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Filtering by: Impacts on Agriculture, Forests and Ecosystem Services Division

ACQUAOUNT – Adapting to Climate change by QUantifying optimal Allocation of water resOUrces and socio-ecoNomic inTerlinkages

Agriculture is by far the most water demanding sector in the Mediterranean and a sustainable use of water, combined with economic growth, cannot be achieved without improving irrigation efficiency and water productivity. The current heavy depletion of water sources is leading to water scarcity and degradation, deterioration of ecosystem services, conflicts with domestic and industrial uses and, in general, it poses limitations to economic growth. These trends will be exacerbated by CC. The ACQUAOUNT project aims to improve IWRM and sustainable irrigation through the deployment of innovative tools, smart water services and solutions, for public and private use, while contributing to climate resilience.

AGRITECH – National Research Centre for Agricultural Technologies

The National Center for the Development of New Technologies in Agriculture (Agritech) is based on the use of enabling technologies for the sustainable development of agri-food production, with the aim of promoting adaptation to climate change, reducing the environmental impact in the agrifood sector, the development of marginal areas, and to guarantee safety, traceability and security of the supply chains. The project is worth around 350 million euros, of which 320 million to be paid by the PNRR and involves 28 universities, 5 research centers, and 18 companies. The Center is structured in Hub&Spoke, with the University of Naples Federico II responsible for the national hub and 9 different spokes in the thematic areas: Plant, animal and microbial genetic resources and adaptation to climatic changes Crop Health: a multidisciplinary system approach to reduce the use of agrochemicals Enabling technologies and sustainable strategies for the smart management of agricultural systems and their environmental impact Multifunctional and resilient agriculture and forestry systems for the mitigation of climate change risks Sustainable productivity and mitigation of environmental impact in livestock systems Management models to promote sustainability and resilience of agricultural systems Integrated models for the development of marginal areas to promote multifunctional production systems enhancing agroecological and socio-economic sustainability New models of circular economy in agriculture through waste valorization and recycling New technologies and methodologies for traceability, quality, safety, measurements and certifications to enhance the value and protect the typical traits in agri-food chains.

ARCADIA: TrAnsformative climate ResilienCe by nAture-baseD solutions in the continental bio-geographical region

ARCADIA is a project funded by HORIZON Europe Innovation Actions in response to the call “Testing and demonstrating transformative solutions on climate resilience, mainstreaming nature based solutions in the systemic transformation”. The main goal of ARCADIA project is to mobilise 8 European regions and communities – from Italy, Croatia, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia – to accelerate nature-based solutions (NBS) adoption and assist them in accessing up-to-date, evidence-based actionable knowledge, guidance, knowledge-intense tools and services, mutual learning and networking opportunities.  

AVENGERS: ATTRIBUTING AND VERIFYING EUROPEAN AND NATIONAL GREENHOUSE GAS AND AEROSOL EMISSIONS AND RECONCILIATION WITH STATISTICAL BOTTOM UP ESTIMATES

The Attributing and Verifying European and National Greenhouse gas and aerosol Emissions and Reconciliation with Statistical bottomup estimates – AVENGERS consortium unites a diverse group of experts “to establish how top-down techniques can support the verification of national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and other regulated estimates of emissions and removals, in order to improve or supplement the methods/approaches currently used”.

BIOservicES: LINKING SOIL BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS AND SERVICES IN DIFFERENT LAND USES: FROM THE IDENTIFICATION OF DRIVERS, PRESSURES AND CLIMATE CHANGE RESILIENCE TO THEIR ECONOMIC VALUATION

The main objective of BIOservicES is to understand the interconnection between soil organisms and the delivery of multiple soil ecosystem functions and services at different scales (field vs landscape), identifying the pressures and drivers resulting from different land uses and climate change, and performing an economic valuation of the contribution of soil organisms to ecosystem services.

C3S2_413 – Enhanced Operational Windstorm Service

This contract presents a continuation, a temporal extension, and an enhancement of the current C3S Windstorm Service. Leveraging the current Service structure, contractorss will temporally extend the detection and tracking of Pan-European potentially harmful windstorms associated with extratropical cyclones along the whole available period provided by the ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis dataset (1940-present).

