NBSINFRA is a European Horizon Project, that focuses on using Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) for the protection of critical urban infrastructure against natural and man-made hazards. NBSINFRA's mission extends to generate robust knowledge for the creation of resilient urban environments capable of withstanding challenges presented by the different hazards, through the collaborative co-design and co-creation of the NBS. The project is led by Universidade do Minho in Portugal, bringing together experts from several fields of study, including climate science, disaster risk management, infrastructure resilience, nature-based solutions, social engagement and adaptation measures (18 partners from 10 different countries).
NBSINFRA aims to: i) Demonstrate the technical viability and effectiveness of NBS as powerful defenders for safeguarding critical infrastructures and enhancing urban resilience; ii) create an innovative methodology to evaluate how specific natural ecosystems respond to various hazards; iii) Foster community engagement, empower decision-making, and drive commitment to results; iv) Develop a toolkit for community empowerment; v) Share best practices to expand and scale-up NBS across the EU; and vi) Highlight that NBS are not just socially acceptable and budget-friendly at the local scale, but can also potentially increase community empowerment. To realize those objectives, NBSINFRA established five representative European regions, denominated in the project by "City Labs." These labs serve as experimenting grounds to assess the cost-effectiveness of NBS in protecting local infrastructure, developed by the involvement and participation of end-users, managers, local authorities, and civil society.
NBSINFRA is committed to producing impactful scientific, and material outcomes, ensuring the production of robust knowledge for critical infrastructures and the ecosystem's resilience against extreme events, with an active engagement of all actors (governments at all levels, educational institutions, and populations, warranting social and gender representativeness. This includes improved risk assessment to fortify the resilience and strategic autonomy of European infrastructure with the citizens, experts and decision-makers collaboration and knowledge. The project creates a methodology that includes the co-creation of a toolkit using the lessons learned and observing the generated tools in the first part of the project. This toolkit will involve active involvement with end users and local populations to ensure social engagement in adopting measures and foster people empowerment. Combining insights from the experts involved across several disciplines, including social sciences in the project together with the information at a local level, the project will provide a plan of intervention supported by policy recommendations and educational material for stakeholders, enhancing the promotion of the cooperation between global and EU policymakers, national and regional stakeholders, and populations emphasising structured forms of information exchange for mutual learning for the designing, planning and implementation of NBS, minimizes (optimizes) costs and resources to be used in intervention or response to extreme events.
