The consortium of the NATMed project hold the last 11 February the third co-design session in the facilities of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development of Junta de Andalucía, in Sevilla (Spain). During this session, the partners discussed the status of the Spanish Case Study located in the Experimental Centre of New Water Technologies (CENTA) in Carrión de los Céspedes (Sevilla).
One of the specific objectives of the project is the implementation, evaluation and validation of Nature based Solutions (NbS) in the complete water cycle. In the framework of this project, five case study have been selected to implement it according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Global Standard. One of this is the Experimental Centre of New Water Technologies (CENTA) located in Carrión de los Céspedes (Sevilla), where the third co-design session took place.
These meetings, the consortium aims to tackle the challenges and opportunities associated with water management and NbS. The main objective of this session has been evaluate the efficiency of the Nature based Solution (NbS) implemented in the Spanish case study, identify the challenges and promote the exchange of knowledge and best practices between different actors and stakeholders on the main themes of the project.
During the conference, the different NbS that have been implemented in the Carrión de los Céspedes Case Study, their functioning and the challenges they face, such as floating gardens, artificial wetlands and ultrasound, were presented. Finally, the project researchers presented how the self-assessment of this case study has been carried out according to the IUCN Global Standard and the main recommendations that have been extracted after its analysis.
The conference reserved a space for the presentation of best practices from six European projects in these fields:
- Carlos García, from CTA, presented the SOLLAGUA project, which seeks to promote NbS for more efficient and less costly reuse of water.
- Daminán Sánchez, from CETAQUA, presented the Life Matrix project on the managed recharge of aquifers with reclaimed water and the CARDIMED project, on the adoption of NbS to boost climate resilience in the Mediterranean.
- Miguel Ángel Gómez, from the Aland Foundation, presented the Farms4Climate project, on techniques and solutions for improving the use of water resources and soil fertility.
- Gerardo González, from BIOAZUL, presented the Vertical Ecosystem project on the implementation of a vertical hydroponic garden with a grey water recycling station.
- Raquel Sánchez de Pedro, from the University of Málaga, and David Vergara, from Todobarro Soluciones S.L., presented the SAFARY & BIOECOREST projects of the valorisation of dredging sludge for construction purposes and the application of clay industry technologies for the ecological restoration of aquatic ecosystems.
The last part of the day focused on jointly evaluating the Nature based Solution implemented in the Carrión de los Céspedes Case Study in order to identify positive aspects, areas for improvement, proposals and new ideas for each solution. Within this work, they highlighted the diversity of complementary and innovative solutions that have been implemented in the framework of the project. Another of the aspects highlighted during the conference was the need to make progress in biodiversity monitoring and the establishment of criteria for the selection of plant species.
The CARTIF team has been in charge of dynamizing the activity of generating new ideas that favour the replication of the solutions, highlighting the need to integrate these solutions in urban and regional plans, to improve social acceptance and to work on the training of authorities and technicians in the sector.
The meeting was attended by the Spanish partners of the project and organisers of the conference, such as CARTIF, Social Climate, NBSCLIMATE and AMAYA, with participants from both the Directorate of Water Management and Environmental Quality and the Directorate of Environment and Sustainability. Representatives from the University of Malaga, the University of Jaen, the University of Cordoba and the University of Seville, as well as representatives from Adasa, Cetaqua, CTA, Todobarro, Aland Foundation, Bioazul, Florestasur, the Port Authority of Seville, and the expert in reclaimed water, Juan José Salas, took part in the conference.
NATMed is a project funded by the European Union through the PRIMA Programme that aims to develop, apply and validate a set of NbS integrated into existing grey and natural water infrastructures and based on specific phases of the water cycle, in order to optimise water-related and water-dependent ecosystem services.