CERISE: CopERnIcus climate change Service Evolution

The Copernicus Climate Change Service Evolution (CERISE) project aims to enhance the quality of the C3S reanalysis and seasonal forecast portfolio, with a focus on land-atmosphere coupling. It will support the evolution of C3S by improving the C3S climate reanalysis and seasonal prediction systems and products towards enhanced integrity and coherence of the C3S Earth system Essential Climate Variables. 

CLIMAAX – CLIMAte risk and vulnerability Assessment framework and toolboX

CLIMAAX responds to the call HORIZON-MISS-2021-CLIMA-02-01 by providing financial, analytical and practical support to European regions, allowing an improvement of regional climate and emergency risk management plans. It is designed to significantly contribute to the harmonization and consolidation of the practice of climate risk assessment, leaving a substantial legacy for upcoming European initiatives.

CONCERTO: Improved CarbOn cycle represeNtation through multi-sCale models and Earth obseRvation for Terrestrial ecOsystems

Terrestrial ecosystems are key to the functioning of the global carbon cycle and play a fundamental role in mitigating climate change. According to the Global Carbon Budget, about 30% of all the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted in the atmosphere is removed by vegetation uptake through photosynthesis and accumulation of biomass (so called CO2 sinks on land). Land use change, nutrient limitations, and extreme events (e.g. droughts, fires and heat waves) may limit this potential to sequester carbon. Identifying processes that might destabilise net land carbon uptake is of paramount importance for understanding and managing the global carbon cycle. CONCERTO aims to improve: the current understanding of the terrestrial carbon cycle by adding land processes that are not included yet or not fully developed in Land Surface Models (LSMs); the representation of land change, land use and land management maps to improve the accuracy of carbon fluxes and stocks; the description of impacts on the carbon cycle of extreme events such as droughts, heatwaves and fires, using tools such as state-of-the-art land surface models (LSMs) embedded into Earth system models (EMSs); the integration of LSM improvements in offline global simulations (driven by re-analyses) and in coupled ESMs.

DesirMED: Demonstration and mainstrEaming of nature-based Solutions for climate Resilient transformation in the MEDiterranean

DesirMED is a project funded by HORIZON Europe Research and Innovation actions in support of the implementation of the Adaptation to Climate Change Mission (HORIZON-MISS-2022-CLIMA-01). DesirMED aims at increasing ambition, ownership and capability of regional Mediterranean leaders and communities through proven transformative climate change adaptation approaches prioritizing nature based solutions. To this aim DesirMED involves a multi-level set of actors in 5 Demonstrating regions and 3 Replicating Regions working hand-in-hand with scientific partners to foster holistic approaches to implement transformative adaptation. By engaging at the regional level key institutions in a multi-level governance framework, it will act as a catalyzer to trigger and accelerate the necessary actions to increase regional climate resilience over the long run.

DRYAD: Demonstration and modelling of nbs to enhance the resilience of mediterranean agro-silvopastoral ecosystems and landscapes

Mediterranean agrosilvopastoral ecosystems (MAEs), such as Dehesa in Spain, Montado in Portugal, Meriagos in Italy, &; Valonian oak forests in Greece, provide essential environmental services and influence significantly local communities and their economies. MAEs are expected to be severely affected by climate impacts and extreme conditions such as droughts, high tree mortality and wildfires. Addressing these challenges, requires supporting local communities and authorities with local solutions and transformations towards climate-resilience. The proposal will be centered around development, testing and demonstrating NBSs in 5 demonstration regions including Andalusia and Extremadura (ES), Alentejo (PT), Sardinia (IT) and Aetoloakarnania (EL) (5 in Cohesion Fund Regions). The most promising NBSs will be transferred to these 3 replicating regions: Castilla-y-León (ES), Occitanie (FR) and Tuscany (IT). Furthermore, DRYAD will support a multi-level and cross- sectoral integrated and adaptive management governance via development of Decision Support Systems.

