Natural resources
environment and climate
RESEARCH AREAS
Natural Resources and Climate
Description
The Natural Resources and Climate Area has as its main mission the research and development of innovative technologies and solutions that promote the sustainable management of natural resources, enhancing environmental resilience to climate change through nature-based approaches and green technologies.
The team in this area drives the sustainability of natural and productive systems by studying ecosystem functioning, the ecosystem services they provide, soil and crop health, and promoting the efficient use of resources through agroecology, agrigenomics, and the valorisation of by-products.
Research Lines
- Development of water purification solutions based on nature, including vegetative biofilters, constructed wetlands, and sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS), aimed at climate adaptation.
- Research on efficient water management and recovery techniques in agricultural and urban environments, with special attention to reuse and water resilience under extreme climate scenarios.
- Renaturalization of urban, industrial, and domestic environments, through nature-based solutions that promote biodiversity, thermal comfort, and environmental well-being both indoors and outdoors.
- Development of strategies to improve air quality, both in outdoor and indoor environments, using biofilters, active materials, and biological and physico-chemical decontamination processes.
- Sustainable and resilient forest management, with a focus on the quantification and valorization of ecosystem services, and on the development of models to enhance their role in climate change mitigation and adaptation.
- Advanced processes for air decontamination and water purification, targeting the removal of critical compounds such as NOx, trihalomethanes, heavy metals, and radionuclides.
- Optimization of agricultural and forestry crops, through agrobiology, genetic improvement, agrotechnologies, and sustainable practices to increase productivity and climate adaptation.
- Development of high-value agricultural bioproducts, such as biofertilizers, biostimulants, and biopesticides, derived from agri-food by-products and circular economy strategies.
- Application of phytoremediation and biomining techniques for the ecological restoration of degraded soils, promoting functional recovery and the extraction of valuable compounds.
- Research on soil improvement solutions, including the design of functional substrates, technosoils, organic amendments, and monitored composting systems.
- Application of metagenomics in the management of natural resources and sustainable agriculture, through the analysis of soil, water, and crop microbiomes to understand their role in fertility, plant health, resilience to climate change, and optimization of agricultural inputs.
Networks and Platforms
- AIF: Asociación Ibérica de la Fotocatálisis.
- EERA: European Energy Research Alliance.
- EIP-Raw Materials: EIP on Raw Materials. Commitments MetGrow & C&D-WRAM (Action Area I.4 & I.5 respectivamente).
- EIP-Water: EIP on Water Action Group on Water reuse and recycling (ID AG045).
- JPI CH: National Consultation Panel para la JPI Cultural Heritage and Global Change.
Publications
- Esther San Jose, Bárbara Díez, Silvia Gómez, Raquel Marijuán, Jorge Calvo, Thami Croeser, Trinh Tran Duc, Raúl Sánchez. Recommendations for a successful assessment of Nature-based Solutions in an urban context. URBAN GreenUP project lessons learnt, Nature-Based Solutions, Volume 7, 2025,100221. ISSN 2772-4115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbsj.2025.100221. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772411525000102)
- Raquel Marijuan, Bárbara Díez, Sara Peláez-Sánchez, Claudia Sánchez, Jesús Iglesias, Başar Şirin, Alper Baba, Orhan Gündüz, Raúl Sánchez. Evaluating the impact of nature-based solutions on the provision of water-related and water-dependant ecosystem services,Nature-Based Solutions,Volume 6, 2024,100194, ISSN 2772-4115,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbsj.2024.100194. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772411524000855)
- “Nature-based Solutions for wastewater reuse and storage capacity improvement of water infrastructures in agriculture”. IBC2024. XX International Botanical Congress. Authors: Raquel Marijuan Cuevas, Nuria Fernández Rico, Bárbara Díez Rodríguez, Sandra Rodriguez, Raúl Sánchez Francés, Isabel Martín García, Khalid Fahd Draissi, Mª Pilar Flores Sáenz, Guillermo Solís Sastre, Jordi Serramia Ruiz, Natalia Gómez Mateu, Patricia Briega Martos, Hugo Riquelme Ortega. Madrid, 22/07/2024. ISBN: 978-84-09-63656-3
- Carlos G. Díaz-Maroto, Francisco Verdugo, Jose Fermoso, Patricia Pizarro, David P. Serrano, Inés Moreno, Javier Fermoso. “Hydrochars derived from real organic wastes as carbonaceous precursors of activated carbons for the removal of NO from contaminated gas streams”. Science of The Total Environment, Volume 945, 2024, 173897, ISSN 0048-9697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173897.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969724040452)
- Sammarco, I., Díez Rodríguez, B., Galanti, D., Nunn, A., Becker, C., Bossdorf, O., … & Latzel, V. (2023). DNA methylation in the wild: epigenetic transgenerational inheritance can mediate adaptation in clones of wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca). New Phytologist.
