Periodic Reporting for period 1 - WaterLANDS (Water-based solutions for carbon storage, people and wilderness)
Période du rapport: 2021-12-01 au 2023-05-31
Wetlands provide essential services for landscapes and society by retaining and purifying water, removing pollutants and excess nutrients, storing atmospheric carbon, moderating flooding and coastal storms, supporting an immense variety of wildlife, and offering recreational, well-being and economic benefits to surrounding communities. When mismanaged, these valuable services are lost. On the other hand, opportunities can be realised from scaling up the restoration of isolated wetlands towards re-establishing former wetland landscapes. Previous restoration has been too localised or fragmented to make a significant difference.
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. WaterLANDS will utilise lessons learned from ongoing and existing restoration at 15 ‘Knowledge Sites’ across Europe to inform hands-on restoration at six ‘Action Sites’ in Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In doing so, the project aims to develop the tools and build a legacy for large-scale wetland restoration across Europe and beyond that will persist beyond the lifetime of the project.
The project is undertaking hands-on restoration of wetland sites and creating best practice for application at other wetland sites. By engaging with local communities, policymakers and other stakeholders, the project will ensure that wetland restoration results not only in environmental gains, but also social and economic benefits for communities. Identifying investible propositions for wetlands will also establish long-term finances for scalability.
The infographic attached explains the WaterLANDS’ workflow as it progresses from Knowledge, to Action, to the creation of a Legacy post-project.
32 partners across 14 countries are working 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.
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. WaterLANDS will utilise lessons learned from ongoing and existing restoration at 15 ‘Knowledge Sites’ across Europe to inform hands-on restoration at six ‘Action Sites’ in Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In doing so, the project aims to develop the tools and build a legacy for large-scale wetland restoration across Europe and beyond that will persist beyond the lifetime of the project.
The project is undertaking hands-on restoration of wetland sites and creating best practice for application at other wetland sites. By engaging with local communities, policymakers and other stakeholders, the project will ensure that wetland restoration results not only in environmental gains, but also social and economic benefits for communities. Identifying investible propositions for wetlands will also establish long-term finances for scalability.
The infographic attached explains the WaterLANDS’ workflow as it progresses from Knowledge, to Action, to the creation of a Legacy post-project.
32 partners across 14 countries are working 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.
A core aim of WaterLANDS is to ensure that a new paradigm for restoration of wetlands is proposed that transcends the ecological. The project will focus equally on developing knowledge and understanding across ecology, community, governance and finance, allowing co-creation of more sustainable restoration practice. As of month-18 (i.e. 30% complete), we have achieved the following:
Ecology: SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound) indicators for resilient restoration have now been identified, as have drivers of change in wetland ecosystem service function (particularly for GHG emissions), through a meta-analysis of 300+ peer-reviewed studies. A database structure for wetland restoration case studies has been developed, with linkage to existing databases (e.g. PeatDataHub).
Community: Existing experience of how to engage with communities has been harvested from our network of Knowledge Sites across Europe, revealing the importance of engagement 'early and often' throughout a project. In-depth stakeholder analysis has been conducted at our restoration sites and strategies for long-term engagement have been composed for each. 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.
Restoration: Business-as-usual restoration is not the aim. We need to be patient in implementing restoration, by first gaining an holistic understanding if each system, then designing appropriate measures. Ecological and Scalability Plans have now been developed for each sites based on this, and active restoration will soon begin. The important steps of ensuring community buy-in and obtaining formalised permissions have been prioritised.
Communications: Communications output in the first 18 months has been very strong, strengthened by growing public awareness of the importance of wetlands (particularly peatlands) and the visible impacts of climate change. Social media following is extremely high for a nascent project (1,254 followers on Twitter) and video outputs continue to be well received. Our artist-in-residence call received an overwhelming response (almost 500 applications) and WaterLANDS exposure continues to be high-level, at the European Commission, on national television outlets, and through publications in top journals (e.g. Nature Water).
Ecology: SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound) indicators for resilient restoration have now been identified, as have drivers of change in wetland ecosystem service function (particularly for GHG emissions), through a meta-analysis of 300+ peer-reviewed studies. A database structure for wetland restoration case studies has been developed, with linkage to existing databases (e.g. PeatDataHub).
Community: Existing experience of how to engage with communities has been harvested from our network of Knowledge Sites across Europe, revealing the importance of engagement 'early and often' throughout a project. In-depth stakeholder analysis has been conducted at our restoration sites and strategies for long-term engagement have been composed for each. 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.
Restoration: Business-as-usual restoration is not the aim. We need to be patient in implementing restoration, by first gaining an holistic understanding if each system, then designing appropriate measures. Ecological and Scalability Plans have now been developed for each sites based on this, and active restoration will soon begin. The important steps of ensuring community buy-in and obtaining formalised permissions have been prioritised.
Communications: Communications output in the first 18 months has been very strong, strengthened by growing public awareness of the importance of wetlands (particularly peatlands) and the visible impacts of climate change. Social media following is extremely high for a nascent project (1,254 followers on Twitter) and video outputs continue to be well received. Our artist-in-residence call received an overwhelming response (almost 500 applications) and WaterLANDS exposure continues to be high-level, at the European Commission, on national television outlets, and through publications in top journals (e.g. Nature Water).
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.
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.