An international consortium led by the Laboratory of Maritime Engineering, integrated into Barcelona School of Civil Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) has obtained 8.92 million euros from the European Union to study coastal resilience and design global natural solutions to address the climate emergency. Within the framework of the project, solutions will be tested in 15 coastal regions of the five continents that are particularly vulnerable to extreme climate phenomena, where pilot plans will be implemented.
Coastal areas, especially the Mediterranean, are being besieged by rising sea levels, warming water temperatures, erosion and storms due to climate change, as well as pollution.
To address this challenge, the Rethinking COASTal landSCAPES with climate-resilient interventions: systemic land-to-sea solutions (COAST-SCAPES) project, which is part of the Climate Change Adaptation Mission of the European R&D programme Horizon 2020, aims to rethink the coast and assess, design and implement climate-resilient solutions that demonstrate co-benefits on the ground and in socio-economic sectors. The initiative seeks to create a planning model to implement a coastal adaptation strategy to climate change.
The project, coordinated by researcher Manel Grifoll, director of the Marine Engineering Laboratory (LIM) at the UPC, brings together 31 partners from 15 countries around the world (8 from Europe, 3 from Africa, 2 from America, 1 from Asia and 1 from Oceania) and includes universities, companies, administrations, political leaders and different entities.
Pilot tests to demonstrate resilience on a large scale
The project will deploy strategies in these 15 international coastal regions, which include areas vulnerable to climate change, where locally manageable eco-resilient solutions will be co-designed and implemented. These areas will thus become large-scale demonstrators for other areas of the planet.
The pilot plans are being carried out in the Mar Menor estuary, Spain; in the Lagoon of Venice, Italy, and in the Weser estuary, in northwestern Germany. These plans will be replicated in other areas such as the Ebro Delta, the Danube Delta (between Romania and Ukraine) and the rivers of Aveiro, Portugal, among others.
Nature-based solutions
Within the framework of the project, therefore, nature-based solutions adapted to various coastal models will be studied, designed and implemented, combined with indicators, early warning systems and business models to manage it based on knowledge.
These solutions should help reduce flood risks, combat erosion of coastal ecosystems and address the challenges posed by rising sea levels. They will be more sustainable, cost-effective in the long term and environmentally friendly alternatives to more conventional coastal engineering measures such as breakwaters and dikes. New environmental protection strategies include the restoration of coastal wetlands, salt marshes, dune systems and beach vegetation.
The aim is to promote the participation of different social agents to ensure that the solutions have a reduced environmental footprint, are compatible with existing infrastructures and are scalable to other places around the world. A social perception strategy will also be designed so that the population understands the benefits of the new measures.
The representatives of the project consortium met at the beginning of this October at the UPC to start the project.