Description du projet
Solutions et outils numériques pour une restauration rapide des zones humides
Les zones humides ont la capacité de séquestrer le carbone et de réguler les concentrations atmosphériques de gaz à effet de serre. Cependant, elles disparaissent en Europe à un rythme alarmant, et moins de 20 % d’entre elles demeurent en bonne condition écologique. Le projet WET HORIZONS, financé par l’UE, contribuera à approfondir les connaissances clés dans ce domaine et à développer de nouveaux outils et méthodes pour la restauration rapide des zones humides à grande échelle, avec notamment une application mobile pour la visualisation de l’état de ces zones et un système d’aide à la décision ciblant les responsables politiques. Le projet actualisera et renforcera les données existantes disponibles sur les tourbières, les plaines inondables et les zones humides côtières vierges, drainées et réhumidifiées. Il modélisera les effets des mesures de restauration ordinaires dans diverses conditions et analysera leurs répercussions socio-économiques potentielles afin d’apporter des recommandations et de réunir les meilleures pratiques de gestion.
Objectif
Wetlands are key biodiversity hotspots that provide numerous ecosystem services such as water purification, flood control and climate change mitigation due to their capacity of sequestering carbon and modulating the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. Despite their ecological and economic importance, wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate, and are among Europe’s most endangered ecosystems, with less than 20% remaining in good ecological condition.
WET HORIZONS will provide the critical flying start for the challenge of enhancing wetland restoration using a holistic approach. It will boost crucial wetland knowledge and develop sound tools and approaches for fast-tracking large scale restoration action.
The project will improve the current data available from pristine, drained and rewetted peatlands, floodplains, and coastal wetlands, model the effects of typical restoration measures under variable conditions, and analyze the potential socio-economic impacts, finally delivering guidelines and best management practices.
WET HORIZONS will involve citizen science for data collection and will develop digital tools for upscaling wetland restoration including an app for the visualization of wetland status and a decision support system for policy makers. This will enable to choose best pathways in wetland restoration minimizing trade-offs, including hotspot priority lists where the ecological and biodiversity benefits are greatest with minimum investment. The results will be available in open access repositories to maximize their use and outreach.
There will be a constant dialogue with policymakers and stakeholders before, during and after the project, to ground-truth the findings and ensure that the tools support country-specific decision-making processes. The results of the project will be used to promote feasible and more ambitious legislation towards protecting and restoring European wetlands to increase benefits for climate and biodiversity.
Champ scientifique
- engineering and technologychemical engineeringseparation technologiesdesalinationreverse osmosis
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- social sciencespolitical sciencespolitical policiescivil society
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and management
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinateur
8000 Aarhus C
Danemark