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FOSTERING EUROPEAN LAKES RESTORATION BY NUTRIENT REMOVAL, RECOVERY, AND REUSE: INTEGRATED CATCHMENT AND IN-LAKE SCALE APPROACH

Project description

Circular management approach for European lakes restoration

Climate change exacerbates eutrophication in European lakes, but it could also help address the depletion of global phosphate reserves, which threatens global food security. The influx of nutrients into lakes leads to nutrient-rich reserves and frequent algal blooms. The EU-funded FERRO project aims to tackle nutrient enrichment and phosphate depletion in lakes using a circular management approach. It will develop an innovative lake restoration method that combines targeted techniques with nutrient recovery and recycling. The project is set to improve the ecological status of lakes, support a circular economy, enhance climate adaptation, and promote biodiversity. FERRO will prioritise lake restoration and implement sustainable solutions to prevent nutrient losses in agriculture.

Objective

Eutrophication is a major problem causing poor ecological status of European lakes with its severe impacts being enhanced by climate change. However, at the same time, eutrophication could be the potential solution to the depletion of global phosphate (P) reserves, threatening global food security. A vast amount of P and other nutrients are lost from the catchment and transported into lakes, making most lakes a nutrient-rich reserve, as observed by the frequent occurrence of massive, devastating algal blooms in many lakes. FERRO bridges the nutrient enrichment problem to the depletion of P problem to create a sustainable solution to both challenges by circular management. We will develop a next-generation lake restoration approach by combining targeted restoration techniques with nutrient recovery and recycling to achieve multi-benefits: improved ecological status of lakes, support a circular economy, climate adaptation, support food production, promote biodiversity, and boost ecosystem services provision. The multiple environmental and socio-economic co-benefits extend beyond the scale of intervention, supporting wider sustainability and accounting for social and economic ambitions.

FERRO supports the natural recovery of lakes (after many years of nutrient enrichment) through four transdisciplinary pillars: 1) classification and prioritization of lakes for restoration (integrated in-situ and remote sensing-based techniques); 2) implementation of sustainable catchment-oriented solutions (biotechnology to prevent nutrient losses in agriculture and nutrient recovery at lake inflows and reuse in agriculture), 3) implementation of sustainable in-lake restoration solutions (nutrient recovery from lakes and reuse in agriculture); and 4) knowledge transfer. FERRO marks a major shift in how lake restoration will be done for ages.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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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

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Call for proposal

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

(opens in new window) HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-01

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Coordinator

HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM FUR UMWELTFORSCHUNG GMBH - UFZ
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.

€ 1 297 320,00
Address
PERMOSERSTRASSE 15
04318 Leipzig
Germany

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Region
Sachsen Leipzig Leipzig
Activity type
Research Organisations
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.

€ 1 297 320,00

Participants (6)

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