Periodic Reporting for period 2 - WaterLANDS (Water-based solutions for carbon storage, people and wilderness)
Berichtszeitraum: 2023-06-01 bis 2024-11-30
Wetlands provide essential services for landscapes and society by retaining and purifying water, removing pollutants and excess nutrients, storing carbon, moderating flooding and coastal storms, supporting an immense variety of wildlife and offering recreational, wellbeing and economic benefits to surrounding communities. When mismanaged, these valuable services are diminished or lost. On the other hand, opportunities can be realised from scaling up the restoration of wetlands, reframing their benefits in a more positive light and finding tangible incentives to do so.
Whereas previous restoration has been too localised or fragmented to make a significant difference, WaterLANDS aims to rectify that, by operating at a landscape scale and with long-term legacy in mind. WaterLANDS (Water-based solutions for carbon storage, people and wilderness) is a 5-year EU Green Deal funded project that aims to restore damaged wetlands across Europe and lay the foundations for protection across larger areas. Since its inception in November 2022, WaterLANDS continues to utilise lessons learned from ongoing and existing restoration at 15 ‘Knowledge Sites’ across Europe to inform hands-on restoration of at least 10,500 ha across six ‘Action Sites’ in Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In doing so, the project has developed several key tools to support scalable wetland restoration and build a legacy for restoration across Europe and beyond that will persist beyond the lifetime of the project. With our 32 partners across 14 countries, we work together to ensure the resilience and health of both wetland habitats and the communities who rely on them.
The following results are expected by the end of the project:
• Demonstration of large-scale wetland restoration.
• Overcome barriers to restoration and develop integrated solutions for upscaling.
• Cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary collaboration to co-create wetland restoration.
• Maintained wetland carbon storage and enhanced natural carbon sequestration services.
• A community-led paradigm in the co-design of restoration, empowering, engaging and reconnecting with nature.
• Tailored financial solutions and resources for restoration of wetlands.
Whereas previous restoration has been too localised or fragmented to make a significant difference, WaterLANDS aims to rectify that, by operating at a landscape scale and with long-term legacy in mind. WaterLANDS (Water-based solutions for carbon storage, people and wilderness) is a 5-year EU Green Deal funded project that aims to restore damaged wetlands across Europe and lay the foundations for protection across larger areas. Since its inception in November 2022, WaterLANDS continues to utilise lessons learned from ongoing and existing restoration at 15 ‘Knowledge Sites’ across Europe to inform hands-on restoration of at least 10,500 ha across six ‘Action Sites’ in Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In doing so, the project has developed several key tools to support scalable wetland restoration and build a legacy for restoration across Europe and beyond that will persist beyond the lifetime of the project. With our 32 partners across 14 countries, we work together to ensure the resilience and health of both wetland habitats and the communities who rely on them.
The following results are expected by the end of the project:
• Demonstration of large-scale wetland restoration.
• Overcome barriers to restoration and develop integrated solutions for upscaling.
• Cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary collaboration to co-create wetland restoration.
• Maintained wetland carbon storage and enhanced natural carbon sequestration services.
• A community-led paradigm in the co-design of restoration, empowering, engaging and reconnecting with nature.
• Tailored financial solutions and resources for restoration of wetlands.
As of Month 36 (60% complete), restoration is underway at all sites, having mapped stakeholders, identified key indicators of restoration success and characterised supporting governance. Further a subset of sites have identified investible propositions for their wetland, to establish long-term finances for scalability. These include mechanisms to enter voluntary carbon markets, quantify water or biodiversity co-benefits, proposition of largescale regional financial plans or standardise micro-contributions from a variety of philanthropic sources. Importantly, the restoration now underway has involved the integration of all four pillars of knowledge and expertise, from ecology, community, governance and finance. Although requiring local adaptation in its application, this process has yielded strong interdisciplinary cooperation and more robust restoration that is better accepted by communities.
Ecology: SMART indicators for resilient restoration have now been identified, as have drivers of change in wetland ecosystem service function (particularly for GHG emissions). A database structure for wetland restoration case studies has been developed, with linkage to existing databases (e.g. PeatDataHub), and a Decision Support System is now in draft form.
Community: Existing experience of how to engage with communities has been harvested from our network of Knowledge Sites across Europe. In-depth stakeholder analysis has been conducted and strategies for long-term engagement have been composed for ASs. The concept of co-creation has been strongly advocated here, beyond mere outreach and including genuine inclusion of local communities.
Governance: Supportive governance and policy at Knowledge Sites has been identified, allowing the development of an idealised governance framework for wetland restoration, and a review of existing governance practices at our restoration sites is ongoing. We have provided opinion towards the proposed Nature Restoration Law, along with our aligned projects (MERLIN, Rest-Coast, SUPERB).