FIRELOGUE – Cross-sector Wildfire Risk Management Dialogue

Wildfire risk management (WFRM) is characterised by complex interdependencies between vegetation conditions, climate, human behavior and socioeconomic development and inequalities. In addition, different institutions and organisations involved on WFRM may have diverging interests, needs, policies and practices, with responsibilities not always aligned with the necessary resources. Thus, WFRM can be subject to conflicts between different ends in which different stakeholders with different interests and goals clash. FIRELOGUE coordinates and supports the Innovation Actions funded under H2020 calls by integrating their findings across stakeholder and fire management phases to deconstruct conflicting interests and real or perceived injustices, providing a space for deliberating in a just and inclusive way, to co-develop integrated strategies to overcome these conflicts.

FOODCLIC – Integrated urban FOOD policies. Developing sustainability Co-benefits, spatial Linkages, social Inclusion and sectoral Connections to transform food systems in city-regions

Europe’s urban areas face significant challenges to ensure the availability and consumption of healthy, affordable, safe and sustainably produced food. Such challenges converge within local food environments but are often neglected by public planners. Promising initiatives taken by municipalities to change the architecture of food choice often fail to become embedded in the wider policy context and to reach deprived and vulnerable groups. Key factors responsible for this are: (1) siloed ways of working and (2) fragmentation of knowledge on facilitators and barriers related to food system transformation. These factors hinder the development and implementation of integrated urban food policies. FOODCLIC aims to contribute to urban food environments that make healthy and sustainable food available, affordable and attractive to all citizens (including deprived and vulnerable groups).

Germ of Life: Digital Drought Risk Management enabling the drought mitigation and adaptation strategies for the restoration of the ecosystem equilibrium in Mediterranean European Countries

The Germ of Life project aims at developing, test and uptake a drought risk management preventive approach based on a set of jointly developed and adapted solutions based on: (i) newly available data, (ii) drought risk prediction for the territorial monitoring systems and timely warning of drought conditions, (iii) a vulnerability assessment tool enhancing the coordination and cooperation of stakeholders, and (iv) an innovation procurement platform for innovative NBS and technological solutions supporting risk-adaptation strategies.

HURRAY: HazelnUt Research on Resilient Areas for future Yields

In recent years, cooperation between enterprises and the scientific community has opened exploration of new climate services to understand emerging opportunities to enhance/stabilize agricultural production and reduce risks due to climate hazards. The information released by applied research on climate change can create benefits and opportunities, giving a wider vision of the future and facilitating strategic planning activities for different economic sectors, such as agribusiness. This information may relate to the  characterization and evolution of weather-climatic conditions and the use of agro-climate models.

InBestSoil: Monetary valuation of soil ecosystem services and creation of initiatives to invest in soil health: setting a framework for the inclusion of soil health in business and in the policy making process

InBestSoil is a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme involving twenty partners from ten countries, with very different profiles (universities, small and medium-sized enterprises, consultancies, farmers, and NOGs, among others). The project will provide data, evidence, tools and models to assess how investment in soil health can contribute to the transition to a long-term resilient and sustainable use of soil, using 6 lighthouses and 3 living labs, which provides a total of 9 study areas across 4 biogeographic regions from Europe (Boreal, Continental, Atlantic, Mediterranean), and different land uses (agriculture, forest, urban, mining), as models for co-creation and co-design (multi-actor approach, responsible research and innovation and open science).

interTwin – An interdisciplinary Digital Twin Engine for Science

interTwin co-designs and implements the prototype of an interdisciplinary Digital Twin Engine (DTE), an open-source platform that provides generic and tailored software components for modelling and simulation to integrate application-specific Digital Twins (DTs). Its specifications and implementation are based on a co-designed conceptual model – the DTE blueprint architecture – guided by the principles of open standards and interoperability. The ambition is to develop a common approach to the implementation of DTs that is applicable across the whole spectrum of scientific disciplines and beyond to facilitate developments and collaboration.  Co-design involves DT use cases for High energy physics, Radio astronomy, Astroparticle physics, Climate research, and Environmental monitoring, whose complex requirements are expected to significantly advance the state of the art of modelling and simulation using heterogeneous distributed digital infrastructures, advanced workflow composition, real-time data management and processing, quality and uncertainty tracing of models, data fusion and analytics. As a result, a consolidation of software technologies supporting research will emerge.  The validation of the technology with multiple infrastructure facilities will boost the accessibility of users to technological capacity and the support of AI uptake in research. interTwin builds on the capacities of experts from pan-European research infrastructures and the long tail of science, an Open-Source Community of technology providers that will deliver TRL 6/7 capabilities to implement the interdisciplinary DTE, experts of the European Centre of Excellence in Exascale Computing, and infrastructure providers from the EGI Federation, PRACE and EuroHPC supporting data and compute intensive science. interTwin key exploitable results will

