Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Restoration of deep-sea habitats to rebuild European Seas

Project description

Restoring European deep-sea ecosystems

In the hidden depths of the ocean, vital deep-sea habitats crucial for carbon sequestration are under threat, battered by the impacts of human activities. These habitats, hosting sea pens and deep-water and bamboo corals, among other threatened marine life species, face degradation, which jeopardises their contribution to climate mitigation and the functioning of the global ocean. The EU-funded REDRESS project aims to restore these crucial ecosystems and rebuild European deep-sea biodiversity. Using cutting-edge technologies and 136 days of ship time, the project goes beyond existing methodologies, offering nature-based solutions to authorities, policymakers and practitioners. With socio-economic data and insights into active vs passive restoration, the project will chart a course towards a resilient marine future, transforming EU marine restoration strategy.

Objective

REDRESS aims to provide a key contribution to the EU commitments towards restoring degraded ecosystems, especially in the deep sea. REDRESS will provide solutions to prioritize future restoration actions, extend deep-sea restoration to previously neglected habitat types, and demonstrate the feasibility, potential, and value for success of deep-sea ecosystem restoration. The project will focus on habitats that have great potential to contribute to carbon sequestration and climate mitigation but have been degraded by deep-sea fishing, especially trawling. Specifically, we will study vulnerable marine ecosystems, including sea pens and bamboo corals on soft sediments, coral gardens, cold-water coral reefs, sponge fields, and cold seeps. REDRESS will map degraded deep-sea habitats and identify habitat refugia to prioritize restoration efforts that will adapt to future scenarios of climate change. To adopt and adapt cutting-edge solutions for both restoration interventions and monitoring, REDRESS will make a significant technological investment and will benefit from a relevant ship time by in-kind contribution (136 days). REDRESS will offer nature-based solutions to public authorities and operators to advance ecosystem restoration in the deep sea. Building on the MERCES experience, REDRESS will go beyond the state of art, either developing new methodologies, using sophisticated technologies, defining success indicators, and expanding the target habitats also to cold seeps. The results will enable a significant advancement in the EU's marine restoration strategy. The project will also provide socio-economic data, protocols, and tools to plan, and upscale restoration interventions in deep-sea habitats. REDRESS will provide novel insights into the advantages and limits of active vs passive deep-sea restoration, and related cost-benefit analysis in different deep-sea habitats supporting policies and decision makers in the future application of the Nature Restoration Law.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-IA - HORIZON Innovation Actions

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL6-2023-BIODIV-01

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

UNIVERSITA POLITECNICA DELLE MARCHE
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 936 476,25
Address
PIAZZA ROMA 22
60121 Ancona
Italy

See on map

Region
Centro (IT) Marche Ancona
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 936 476,25

Participants (22)

Partners (4)

My booklet 0 0