Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RESTORE4Cs (Modelling RESTORation of wEtlands for Carbon pathways, Climate Change mitigation and adaptation, ecosystem services, and biodiversity, Co-benefits)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2023-01-01 do 2024-06-30
The main objective of RESTORE4Cs is to provide tools and methodologies, applicable beyond the lifespan of the project, to assess pressures and impacts on the status of wetland ecosystems at various scales and relate these to the climate mitigation and adaptation potential, to biodiversity, and other ecosystem services provision, and associated co-benefits, combining social, ecologic, and economic perspectives (Fig.1). The project aims as well to predict restoration and management effects on GHG emission/removal, biodiversity, and other ecosystem services, while maintaining functional biodiversity through conservation and/or restoration, as well as to advice on the procedures for selection of priority sites (coastal wetlands) to be restored by including a climate change mitigation focus. In one sentence RESTORE4Cs aims at: Supporting the implementation of Climate and Biodiversity policies in the context of European Green Deal. To this end a digital platform that serves as Decision Support System (DSS) for the interested parts is under development supported by the data collection on the effectiveness of wetlands restoration and land use management; a European Community of Practice (Fig.2) for restoring wetlands is evolving to support the EU Policies, namely the EU Nature Restoration Law; and models and assessment tools are being improved and expanded to broader geographical contexts to support stakeholders engagement and upscaling of results. The steps towards upper scales are supported by six case pilots (Fig.3) where coastal wetlands ecosystems processes including C-storage and current and potential GHG profile (particularly, CO2, CH4 and N2O, and ancillary ecological indicators) are being analysed comparing well-preserved versus altered (and type of alteration) versus restored (and type of restoration measures).
An analysis of policies and end-user needs for metrics and tools to achieve relevant policy targets is completed, aiming to ensure and to inform the policy relevance of indicators and decision support tools under development. The technical implementation and development roadmap for the European Community of Practice for wetland restoration was successfully launched following a comprehensive round of consultations with the project partners. The comprehensive framework to assess the pan-European wetland system dynamics, across scales, under the combined effect of climate change and anthropic pressures either negative or positive is progressing. The wetlands’ assessment on their current and potential GHG profile, the literature review of the state of the art, and the selection of pilot sites are completed. The field campaigns, made seasonally, (4 per each of the 6 pilot sites) are also completed whereas sample analyses are ongoing. Each case pilot has identified and selected the relevant components in a dataset that will allow to establish linkage chains relating human activities, pressures and ecosystem components. A prospective approach was integrated to compare possible impacts of restoration and management actions and strategies (socio-economic impacts, socio-cultural impacts, environmental impacts). The identification of the most needed information layers based on remote sensing tools to assess the status and mitigation capacity of coastal wetlands at national and EU scale is progressing. The conceptual approaches for the development and deployment of the online RESTORE4Cs Platform and Toolbox (DSS) were already presented and validated by the consortium.
A Policy Brief entitled “How can coastal wetlands help achieve EU climate goals?” is prepared and will be launched in Sept 2024. The technical roadmap for the ‘multi-actor approach’ of the project was defined by agreeing on the desired degree of interaction with stakeholders at different levels, from local to national and European. Models that combine process-based and data-driven components were designed to enhance the integration of various data sources and products, enabling a more holistic approach to ecosystem services and to landscape ecosystem, and climate change dynamics. These advancements will enable a more holistic approach to landscape ecosystem dynamics, addressing the complex interactions between provided ecosystem services and climate change dynamics. New data sets from case pilots (in situ) and the meta-analysis including additional wetland types, critical for filling existing knowledge gaps and advancing the understanding of the role of coastal wetlands in carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation. New data sets from case pilots on ecosystem services, habitats, activities and pressures that will further support decision-making processes related to wetland management and restoration. New data sets with existing Earth Observation (EO)-based information layers enabling the development of comprehensive mapping and assessment tools aimed at evaluating the status of European wetlands.