Finance: Our finance partners have conducted a thorough review of existing business and finance models across Europe and beyond. Further, a landscape assessment of each restoration site has provided a picture of “investibility” at each. From this, two sites (Ems-Dollard Estuary, Netherlands, and the Great North Bog, UK) have been selected for in-depth financial development. Ongoing alignment with existing initiatives (Peatland Finance Ireland, MERLIN, The Flow Country Green Finance Initiative) will ensure that eventual investor propositions are robust and do not compete.
Co-creation: Following an extensive global review of best-practice, a firm understanding of the effectiveness of wetland restoration practices is now held, synthesised into several outputs for integration into a proposed co-creation framework. This has been paired with citizen science pilot sites, strengthening community buy-in. Although less active to date, this work will become central to WaterLANDS in combining ecological, community, governance and finance findings.
Communications: Communications output in the first 36 months continues to exceed targets. Social media following is extremely high and video outputs continue to be well received. Our artist-in-residence continue with engagement and creation, and WaterLANDS exposure continues to be high-level, at the European Commission, on national television outlets, and through publications in top journals (e.g. Science, Nature Water).
Ecology: SMART indicators for resilient restoration have now been identified, as have drivers of change in wetland ecosystem service function (particularly for GHG emissions). A database structure for wetland restoration case studies has been developed, with linkage to existing databases (e.g. PeatDataHub), and a Decision Support System is now in draft form.
Community: Existing experience of how to engage with communities has been harvested from our network of Knowledge Sites across Europe. In-depth stakeholder analysis has been conducted and strategies for long-term engagement have been composed for ASs. The concept of co-creation has been strongly advocated here, beyond mere outreach and including genuine inclusion of local communities.
Governance: Supportive governance and policy at Knowledge Sites has been identified, allowing the development of an idealised governance framework for wetland restoration, and a review of existing governance practices at our restoration sites is ongoing. We have provided opinion towards the proposed Nature Restoration Law, along with our aligned projects (MERLIN, Rest-Coast, SUPERB).
Finance: Our finance partners have conducted a thorough review of existing business and finance models across Europe and beyond. Further, a landscape assessment of each restoration site has provided a picture of “investibility” at each. From this, two sites (Ems-Dollard Estuary, Netherlands, and the Great North Bog, UK) have been selected for in-depth financial development. Ongoing alignment with existing initiatives (Peatland Finance Ireland, MERLIN, The Flow Country Green Finance Initiative) will ensure that eventual investor propositions are robust and do not compete.
Co-creation: Following an extensive global review of best-practice, a firm understanding of the effectiveness of wetland restoration practices is now held, synthesised into several outputs for integration into a proposed co-creation framework. This has been paired with citizen science pilot sites, strengthening community buy-in. Although less active to date, this work will become central to WaterLANDS in combining ecological, community, governance and finance findings.
Communications: Communications output in the first 36 months continues to exceed targets. Social media following is extremely high and video outputs continue to be well received. Our artist-in-residence continue with engagement and creation, and WaterLANDS exposure continues to be high-level, at the European Commission, on national television outlets, and through publications in top journals (e.g. Science, Nature Water).
In the coming year, our increasing focus will be on establishing a legacy for restoration, ensuring that systems are in place to upscale wetland restoration in time and space. This includes the advocacy of supporting governance and policy (e.g. the Nature Restoration Law), allowing for better co-creation of restoration with communities through our roadmap of best practice, and formalising long-term funding mechanisms that triggers blended finance support in the form of public-private partnerships (e.g. Peatland Finance Ireland).
Co-creating a new restoration paradigm will exceed the state-of-the-art. Importantly, this transcends traditional ecological approaches limited in time, space or funding. WaterLANDS will, by design, aim for long-term scalable restoration, not by merely funding restoration (although 60% of our funding will do so), but fostering a phase-shift in how this is done.
Soft engagement of a wide suite of stakeholders is key, notably those with political power, but also ensuring that communities are given agency in restoration decisions and that socioeconomic benefits are clearly outlined.
The artist-in-residence programme is part of this, not only by better engaging local communities but also by encouraging scientists and practitioners to “see in a different way”.
Finally, developing blended finance instruments at some of our restoration sites will present highly novel offerings to investors, likely bundling ecosystem services into something greater than the sum of its parts.
Co-creating a new restoration paradigm will exceed the state-of-the-art. Importantly, this transcends traditional ecological approaches limited in time, space or funding. WaterLANDS will, by design, aim for long-term scalable restoration, not by merely funding restoration (although 60% of our funding will do so), but fostering a phase-shift in how this is done.
Soft engagement of a wide suite of stakeholders is key, notably those with political power, but also ensuring that communities are given agency in restoration decisions and that socioeconomic benefits are clearly outlined.
The artist-in-residence programme is part of this, not only by better engaging local communities but also by encouraging scientists and practitioners to “see in a different way”.
Finally, developing blended finance instruments at some of our restoration sites will present highly novel offerings to investors, likely bundling ecosystem services into something greater than the sum of its parts.