General objectives

By overcoming present technical, economic, governance and social barriers to restoration upscaling, REST-COAST will develop the large-scale river-coast connectivity and increase the nearshore accommodation space for the resilient delivery of coastal ecosystem services (ESS). The selected ESS (risk reduction, environmental quality and fish provisioning) touch urgent coastal problems such as the erosion/flooding during recent storms or the accelerating coastal habitat degradation that seriously affects fisheries and aquaculture. By enhancing these ESS under present and future climates at 9 Pilots that represent the main EU regional seas (Baltic, Black, North, Atlantic and Mediterranean) we shall increase the commitment of citizens, stakeholders and policy makers for a long-term maintenance of restoration. Such commitment will go together with a transformation of governance and financial structures, supported by evidence-based results on restoration benefits for the welfare of coastal societies and assets. This transformation will build upon the results from hands-on restoration at the Pilots, steered by the multidisciplinary project advances.

CMCC role

As lead of the Venice pilot, CMCC will participate in overseeing the technical activities related to the monitoring of BDV and ESS and to the performance analysis of NBS for coastal restoration. CMCC will run hydrodynamic models to simulate coastal hazard predictions with/out restoration interventions; and will apply advanced multi-risk assessment tools based on machine learning to investigate the effect of multi-hazard scenarios and climate change on the resilience of coastal ecosystems. Furthermore, CMCC will contribute to the identification of upscaling opportunities for the research and innovation products developed in the Venice Pilot, contribute to the analysis of NBS performance under climate adaptation and the identification of sustainable adaptive management pathways and policies. Finally, CMCC will develop a videogame which will help to engage and raise awareness among students and practitioners in understanding the benefits and challenges of nature-based solutions in coastal areas and will take part to the Cooperation Board.

Activities

REST-COAST will expand coastal restoration, implementing hands-on interventions by integrating all WP enablers into a systemic approach that delivers ESS and BDV gains. Such a systemic restoration will result in large scale projects that incorporate new techniques and financial – management innovation for risk reduction, coastal adaptation and governance transition, with an increase in awareness/capacities. The scalable adaptation-through-restoration plan will enable a better socioeconomic compatibility with natural capital, avoiding further degradation in ESS that may lead to accelerated climate change.

Expected results

Combining new techniques, risk assessments, innovative financial/governance arrangements and homogeneous metrics for ESS and biodiversity, REST-COAST will develop a systemic approach to coastal restoration based on a scalable coastal adaptation plan. The plan will underpin a transformative change in governance and policies, proving the importance of the coastal dimension in the EU Green Deal for adaptation/mitigation under climate change. The proposed adaptation will facilitate replicating large scale restoration and introducing coastal ESS into national and international policies.

Partners

FUNDACIO EURECAT (EURECAT), Spain

GLOBAL CLIMATE FORUM EV (GCF), Germany

STICHTING DELTARES (DELTARES), Netherlands

INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE POUR L’AGRICULTURE, L’ALIMENTATION ET L’ENVIRONNEMENT (INRAE), France

UNION INTERNATIONALE POUR LA CONSERVATION DE LA NATURE ET DE SES RESSOURCES (IUCN), Switzerland

PENSOFT PUBLISHERS (PENSOFT), Bulgaria

ALBIREM SUSTAINABILITY SL (ALBIREM), Spain

UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE MADRID (UPM), Spain

DEPARTAMENT D’ACCIÓ CLIMÀTICA, ALIMENTACIÓ I AGENDA RURAL (DACC), Spain

MINISTERIO PARA LA TRANSICION ECOLOGICA Y EL RETO DEMOGRAFICO (DGCM), Spain

CONSORCIO CENTRO INTERNACIONAL DE INVESTIGACION DE LOS RECURSOS COSTEROS (CIIRC), Spain

HELMHOLTZ-ZENTRUM HEREON GMBH (HEREON), Germany

NIEDERSACHSISCHER LANDESBETRIEB FUR WASSERWIRTSCHAFT, KUSTEN- UND NATURSCHUTZ (NLWKN), Germany

CORILA – CONSORZIO PER IL COORDINAMENTO DELLE RICERCHE INERENTI AL SISTEMA LAGUNARE DI VENEZIA (CORILA), Italy

INSTYTUT BUDOWNICTWA WODNEGO POLSKIEJ AKADEMII NAUK (IBWPAN), Poland

INSTITUTE OF OCEANOLOGY BAS (IO-BAS), Bulgaria

PROVINCIE GRONINGEN (GRO), Netherlands,

FONDATION TOUR DU VALAT (TDV), France

EGIS WATER AND MARITIME (EGIS W&M), France

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI CATANIA (UNICT), Italy

ISRAEL NATURE AND NATIONAL PARKS PROTECTION AUTHORITY (INPA), Israel

UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA (UEA), United Kingdom

UNIVERSITY OF LINCOLN (UoL), United Kingdom

MEDITERRANEAN PROTECTED AREAS NETWORK (MedPAN), France

ORGANIZATION OF THE BLACK SEA ECONOMIC COOPERATION (BSEC), Turkey

SOCIEDAD ESPANOLA DE ORNITOLOGIA SEO (SEO), Spain

PERNICE UMBERTO (PERNICE), Italy

SECRETARIAT MEDWET (MedWet), France

MEDITERRANEAN SEA AND COST FOUNDATION (MEDSEA), Italy

STICHTING WAGENINGEN RESEARCH (WR), Netherlands

WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY (WU), Netherlands

STICHTING THE GLOBAL CENTER ON ADAPTATION (GCA), Netherlands

INTERDISCIPLINARY CENTER (IDC) HERZLIYA (IDC), Israel

STICHTING ECOSHAPE, BUILDING WITH NATURE (ECO), Netherlands

KONSORTIUM DEUTSCHE MEERESFORSCHUNG EV (KDM), Germany

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