NEW-HARMONICA | HARMONISED NUTRIENT LOAD REDUCTION APPROACHES WITHIN SAFE ECOLOGICAL BOUNDARIES IN CATCHMENTS LOCATED IN NW EU

Summary
In 2015, the ecological status of 75-90% of surface waters in NW Europe was reported to be less than good. Diffuse pollution with nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from agriculture, together with point sources of N and P pollution from wastewater plants and industry, are a major cause of this failure to achieve good ecological status. Climate change is likely to exacerbate the pollution risk. Clearly, there is a huge challenge to implement effective mitigation measures to reduce nutrient loadings to air and water to meet desired environmental targets against the background of a changing climate. The synergies and tradeoffs between management actions to mitigate climate change and those to mitigate N and P pollution need to be clarified to develop effective local, regional and national policies. Governance arrangements to implement and monitor the necessary actions need to be better integrated, requiring a consistent and coherent set of environmental indicators. The overall objective of NEW-HARMONICA is to assess and co-develop a harmonised systemic approach to prioritizing an effective suite of N and P pollution mitigation measures and indicators to meet local to regional environmental targets. To achieve this objective, an experienced NEW-HARMONICA consortium (4 partners from 3 countries) with complementary expertise, skills and networks will work on 4 N and P-polluted cross-border river basins in NW Europe. All partners are involved in an established NW Europe Policy-Science Working Group (PSWG) who together with local catchment stakeholders play a central role in NEW-HARMONICA. NEW-HARMONICA’s approach is based on a combination of technical assessments, including quantification of N and P flows and load-reduction targets in the study catchments, assessments of governance arrangements, and policy support for the co-development of harmonised environmental policies, based on a strong evidence base and interactions with the PSWG and local stakeholders.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101060329
Start date: 01-09-2022
End date: 31-08-2025
Total budget - Public funding: 1 000 000,00 Euro - 1 000 000,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

In 2015, the ecological status of 75-90% of surface waters in NW Europe was reported to be less than good. Diffuse pollution with nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from agriculture, together with point sources of N and P pollution from wastewater plants and industry, are a major cause of this failure to achieve good ecological status. Climate change is likely to exacerbate the pollution risk. Clearly, there is a huge challenge to implement effective mitigation measures to reduce nutrient loadings to air and water to meet desired environmental targets against the background of a changing climate. The synergies and tradeoffs between management actions to mitigate climate change and those to mitigate N and P pollution need to be clarified to develop effective local, regional and national policies. Governance arrangements to implement and monitor the necessary actions need to be better integrated, requiring a consistent and coherent set of environmental indicators. The overall objective of NEW-HARMONICA is to assess and co-develop a harmonised systemic approach to prioritizing an effective suite of N and P pollution mitigation measures and indicators to meet local to regional environmental targets. To achieve this objective, an experienced NEW-HARMONICA consortium (4 partners from 3 countries) with complementary expertise, skills and networks will work on 4 N and P-polluted cross-border river basins in NW Europe. All partners are involved in an established NW Europe Policy-Science Working Group (PSWG) who together with local catchment stakeholders play a central role in NEW-HARMONICA. NEW-HARMONICA’s approach is based on a combination of technical assessments, including quantification of N and P flows and load-reduction targets in the study catchments, assessments of governance arrangements, and policy support for the co-development of harmonised environmental policies, based on a strong evidence base and interactions with the PSWG and local stakeholders.

Status

SIGNED

Call topic

HORIZON-CL6-2021-ZEROPOLLUTION-01-01

Update Date

09-02-2023
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Horizon Europe
HORIZON.2 Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
HORIZON.2.6 Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
HORIZON.2.6.7 Circular Systems
HORIZON-CL6-2021-ZEROPOLLUTION-01
HORIZON-CL6-2021-ZEROPOLLUTION-01-01 Regional nitrogen and phosphorus load reduction approach within safe ecological boundaries