NURISH aims to enhance climate resilience and sustainable development in rural and small urban communities by implementing transformative nature-based, technological and circular economy solutions. It supports the EU’s long-term vision for stronger, connected, resilient, and prosperous rural areas by 2040, contributing to territorial cohesion, innovation, job creation, skills development, better infrastructure and sustainable agriculture. The project will develop the Regenerative Rural Resilience Framework to help rural areas mitigate climate risks through nature-based solutions (NBS), fostering entrepreneurship and creating green jobs. Resilience Hubs (RHs) in Greece, Cyprus, Finland and the UK will demonstrate tailored NBS to address flooding, water scarcity and land degradation, while digital tools will support real-time monitoring and decision-making. Communities in the demonstration and replication areas will actively participate in the EU Rural Pact, promoting rural perspectives, fostering collaboration and advancing nature restoration and conservation through NBS. By sharing knowledge and scaling solutions across rural regions, NURISH ensures its strategies are adaptable and replicable throughout Europe, contributing to the EU Green Deal, the Climate Adaptation Strategy and rural prosperity goals by 2040.

HYDROUSA will provide innovative, regenerative and circular solutions for (1) nature-based water management of Mediterranean coastal areas, closing water loops; (2) nutrient management, boosting the agricultural and energy profile; and (3) local economies, based on circular value chains. The services provided lead to a win-win-win situation for the economy, environment and community within the water-energy-food-employment nexus. HYDROUSA water loops will include water from non-conventional sources including wastewater, rainwater, seawater, groundwater and vapour water, all resulting in recovered and marketable products. HYDROUSA will demonstrate at large scale the feasibility and sustainability of innovative, low-cost water treatment technologies to recover freshwater, nutrients and energy from wastewater, salt and freshwater from seawater, and freshwater from atmospheric water vapour. Water conservation solutions including aquifer storage and sustainable agricultural practices including fertigation will be applied. The solutions will be demonstrated on 3 major touristic islands in Greece. Detailed technical and financial deployment plans will be established for replication in additional 25 locations worldwide. Through the on-site water loops of HYDROUSA, complex supply chains for resource recovery are not required, as producers are directly involved as consumers of derived products. HYDROUSA will combine traditional skilled workmanship with modern ICT integration in beautiful and smart automation systems. HYDROUSA will revolutionise water value chains in Mediterranean areas and beyond, from water abstraction to sewage treatment and reuse. The proposed HYDROUSA solutions show massive potential to change the way humans interact with water, food and energy.

The overall goal of MULTISOURCE is to, together with local, national, and international stakeholders, demonstrate a variety of about Enhanced Natural Treatment Solutions (ENTS) treating a wide range of urban waters and to develop innovative tools, methods, and business models that support citywide planning and long-term operations and maintenance of nature-based solutions for water treatment, storage, and reuse in urban areas worldwide. MULTISOURCE will allow users to identify multiple sources for local water reuse, promote increased uptake of nature-based solutions, and minimize discharge of water that has not received adequate treatment. MULTISOURCE will deliver new knowledge about ENTS and their ability to remove waterborne contaminants and provide effective risk reduction for chemical and biological hazards, as well as their capacity to be integrated into the landscape and contribute to the improvement of urban habitats. The project includes seven pilots treating a wide range of urban waters. Two individual municipalities (Girona, Spain; Oslo, Norway), two metropolitan municipalities (Lyon, France; Milan, Italy), and international partners in Brazil, Vietnam, and the USA will contribute to each of the main project activities: ENTS pilots, risk assessment, business models, technology selection, and the MULTISOURCE Planning Platform. The use of urban archetypes in the Planning Platform will enable users to quickly classify regions (in both developed or developing countries) suitable for the application of nature-based solutions for water treatment (NBSWT) and compare scenarios both with and without NBSWT. This unique approach provides the knowledge, business models, and modular tools that will enable stakeholders to conduct fit-to-purpose, large-scale planning in their local region and, in doing so, promote circularity and sustainable development in the urban water sector and overcome barriers to widespread uptake of nature based solutions for water treatment.

The overarching objective of FutureLakes is to demonstrate innovative solutions needed to transform lake restoration, integrated into lake management. These aim to significantly improve ecological and chemical status of European lakes, restore biodiversity, recover valuable resources, enhance the services that lakes provide and make society more resilient to climate change. FutureLakes aims to deliver this through an integrated framework for lake protection and restoration that demonstrates a range of technical solutions that include innovations in Nature-based Solutions, Circular Blue Economy Solutions and Biodiversity-focused Solutions. Demonstrating integration of these solutions in operational lake management in six large European lakes (Demo Basins) which will deliver a Blueprint for lake protection and restoration. The FutureLakes Blueprint will incorporate a catalogue of innovations and guidance on the enabling environment needed to turn promising technical innovations from niche measures to become mainstream approaches in lake basin management planning. This includes demonstrating more effective and inclusive collaboration in water governance and showcasing innovations in policy implementation and green financing. FutureLakes will also develop a Roadmap for Upscaling European Lake Restoration in support of the Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters deployment and upscaling phase. Upscaling of measures across Europe will be tested through activities aimed at replicating the FutureLakes approach in three associated regions. FutureLakes will not only contribute to delivering to the three objectives of the Mission (to protect and restore freshwater ecosystems and their biodiversity; to reduce pollution; and to build a sustainable carbon-neutral and circular blue economy) but it includes specific objectives to develop the Mission’s two enablers: creating a European Lakes Digital Innovation Hub and demonstrating innovative approaches to enhancing public engagement.