Mara-Mediterra is aimed at addressing the hitherto low uptake of Nature-based Solutions (NbSs) in agro-ecosystems, with 5 ‘hotspots’ of land and water degradation as Case Studies.

To achieve this aim Mara-Mediterra focuses on the SHARING AND MAINSTREAMING of its foreseen outcomes as depicted in the inter-connection diagram of the project’s foreseen activities. As shown in the interconnection diagram, the Work Plan is structured in 6 Work Packages (WP)

WP1 Project Management and WP2 Communication and Dissemination guide the streamlined execution of the project as related to administrative, financial, scientific coordination, knowledge and IPR management, coupled with an effective and frequent communication and dissemination of the progress and results achieved.

WP3 Guiding the Living Labs starts from the collection of video-testimonials of farmers already practicing agro-ecological practices. In parallel, actors and stakeholders in the 5 selected hotspots of land and water degradation (Algeria, Egypt, Greece, Lebanon and Turkey) will be invited to a 1st Roundtable, enabling to collect their needs and expectations from very early on in the work plan. Local farmers, water managers and environmental NGOs, will be invited to test, co-customize, and validate an array of Nature based Solutions (NbSs). The NbSs numbered 1 to 4 in the table below will be applied in all Hotspots.

In a 2nd Roundtable, the use of Participatory GIS (PGIS) will be demonstrated: our Living Labs will be encouraged to use their local and gained knowledge to create, i.e. to draw, action plans. In the final, 3rd Roundtable these action plans will be presented to the actors in already identified Mirror Hotspots, so as to collect insights regarding the degree of cross-border transferability of the benefits derived from these action plans (issued from WP5).

WP4 Methodological Development is concerned with the development of a diagnostic tool and of 4 eco-engineering solutions that will complement the agro-ecological practices numbered NbS 1-9 in the table of NbSs shown above.

The functionality of our diagnostic tool will be fully harmonized with the new ISO standard to combat desertification which provides a framework for establishing Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) and is inextricably linked to the achievement of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The new ISO standard employs three global indicators (land cover, land productivity, and carbon stocks) which permit to assess the quantity and quality of land-based natural capital and the associated ecosystem services. These global indicators, together with the ones that will guide the quantified social, economic and environmental assessment are directly linked to the SDG goals of eradicating poverty, ensuring food security, protecting the environment and using natural resources sustainably

This diagram below illustrates how the activities in WP4 are closely interlinked with activities that are foreseen in both WP5 and WP6.

In parallel to the development of the diagnostic tool, 4 eco-engineering solutions will be developed concerned with respectively:

a) Afforestation (our NbS 10)

The novel eco-engineering solution is addressed to overcome the obstacles which contributed to slowing down the success of Algeria’s ‘Green Dam’ project, an ambitious national afforestation project that was launched to combat desertification. The new approach will be based on the artificial creation of a micro-ecosystem at the level of each tree that will planted in the experimental afforestation site at Djelfa, the use of renewable energies, the valorization of by-products from wastewater treatment and the use of digital monitoring tools.

b) Hydraulic barrier to halt seawater intrusion (our NbS 11)

This eco-engineering solution will simulate the cost-effectiveness of creating a hydraulic barrier to halt the seawater intrusion in the Nile Delta using a novel approach. In a first scenario, treated domestic effluent will be diverted to feed a string of existing, northernmost canals which run parallel to the coastline. In the second, the treated effluent will be simulated as aquifer recharge.

c) Natural systems of water quality improvement and biomass production (our NbS 12)

As a further eco-engineering solution to the water and soil salinization in the Nile Delta, a novel primary production system using aquaponic wetlands will be put in place. Preliminary experimental trials at the lab scale have shown that by adding the breeding of specific algae, the entire system has high potential to reach zero-liquid discharge. This is accomplished by continuously recirculating water between a plant bed and a fish farming habitat. Each component of the system will be further evaluated to reach optimum cost-efficiency, including the use of solar energy to run the system.

d) Minimum ecological flow for lake/wetland restoration (our NbS 13)

With the ambition to return Marmara Lake to good ecological status, this eco-engineering solution will start from determining the minimum environmental flow which this would require. This will be based on a novel, dynamic monitoring and proactive intervention scheme that will draw on satellite-based data services, in-situ discharge measurement and real-time communication technologies for record calibration and the adapted use of meteorological predictions. Moreover, to bring a lasting solution to the ecosystem degradation, a dynamic water allocation scheme will be developed that looks not only at the environmental flow but also at the sanitary water needs of the urban settlements in the case study. The novel allocation set-up will resemble the actions of dynamically changings shears on a railway network.

WP5 Policy Recommendations and Action Plans is organized as a stepwise consultation process with policy-decision makers and key stakeholders. In a first activity, a SWOT analysis of the local governance framework is coupled with a perception-value-attitude survey among farmers and local community representatives in each of the 5 Case Studies.

The next task concerns a quantified Social-Economic-Environmental (SEE) assessment of the action plans proposed by the Living Labs (in WP3). Policy recommendations associated with the final action plans will define our 5 policy solutions addressed to each Hotspot.

In line with the new ISO standard applied to the United Nation Convention to combat desertification, this assessment of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) this assessment will adopt the one-out, all-out principle, i.e. degradation occurs when, compared with baseline: negative land cover change occurs; or Net Primary Production (NPP) decreases significantly; or the Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) stock decreases significantly.

The final task in WP5 is aimed at transforming the feedback and insights collected in the 3rd Roundtable (organized in WP3) into policy briefs, which will cover 4 overarching themes:

1) Agriculture and rural development

2) Environment and Bioeconomy

3) Good governance, social innovation and mobilization

4) Innovation, Research and Entrepreneurship

WP6 Exploitation Plans and Investment Opportunities starts from the setting of templates to characterize the 5 exploitation units associated with our policy solutions in each of the Hotspots. Adopting the framework for assessing Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) illustrated above, the following aspects will be systematically documented:

a) The drivers and pressures which will be elaborated upon in the 1st Roundtable (organized in WP3),

b) The respective NbSs taken up in the action plans, drawn up by the Living Labs through the use of Participatory GIS (PGIS) in WP3,

c) The SEE assessment outcomes, and in particular their quantified benefits to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality, guided by the diagnostic tool developed in WP4, and quantified assessment outcomes in WP5, and

d) The associated policy recommendations drawn up in WP5, aimed at the achievement of the related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including those linked to Core Societal Challenges.

In parallel, other activities foreseen in WP6, are addressed to follow up on investment opportunities at the international, national and local levels. The latter task completes our overall methodological approach, which starts from the setting up of Living Labs with the scope to assure the uptake of our Nature based solutions, through sensitizing Policy-makers to best practices in land and water governance and by attracting Investors and End-Users, as depicted in the diagram below.

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Mara-Mediterra is funded through the PRIMA partnership for research and innovation in the Mediterranean area which is supported by Horizon 2020, the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.