NATURE-DEMO – alchemia-nova | institute for innovative phytochemistry & closed loop processes

Project summary

As climate disruptions become more frequent and intense, the protection of discrete elements of critical local infrastructure across diverse landscapes and institutional frameworks in Europe turns crucial for a more resilient society, increasing economic stability, life safety, human well-being and environmental protection. This situation entails a challenge and shifting point for approaching differently infrastructure management by integrating the services provided by nature-based approaches, turning human-made systems more flexible, adaptive and resilient. The project covers critical sectors (e.g.: transport and energy) and engages an alliance of infrastructure owners, scientists from industry and academia as well as public authorities, delivering methodological frameworks that will be tested by 5 demonstration sites.

NATURE-DEMO implements four actions

Create

NATURE-DEMO will create an advanced digital decision support platform that integrates climate projections, asset exposure, nature-based solutions catalogue portfolios, and advanced simulations to optimize the efficiency of selected nature-based solutions implementations that protect critical infrastructure from climate hazards while enhancing resilience and co-benefits services.

Validate

Will validate its methodological frameworks on nature-based solutions site-specific design and risk assessment, through real-world application in 5 demonstration sites for an optimised planning process. Successful nature-based solutions will then be scaled as replicators in more than four other sites in the Alpine and other Biogeographic regions.

Scale

By pioneering a scalable, digitally-enabled, and validated framework for implementing nature-based solutions, the project will support EU’s vision for a climate-resilient and sustainable economy, adaptable to diverse site-specific conditions while aligned to 21st century global demands in face of Climate Change – a vision for posterity.

Sustain

To sustaining its solutions beyond its timeframe, the project will assess exploitation pathways that include tailored guidelines to disseminate nature-based solutions knowledge across infrastructure professions, a Task-Force available to provide technical expertise, and a financial observatory for nature-based solutions funds.

A total of 23 Collaborating Organisations are working together in 14 European Countries to address 4 Climatic Threats with the help of 6 Supporting Authorities and 30 Stakeholder Organisations working together to create a unique impact. These large-scale operation works are conceived to support the mainstreaming of NbS-implementation towards climate-resilient critical infrastructure.

The role of alchemia-nova

Alchemia-nova works on developing a site-specific nature-based solutions design framework that supports critical infrastructure protection against climate hazards, and its integration into an advanced digitally-enabled methodology. ANRI has developed a comprehensive portfolio of NbS types factsheets and a decision-making methodology, all assembled in a practical guide that will be publicly available for stakeholders. Moreover, the methodology application through validation workshops in the 5 pilot demonstrations is helping to gather robust evidence on the practical performance of this framework across different European contexts. Detailed application, replication and upscaling guidance will be disseminated while engaging with local communities for effective knowledge transfer.