SEACURE

Presentation

The overwhelming scientific evidence provided by the academic corpus indicates that to tackle the origin and negative impacts of nutrient pollution on water, soil, and biodiversity, a wide landscape-river-sea system approach is needed. This approach should focus on sustainable land management practices (especially agricultural), improved wastewater treatment, and feasible nature restoration strategies. The SEACURE project aims to demonstrate, scale up, and replicate effective innovations for the systemic prevention and reduction of nutrient pollution in the Mediterranean Sea basin.It is aligned with the innovation ecosystem framework established by ongoing Mediterranean Lighthouse projects (such as BlueMissionMed) and collaborates closely with regional soil health living labs in the area.

SEACURE dedicates resources to the regional upscaling and replication of successful nutrient management strategies focused on: i) reducing soil pollution and enhancing its restoration, ii) decreasing fertilizer use and nutrient losses, and iii) preventing, minimizing, and remediating nutrient pollution in freshwater and marine ecosystems across six territorial units (Mar Menor and Central Catalunya in Spain, Po Delta and Esino River in Italy, and Axios River Delta and Thessaly Plain in Greece).

The project evaluates viability and impact while partners focus on innovation levers such as policy uptake, societal awareness, capacity building, and funding availability. Regional business plans will be crafted for upscaling the effective strategies in these territories, benefiting from the regional mobilization of innovation ecosystems carried out during the project. Knowledge replication will be encouraged through technical assistance to Associated Regions using FSTP grants. SEACURE embraces the Missions’ impact-driven approach, engaging actors to maximize the uptake of its results.

Project financed by the the Horizon Europe - Innovation Action Programme of the European Union, and the project will last for 4 years, from September 2024 to August 2028.

Activities

ACR+ will lead in the development of a Multi-criteria Decision Support Tool (DST). This tool will help decision-makers, like river basin authorities and wastewater treatment plant operators, evaluate different actions to reduce pollution.

The tool will consider three important factors:

  • Environmental impact;
  • Available financial resources;
  • How serious the pollution issue is.

The DSR will help decision-makers understand the time, money, and effort required for different solutions to address soil and water contamination. As the project progresses, the DST will be updated to compare the actual outcomes of these solutions with the expected results. This will allow for adjustments to improve pollution reduction efforts. The DST will also be useful for other regions by helping them adapt solutions to fit their local needs and financial or technical limitations. The tool will be available in two versions: a first draft in month 30 of the project, and a final version by month 46.

Additionally, ACR+ is contributing to:

  • Co-defining the context of territorial units;
  • Preparing the ground for regional scale-up;
  • Knowledge exchange and replication in Associated Regions.

Partners

The SEACURE proeject is lead by UVIC-UCC, Fundacio Universitaria Balmes (ES), and its project partners are:

  • EAM Departament d'Acció Climàtica, Alimentació i Agenda Rural (ES)
  • L’ERA L'Era, Espai de Recursos Agroecologics (ES)
  • CETENMA Asociacion Empresarial Centro Tecnologico de la Energia y del Medio Ambiente de la Region de Murcia (ES)
  • INGEOBRAS Ingenieria de Obras Zaragoza SL, (ES)
  • UNIFE Universita degli Studi Di Ferrara (IT)
  • UNIPR Universita degli Studi Di Parma (IT)
  • BONIFICA Consorzio di Bonifica Pianura di Ferrara (IT)
  • CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (IT)
  • UNIVPM Universita Politecnica delle Marche (IT)
  • VIVA SERVIZI Viva Servizi SPA (IT)
  • WWF WWF Italia (IT)
  • SWRI Ellinikos Georgikos Organismos Dimitra (GR)
  • ECOD Oikoanaptyxi Anonymi Etairia (GR)
  • LARO Topikos Organismos Engeion Veltioseon (Toev) Chalastras Kalochoriou (GR)
  • KKFarm Kravvas Konstantinos (GR)
  • NTUA Ethnicon Metsovion Polytechnion (GR)
  • DEYAL Dimotiki Epicheirisi Ydrefsis-Apochetefsis Larisas (GR)
  • HYDRASPIS O.E. Ydraspis O.E (GR)
  • IRIDRA Iridra SRL (IT)
  • MEDWAVES-ARC Agencia de Residus de Catalunya (ES)
  • ACR+ Association of Cities and Regions for Sustainable Resource Management (BE)
  • CREAF-CERCA Centro de Investigacion Ecologica y Aplicaciones Forestales (ES)
  • PROMAN Proman Management GMBH (AT)
  • CWP Asociacion Catalana para la Innovacion y la Internacionalizacion del Sector del Agua, Catalan Water Partnership (ES)

Organisers / Managers