NATALIE

At ERIS we were happy to meet Marijke and asked her 2 questions: 

What is NATALIE about?

Marijke:  “NATALIE wants to address the risks posed by climate change and its impacts such as drought and water scarcity. Therefore, it proposes to advance the concepts of ‘ecosystem-based adaptation’ in Europe combined with climate resilient development pathways, as the instruments for impact driven NBS (nature based solutions). Moreover, this adoption of NBS for resilience to climate change needs to be accelerated.  Aligned with the challenges and opportunities of the EU missions to achieve this adaptation to climate change, NATALIE’s objectives cover three main axes: (i) be prepared for inevitable changes and extreme events, (ii) share experience and solutions and (iii) prevent multi dimensions losses (i.e. economic and environmental)”.

Why is NATALIE important for the VUB?

Marijke: “The VUB will be involved in the Case study (CS) in Limburg. NATALIE comprises a selection of CSs from all the biogeographical regions of Europe, so as to take into account the specific bio-geographical priorities (related to climate change-) and differences in climatic and socio-economic conditions.

Practically, each CS will be implemented by local authorities or communities with the ability to deploy the solutions at a larger scale in their respective region. In Belgium, we will focus on improving drinking water security in Limburg and we will give support through our R&D and get help from our industrial/SMEs partners. We will test the feasibility of using the subsurface as a seasonal water buffer at pilot scale as a solution to become more resilient against drought and water scarcity and evolve towards a climate robust water system. “

AIM

NATALIE addresses the risks posed by climate change and its impacts and proposes to advance the concepts of “ecosystem-based adaptation” in Europe combined with climate resilient development pathways, as the means for impact driven Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), to accelerate and mainstreaming the adoption of NBS for resilience to climate change, which is also the cornerstone identified in the recent IPCC AR6 WGII Report. 

NATALIE’s goal is to deliver innovative and practical innovations in co-creation of solutions and stakeholder engagement, modelling, testing, monitoring and validation mechanisms that will support regions and municipalities to plan and develop adaptation actions bringing along valuable knowledge and experience as actionable knowledge for adaptation and impact-driven NBS. 

METHODOLOGY

To achieve this goal, NATALIE will develop a transformative NBS booster pack of 25 actions (innovation solutions that address the key six levers for transformative change: (1) socially acceptable, smart and financial innovative solutions; (2) societal, stakeholder and citizen engagement; (3) larger systemic solutions at regional level; 4) monitoring, evaluation and cost-benefit analysis of solutions; 5) pre-feasibility study; 6) evidence-based outcomes and recommendations. The main goal is to accelerate and foster the mainstreaming of NBS, by forming an ecosystem based adaptation for regional resilience. The booster Innovation Package includes innovative technical, modelling and IT solutions (including an innovative NBS knowledge booster and digital twin), governance, policy recommendations at EU and regional level, financing and public engagement transformative solutions. 

IMPACT

18 Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) measures will be demonstrated at 8 case studies, in different bio-climatic regions of Europe in Greece, Romania, Latvia, Canary Islands, Belgium (Flanders), France, Norway and Italy (Veneto region), as well as five follower regions in Iceland, the Balearic Islands, Romania, France and Lithuania.