The general objectives are to:

• overcome the scalability barrier by transforming lessons from local restoration cases into replicable strategies through Nature Restoration Pathways and Landscape Archetypes for Nature Restoration;
• improve decision-making by providing a user-centred framework able to integrate ecological, socio-economic and territorial information in a clear and accessible way for different stakeholders;
• make the socio-economic value of ecosystems visible, including non-monetary benefits such as resilience, cultural identity, equity and well-being;
• test and validate the approach through six diverse Use Cases covering estuarine, agricultural, forest, dryland and wetland ecosystems under high socio-ecological pressure;
• align science, policy and finance to support effective restoration planning, investment and implementation across Europe.

Overall, ECOMPASS aims to provide an integrated framework that helps turn the NRR into concrete, scalable and sustainable restoration action, contributing to ecological recovery and long-term prosperity.

CMCC role
CMCC acts as a key scientific partner for the socio-economic valuation of nature restoration. As lead beneficiary of the work packages dedicated to socio-economic valuation and cost-benefit/cost-effectiveness assessment, CMCC coordinates the development and application of the methodological framework used to assess the impacts, benefits and trade-offs of restoration actions. Its role includes supporting the identification of socio-economic indicators and KPIs, integrating monetary and non-monetary valuation approaches, assessing costs and benefits across stakeholders and territories, and contributing to the translation of results into decision-relevant evidence for policy, finance and investment strategies. CMCC also contributes to stakeholder engagement and co-creation processes, including the Salento post-Xylella agroforestry Use Case, helping connect scientific assessment with local knowledge and practical restoration needs. In the final phase, CMCC supports the wider uptake of project results through training and capacity-building activities on nature impacts and restoration. Overall, CMCC provides the expertise needed to make the socio-economic value of restoration visible, comparable and usable for scaling ecosystem recovery across Europe.

Activities
ECOMPASS activities are organised around an integrated pathway from co-creation to modelling, valuation, decision support and uptake. The project first establishes coordination, stakeholder mapping and engagement processes across six Use Cases, creating living-lab spaces where local actors, policy makers, land managers, scientists, financiers and practitioners help define restoration needs, priorities and pathways. It then analyses the status quo of environmental systems, ecosystem services and existing valuation models, identifying gaps and opportunities for improvement. Building on this, ECOMPASS develops Nature Restoration Pathways and Landscape Archetypes for Nature Restoration, compiles restoration action portfolios and assesses their potential effects under different ecological, socio-economic and climate conditions. The project also develops a socio-economic valuation and cost-benefit/cost-effectiveness framework, including indicators, KPIs, monetary and non-monetary benefits, stakeholder impacts and links with financial schemes and investment strategies. In parallel, ECOMPASS designs and develops a web-based Decision Support System, integrating biophysical modelling, socio-economic valuation, AI/ML tools, data harmonisation, visualisation, archetype discovery and user-centred interfaces. The approach is tested and refined through the six Use Cases, supporting comparability, scalability and replicability across Europe. Finally, ECOMPASS carries out communication, dissemination, exploitation, policy dialogue, training and capacity-building activities, including a Summer School, to promote uptake by scientific, policy, finance and practitioner communities.

Expected results
The expected results of ECOMPASS are to provide a scalable, science-based and user-centred framework that supports the implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation. The project is expected to deliver a co-created, web-based Decision Support System able to translate the multidimensional value of nature into clear and actionable knowledge for policy makers, investors and restoration practitioners. By integrating biophysical modelling, socio-economic valuation and non-monetary benefits, ECOMPASS will improve the understanding of the short-, medium- and long-term impacts of restoration actions, including their costs, benefits and territorial distribution.

A key expected result is the development of Nature Restoration Pathways and Landscape Archetypes for Nature Restoration, enabling lessons from local Use Cases to be transformed into replicable strategies across Europe. The project will test these approaches in six diverse ecosystems, covering estuarine, agricultural, forest, dryland and wetland contexts, and will assess restoration options under different climate and socio-economic conditions.

ECOMPASS is also expected to make the links between restoration interventions, environmental stressors and socio-economic benefits more explicit, supporting more credible cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analyses. In this way, the project will help make nature restoration more understandable, visible and investable.

Overall, ECOMPASS will contribute to better-informed policy decisions, stronger engagement of public and private stakeholders, improved environmental accounting practices, and greater capacity to scale up effective ecosystem restoration across Europe.

Partners
1. Fundació Eurecat (EUT) – Spain
2. OEKO-Institut e.V. (OEKO) – Germany
3. Universität Kassel (KAS) – Germany
4. Fundación Instituto de Hidráulica Ambiental de Cantabria (FIHAC) – Spain

4.1 Universidad de Cantabria (UC) – Spain – Affiliated Entity

5. Fondazione Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC) – Italy
6. GeoAI Analytics SL (GEO) – Spain
7. R2M Solution Spain SL (R2M) – Spain
8. Etifor SRL Società Benefit (ETI) – Italy
9. Stichting Voor Duurzame Ontwikkeling (FSD) – Netherlands
10. Forum per la Finanza Sostenibile ETS (ITASIF) – Italy
11. The WeatherMakers B.V. (WEA) – Netherlands
12. Fundación Aland (ALA) – Spain
13. Eesti Maaülikool / Estonian University of Life Sciences (EMU) – Estonia
14. International Institute for Sustainable Development – Europe (IISD) – Switzerland