- Sánchez, R., José, E.S., Fermoso, J., Gómez, S., González, M. (2022). Types of Nature-Based Solutions for Water, Their Functions and Suitability. In: Pachova, N., Velasco, P., Torrens, A., Jegatheesan, V. (eds) Regional Perspectives of Nature-based Solutions for Water: Benefits and Challenges. Applied Environmental Science and Engineering for a Sustainable Future. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18412-3_2
- Contributor: European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, The vital role of nature-based solutions in a nature positive economy, 2022, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/307761. ISBN 978-92-76-40679-2 / doi:10.2777/307761
- Díez-Rodríguez, B., Kloth, K. J., & Albrectsen, B. R. (2022). Effects of condensed tannins on behavior and performance of a specialist aphid on aspen. Ecology and Evolution, 12(8), e9229.
- Raul Sánchez Francés, Raquel Marijuán. Evaluating the impact of nature-based solutions: a summary for policy makers. European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, Evaluating the impact of nature-based solutions : a summary for policy makers, Publications Office, 2021, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/521937
- Thami Croeser, Georgia E. Garrard, Freya M. Thomas, Trinh Tran Duc, Ian Mell, Sarah Clement, Raúl Sánchez, Sarah Bekessy. Diagnosing delivery capabilities on a large international nature-based solutions project. Nature Urban Sustainability (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-021-00036-8
- Evaluating the Impact of Nature-based Solutions – A Handbook for Practitioners. ISBN (978-92-76-22821-9). European Commission. Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. Unit Directorate C — Healthy Planet Unit C3 — Climate and Planetary Boundaries. European Commission B-1049 Brussels. Chapters 1, 4, 5 (2021)
- Raúl Sánchez, Nuria García, Silvia Gómez. Book “NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS FOR MORE SUSTAINABLE CITIES: IMPACTS AND BENEFITS”. Chapter 3.2 An evaluation framework to assess multiple benefits of NBS: innovative approaches and KPIs. Emerald publishing. 2021. ISBN: 978-1-80043-637-4
- Nunn, A., Can, S. N., Otto, C., Fasold, M., Díez Rodríguez, B., Fernández-Pozo, N., … & Langenberger, D. (2021). EpiDiverse Toolkit: a pipeline suite for the analysis of bisulfite sequencing data in ecological plant epigenetics. NAR genomics and bioinformatics, 3(4), lqab106.
