FORbEST project will operate across five key EU biogeographical regions and one tropical area to understand the effects of governance on forests. The project will engage local communities in developing sustainable management practices that enhance biodiversity, support climate adaptation and empower citizens for a greener future

In pursuit of climate neutrality, the European Commission acknowledges that not all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be prevented, particularly those originating from agriculture and related biological processes. Carbon removal, particularly through carbon sequestration in land use, becomes pivotal in addressing this challenge. The EU-funded MARVIC project aims to support the Commission in incentivising farmers to engage in these endeavours. To that end, it will aid the design of scientifically sound and robust monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) methods for carbon stock alterations in soil and woody biomass, as well as soil GHG emissions. The methods are cost-effective and can be adapted to the local context.

The EU-funded MRV4SOC project aims to develop an inclusive, robust, transparent, and cost-effective approach to assess GHG emissions, estimate full carbon budgets, measure the accumulation of SOC, and evaluate the outcomes of conventional management practices and carbon farming. The project’s primary objective is to monitor changes in SOC accumulation within the context of both climate change and socio-economic pressures. Additionally, it seeks to standardise monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) schemes for the EU land sector. Ultimately, the project aims to establish a methodological MRV framework that increases the faith of stakeholders in voluntary carbon markets.

The EU-funded Paludi4All project will investigate the socio-economic, climate and environmental dimensions of paludiculture, assessing its potential to mitigate climate change, protect ecosystems and generate employment in rural regions. Adopting an interdisciplinary, co-creation approach, the project will address farm, value chain and market levels, alongside the governance contexts that shape these areas, to develop a comprehensive market outlook. In alignment with the European Green Deal and the EU Biodiversity Strategy, Paludi4All will support carbon farming initiatives and contribute to robust climate policy monitoring, assessment and decision-making.

Sustainable cultivation of peatlands (paludiculture) can cut CO2 emissions by up to 80 %. This supports EU targets to reduce greenhouse gases and preserve biodiversity. However, without comprehensive models, many farmers and stakeholders remain sceptical. By showcasing four large-scale sites across Europe in various development stages and their related value chains, the EU-funded PaluWise project will demonstrate how peatlands can be transformed into productive paludiculture. It will provide step-by-step tools on how to establish paludiculture, from choosing the suitable site and crops and maintaining appropriate water levels to estimating the carbon sequestration potential and applying cost-effective value chains. PaluWise will also recommend how to enhance policy and legislations to support industrial-scale paludiculture in Europe.

The EU-funded REWET project will accelerate the sustainable restoration and conservation of freshwater wetlands, peatlands and floodplains, and help mitigate climate change. It will create a wetlands inventory with carbon sink potential and models for wetland greenhouse gas emissions and sequestration in various situations, including climate change. The project will also produce policy recommendations for wetland restoration, business models and a replication roadmap. The goal is to improve the knowledge base on the status of European wetlands and to provide support for cost-efficient restoration and monitoring procedures that are green, suitable for tomorrow’s climate and deliver several ecosystem services.

RESTORE4Cs aims to assess the role of restoration action on wetlands climate change mitigation capacity and a wide range of ecosystem services using an integrative socio-ecological systems approach. Focusing on coastal wetlands across Europe, RESTORE4Cs will deliver standardised methodologies and approaches for the prioritisation of restoration promoting carbon-storage and greenhouse gasses (GHG) emissions abatement, while improving the ecological status and the provision of additional ecosystem services such as flood regulation and coastal erosion protectioEffectiveness data on restoration and land use management actions on climate services and other ecosystem and socio-economic services will be gathered both from six Case Pilot sites across European coastal areas. Models and integrative assessment tools will be upscaled to wider geographical and ecological contexts using remote sensing and machine learning methods to develop an integrated status assessment of European wetlands. The results will be integrated into a digital platform to serve as a Decision Support System (DSS) for stakeholders that will steer project efforts as part of a newly created Community of Practice around wetland restoration.

The EU is committed to halting biodiversity loss caused by climate change and land-use pressures. Addressing this requires preserving biodiversity and enhancing ecosystems resilience. The SafeNet project advances these efforts through innovative tools that develop conservation strategies while considering climate mitigation and forest management needs. Combining biodiversity monitoring, mathematical modelling, and vast datasets, SafeNet aims to understand shifts in gene, species and ecosystem distributions under different climate scenarios. By prioritising conservation efforts, such as protecting ecological corridors, SafeNet supports adaptive measures. The project’s regional Living Labs and EU Policy Lab bring together stakeholders to co-create sustainable, actionable strategies, fostering a collaborative approach to biodiversity and conservation at multiple levels.

The EU-Funded project WET HORIZONS will provide the critical flying start for the challenge of enhancing wetland restoration using a holistic approach. It will boost crucial wetland knowledge and develop sound tools and approaches for fast-tracking large scale restoration action. The project will improve the current data available from pristine, drained, and rewetted peatlands, floodplains, and coastal wetlands, model the effects of typical restoration measures under variable conditions, and analyse the potential socioeconomic impacts, finally delivering guidelines and best management practices.