IRIDE Lot 1

The IRIDE program is an innovative project undertaken by the Italian government in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) to leverage resources from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). Phase 2 of IRIDE Lot 1 started in October 2024 following the successful implementation of the IRIDE Precursor Phase. The main purpose of the project is to deliver an operational portfolio of geospatial services and develop digital tools for End and Pilot users within the Thematic Services S1-Coastal and Marine Monitoring, S2- Air Quality, S5- Hydro-Meteorological-Climate, S6- WaterManagement. The operational services allow mapping, monitoring and forecasting of various characteristics of coastal areas (including geomorphological, land use, flooding, habitats etc.) as well as operational model validation, operational air quality monitoring and forecast, pollutant emissions monitoring and assessment, re-analysis of air quality at national scale, hydro-meterological mapping and monitoring atmospheric structure, greenhouse gases and others essential climate variables monitoring, lightening monitoring, flood forecasting and sediment management, etc.

NEVERMORE: New Enabling Visions and tools for End-useRs and stakeholders thanks to a common MOdeling appRoach towards a climatE neutral and resilient society

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on Climate Change 2021 is a “code red for humanity” according to the UN Secretary-General. It is thus essential to work on a climate resilient society. This entails both climate neutrality and mitigation of those impacts of climate change that are making themselves felt already. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the importance of improved translations of scientific insights into policy and social practice.

NEXOGENESIS – Facilitating the next generation of effective and intelligent water-related policies utilising artificial intelligence and reinforcement learning to assess the water-energy-food ecosystem (WEFE) nexus

Water, energy, food, and ecosystems (WEFE) are interconnected, comprising a coherent system (nexus) dominated by complexity and modulated by climatic and socio-economic drivers. Resource constraints, and their interconnectedness could hamper economic development, including optimal trade, market and policy solutions. NEXOGENESIS offers a coherent WEFE nexus framework for the assessment of potential impact pathways of implementing new policy objectives (WFD, RED, CAP, SDGs, Paris Agreement) in the nexus, including: (i) biophysical and socio-economic modelling; (ii) stakeholder engagement together with; (iii) validation of NEXOGENESIS outputs and; (iv) use of the latest artificial intelligence techniques.

NODES – Nord-Ovest Digitale E Sostenibile

NODES is an Innovation Ecosystem structured in a way such as to guarantee interdisciplinarity among its diverse themes and cross-fertilization of digital-driven technology and innovation.

NUBICOS: New Users for a Better ICOS

The Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) is a fully operational European Landmark research infrastructure providing standardised high-precision observations on greenhouse gases and their fluxes. The ICOS infrastructure is currently covering 16 countries with 170 stations. In this project, we will work with new users for ICOS data from satellite and modeling communities and prepare products for policymakers. We are improving sustainability of ICOS by streamlining the data pipelines and strengthening the community engagement including new members. In addition to data, ICOS is producing protocols and processes, which are now needed for the global greenhouse gases (GHG) initiative coordinated by World Meteorological Organization (WMO), thus strengthening the European leadership in it. NUBICOS will focus on four specific objectives: 1. The cooperation between ICOS and the remote sensing community will be deepened. 2. The value chain from observations to climate services will be improved. 3. The internal engagement of ICOS and the identity of the ICOS community will be strengthened. 4. The global cooperation of ICOS, particularly in the WMO framework, will be intensified.

OEMC: Open-Earth-Monitor Cyberinfrastructure

The EU-funded OEMC project will provide the open-Earth-monitor cyberinfrastructure to accelerate Europe’s capability to process high-quality, user-friendly, environmental information, based on Earth observation (EO) data. The developed cyber-infrastructure will be secured in FAIR data principles and existing platforms related to EO will be leveraged to a higher level. This will allow the monitoring of essential biodiversity indicators and the registering of natural capital accounts for private and public sectors, allowing businesses to improve their competitive advantage through the EU Green Deal and European citizens to have a better quality of life.

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