- Jose Fermoso Domínguez, Raúl Sánchez, Francisco Verdugo, Raquel Marijuan, Silvia Gómez, María González, José María Sanz , Esther San José , Alicia Villazán Isabel Sánchez, Elena Sánchez, Javier, Inés, Patricia Pizarro, Natividad Sanz, José Antonio Pérez, Laura Crespo. Biofiltro para contaminación del aire urbano. Desarrollo de un biofiltro integrable en jardines urbanos para capturar emisiones de NOX y partículas procedentes de aparcamientos subterráneos y túneles. CONAMA 2020 – Congreso Nacional de Medio Ambiente. 31 Mayo-3 junio 2021. ISBN: 978-84-09-31739-4. http://www.conama11.vsf.es/conama10/download/files/conama2020/CT%202020/5238.pdf
- Esther San José Carreras, Raúl Sánchez, Raquel Marijuán, José Fermoso, Silvia Gómez, José María Sanz, María González, Nuria García. La contribución del biourbanismo y las soluciones basadas en la naturaleza a una economía verde de ciudad. CONAMA 2020 – Congreso Nacional de Medio Ambiente. Madrid – 31 Mayo-3 junio 2021. ISBN: 978-84-09-31739-4. http://www.conama11.vsf.es/conama10/download/files/conama2020/CT%202020/5334.pdf
- Raúl Sánchez, Silvia Gómez, José Fermoso, María González, Esther San José, José María Sanz, Raquel Marijuan, Nuria García. Proyecto de instalación de un laboratorio de Soluciones Basadas en la Naturaleza (NBS-Lab) para investigar el uso funcional de los recursos naturales, problemas ambientales derivados del cambio climático actual y el deterioro de los ecosistemas de áreas urbanas y periurbanas. CONAMA 2020 – Congreso Nacional de Medio Ambiente. Madrid – 31 Mayo -3 junio 2021. ISBN: 978-84-09-31739-4. http://www.conama11.vsf.es/conama10/download/files/conama2020/CT%202020/5296.pdf
- Silvia Gómez Valle, Raúl Sánchez, Esther San José, María González, José Fermoso, Raquel Marijuan. Proyecto URBAN GreenUP: Nueva estrategia para re-naturalizar ciudades mediante Nature-Based Solutions. CONAMA 2020 – Congreso Nacional de Medio Ambiente. Madrid – 31 Mayo -3 junio 2021. ISBN: 978-84-09-31739-4. http://www.conama11.vsf.es/conama10/download/files/conama2020/CT%202020/5295.pdf
- Sanchez R. et al. “A Nature-based Solutions Laboratory (NBS-Lab) to research on the functional use of natural resources to solve environmental problems arising from the current climate change and ecosystem deterioration of the urban and peri-urban areas”. International online conference) – “How to achieve the SDGs through local action. University of Bocconi. Nov. 2020. https://www.green.unibocconi.eu/wps/wcm/connect/Cdr/Green/Home/NewsEvents/WorkshopsConferences/15_27.11.2020+GREEN-UERA+International+Workshop
- Fermoso, J. Sánchez, B, Suarez, S. (2020). Nanostructured Photocatalysts: From Materials to Applications in Solar Fuels and Environmental Remediation. Chapter 5: Air purifications using photocatalysis. Elsevier.
- S. Gómez, A. González, E. San José Carreras, R. Sánchez. “Antibiotics in soils from livestock waste”. I National Congress of TFG and TFM of Environmental Thematic. 2019
- E. San José, S. Gómez, R. Sánchez, M. González. ”The Spherical Urban Forest” World Congres ISWA. 2019
- EUGIC 2019 (European Green Infrastructure Conference) delivering a communication about well-being and NBS. In the same event, R. Sánchez, N. García managed a workshop related to the influence of NBS, GI and environment quality on the well-being “Methodologies to measure well-being related to nature-based solutions and re-naturing experiences – the sensorial trip toward well-being through NBS”
- San José, E. Sanchez, R., García N. “The role of the Urban Forest as an urban carbon sink”. World Forum of urban Forest 2018. Mantova, Italy.
- R. Marrs, R. Sánchez, L. Connor, S. Blackbird, J. Rasal, R. Rose “Effects of removing sheep grazing on soil chemistry, plant nutrition and forage digestibility: lessons for rewilding the British uplands”. 2018. Annals of Applied Biology. AAB-2018-0169.
- R. Marrs, J. Rasal, R. Sánchez, L. Connor, S. Blackbird, R. Rose “REWILDING THE UPLANDS: THE EFFECTS OF REMOVING SHEEP GRAZING ON SOILS AND PLANTS”. Aspects of Applied Biology 139, 2018. Ecosystem and Habitat Management: Research, Policy, Practice.
Reference clients:
Team
Alberto Moral Quiza
Head of Agrifood & Processes Division
Raúl Sánchez Francés
Head of Natural Resources Area
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