restoration

New Horizon Europe project supports land-coast-sea systems under climate change

“COAST-SCAPES is a collective effort to rethink how we coexist with coastal systems”, explains project coordinator Prof. Manel Grifoll.

COAST-SCAPES: a newly launched project, funded by the European Commission, is to propose a reconsideration of the current coastal ecosystem to enhance resilience and biodiversity protection through nature-based solutions.

Leading maritime engineering specialists, marine ecologists, and biodiversity experts, gathered in Barcelona (Spain) between 7 and 9 October to officially kick start the project’s vision on climate-resilient coastal landscapes. Hosted by the Maritime Engineering Laboratory from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the meeting focused on setting the strategic direction of the project, aligning the scientific, technical and communication objectives and establishing synergies between project partners across Europe and beyond.

In the span of two days, consortium partners were given the opportunity to present their missions with the COAST-SCAPES project, showcasing how each partner institution will contribute to building science-based and community-driven resilience pathways.

The project coordinator, Prof. Manel Grifoll, navigated the discussions, which centered around key deliverables and milestones, future challenges and plans on work-related activities, highlighting the crucial role of the project’s Core and Replicating Pilots for scalable resilience plans for replication and export.

*A group photo of the COAST-SCAPES consortium at the project’s kick-off (Barcelona, October 2025)*.

Officially started on 1 September 2025, the COAST-SCAPES project has major ambitions to co-design systemic resilience solutions for coastal landscapes by developing integrated indicators, proactive climate warning systems, as well as knowledge-based strategies for business and maintenance in order to reduce the risks of climate change and improve land-sea interactions. To achieve this, COAST-SCAPES will promote the utilisation of nature-based solutions (NbS), seeking biodiversity gains and reduction of the environmental footprint under scarce natural resources.

The project brings together a diverse group of partners, including research institutions, universities and technological organisations from Europe, Africa and Latin America. Their shared goal is to restore vulnerable coastal areas and apply resilience through adaptation. Due to human intervention, which drastically altered the evolution of coastal ecosystems, the ecological role of such areas is becoming crucial. By harnessing their low-carbon adaptation potential, coastal ecosystems can mitigate climate-related risks and boost biodiversity.

COAST-SCAPES is a collective effort to rethink how we coexist with coastal systems. By integrating natural processes, technology, and community knowledge, we aim to create adaptive landscapes that safeguard biodiversity and support sustainable livelihoods. Our ambition is to build resilient coasts that can thrive, not just survive, under climate change.
says Prof. Manel Grifoll, project coordinator.

The selected project’s Core Pilots, among which the Mar Menor lagoon in the Iberian Peninsula, will serve as a starting point for leading experts to carry out large-scale resilience plans, while protecting coastal biodiversity and addressing existing infrastructure challenges.

Supported by social and technical innovation, as well as a governance shift, these plans will connect scientists, citizens, policy-makers, environmental activists, and the industry with administrations responsible for local implementations for an increased cross-sectoral engagement. Contributing to a balanced land-to-sea ecosystem and a sustainable biodiversity protection, COAST-SCAPES reminds us that coastal restoration is vital for our adaptation to climate change.

Pensoft’s contribution to COAST-SCAPES:

Pensoft will lead two tasks within the COAST-SCAPES’ Work Package dedicated to dissemination and communication for practical exploitation. The objectives of these tasks are focused on the identification of key exploitable results of the project. Together with other consortium members, Pensoft will be working on establishing the most suitable exploitation pathways for each result. The experienced communication team at the scholarly publishing and technology providing company will also be actively raising societal and technical awareness necessary to transform governance for systemic resilience through yearly newsletters and policy briefs. In addition, Pensoft takes part in Work Package 6, where it will be responsible for the project’s visual identity and ensuring constant visibility of project results, as well as proper data management.

List of project consortium members:

Coordinated by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the project brings together 30 partner organisations from 15 countries to develop coastal resilience through nature-based solutions (NbS).

For more information:

Follow the COAST-SCAPES project on Bluesky and LinkedIn.

Project website coming soon!

Funded by the European Union under grant agreement No. 101213138, COAST-SCAPES (rethinking COASTal landSCAPES with climate-resilient interventions: systemic land-to-sea solutions).

Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the EU, nor the REA can be held responsible for them.

FERRO project celebrates one year of advancing lake restoration across Europe

With a mission to address nutrient pollution and drive sustainable lake restoration across Europe, the FERRO project marks its first year.

Launched in June 2024, the Horizon Europe-funded project: Fostering European Lakes Restoration by Nutrient Removal, Recovery and Reuse: Integrated Catchment and In-lake Scale Approach (FERRO) – brings together scientists, engineers, and environmental experts from across Europe to develop innovative, nature-based, and circular solutions to reduce nutrient pollution in freshwater ecosystems.

Eutrophication, caused by excessive nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen that enter lakes and reservoirs, remains one of the most pervasive threats to freshwater bodies. These excess nutrients often originate from agricultural runoff and wastewater discharges, resulting in algal blooms, oxygen depletion, and biodiversity loss.

FERRO addresses these challenges by working at both catchment scale and in-lake level, aiming not only to remove harmful nutrients, but also to recover and reuse them – aligning with Europe’s goals for circular economy and sustainable water management.

With a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration, FERRO combines natural science, engineering, economics, and policy to develop scalable restoration strategies adaptable across Europe’s diverse lake regions.

The FERRO consortium

FERRO unites seven partners from six European countries, each contributing unique expertise to the project’s holistic approach:

Biology Centre CAS, Czech Republic
Brockmann Geomatics, Sweden
Brockmann Consult, Germany
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Germany
University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Denmark
Pensoft Publishers, Bulgaria
University of Helsinki (UH), Finland

Together, these organisations form a powerhouse of knowledge, experience, and innovation in the fields of limnology, hydrology, environmental policy, circular resource use and communications.

Pensoft’s role in FERRO

As the leader of the Communication and Dissemination Work Package #2, Pensoft plays a key role in ensuring that FERRO’s results and insights reach the widest possible audience. The responsibilities include the development and maintenance of the project’s visual identity and digital presence, managing media relations, producing public outreach materials, and facilitating knowledge exchange between scientific, policy, and stakeholder communities. Pensoft also supports the strategic dissemination of scientific outputs and policy-relevant findings, ensuring alignment with the project’s broader impact goals.

FERRO marked its first anniversary with a successful General Assembly meeting held in Leipzig, Germany, between 20^th and 22^nd May. Over the three-day meeting, the project partners gathered to reflect on the progress achieved during the first year, align their visions for the project’s future, and collaboratively plan the next phases of implementation

As the project entered its second year, the Leipzig meeting served as a moment to evaluate initial findings, refine methodologies, and strengthen engagement with stakeholders at local, regional, and EU levels. The outcomes will guide the FERRO consortium in its continued efforts to advance lake restoration across Europe.

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Stay tuned for more updates as the FERRO project continues to develop and implement its solutions for healthier lakes and more sustainable nutrient management across Europe!

You can keep tabs on the project’s official website: ferroproject.eu and also follow FERRO on LinkedIn, X and YouTube.

Nature Conservation opens “Restoration of Wetlands” collection

The permanent topical article collection aims to bring together key insights into restoration of wetlands and coastal marine systems, thereby facilitating exchange among different disciplines.

The “Restoration of Wetlands” permanent topical article collection in the open-access, peer-reviewed scholarly journal Nature Conservation is now open for submissions, with the aim to bring together a wide spectrum of knowledge necessary to inform scientists, policy-makers and practitioners about key insights into restoration of wetlands and coastal marine systems, thereby facilitating exchange among different disciplines.

Being a permanent collection means that it is to welcome contributions indefinitely, whereas papers will progress to publication as soon as they are accepted by the editors. While they will be accessible from a central point: the collection, which is also assigned with its own DOI, the articles themselves will feature in different journal volumes, depending on their publication date.

Find more about the specificity of Special issues and Topical collections on the journal’s website.

The issue is managed by an international team of scientists:

Mathias Scholz, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Germany (lead editor);
Prof Agustín Sánchez-Arcilla, The Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain
Dr Joanna Staneva, Helmholtz Centre Hereon, Germany
Prof Mindert de Vries, Deltares Institute, The Netherlands.

“Worldwide, the loss of biodiversity in wetlands, like rivers and their floodplains and peatland but also in deltas and estuaries is dramatic,”
the guest editors explain.

Due to intensive land-use, including farming, urbanisation, drainage, construction of levees or bank stabilisation or straightening of river courses and coastlines, wetlands are losing their typical functions, such as carbon storage and habitat provision. As a result, the ecosystem services they provide are declining and so is the coastal biodiversity as a whole.

However, various restoration measures have been carried out to revitalise wetlands over the last decades, on a global scale. Some of those have already proved successful, while others are still on their way to improve wetland biodiversity and related ecosystem functions and services. For all these efforts, the end goal is to implement international biodiversity actions and policies for adaptation and mitigation of climate change.

Among others, the “Restoration of Wetlands” article collection in the Nature Conservation journal seeks to attract contributions addressing issues, such as the roles of society and planning, as well as biology in restoration; indicators to monitor and measure restoration success; the synergies between wetland restoration and climate change adaptation; and hands-on expertise in restoration.

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Find more about the “Restoration of Wetlands” collection on the Nature Conservation’s journal website.

Follow Nature Conservation on Twitter and Facebook.