FERRO | FOSTERING EUROPEAN LAKES RESTORATION BY NUTRIENT REMOVAL, RECOVERY, AND REUSE: INTEGRATED CATCHMENT AND IN-LAKE SCALE APPROACH

Summary
Eutrophication is a major problem causing poor ecological status of European lakes with its severe impacts being enhanced by climate change. However, at the same time, eutrophication could be the potential solution to the depletion of global phosphate (P) reserves, threatening global food security. A vast amount of P and other nutrients are lost from the catchment and transported into lakes, making most lakes a nutrient-rich reserve, as observed by the frequent occurrence of massive, devastating algal blooms in many lakes. FERRO bridges the nutrient enrichment problem to the depletion of P problem to create a sustainable solution to both challenges by circular management. We will develop a next-generation lake restoration approach by combining targeted restoration techniques with nutrient recovery and recycling to achieve multi-benefits: improved ecological status of lakes, support a circular economy, climate adaptation, support food production, promote biodiversity, and boost ecosystem services provision. The multiple environmental and socio-economic co-benefits extend beyond the scale of intervention, supporting wider sustainability and accounting for social and economic ambitions.

FERRO supports the natural recovery of lakes (after many years of nutrient enrichment) through four transdisciplinary pillars: 1) classification and prioritization of lakes for restoration (integrated in-situ and remote sensing-based techniques); 2) implementation of sustainable catchment-oriented solutions (biotechnology to prevent nutrient losses in agriculture and nutrient recovery at lake inflows and reuse in agriculture), 3) implementation of sustainable in-lake restoration solutions (nutrient recovery from lakes and reuse in agriculture); and 4) knowledge transfer. FERRO marks a major shift in how lake restoration will be done for ages.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101157743
Start date: 01-06-2024
End date: 31-05-2028
Total budget - Public funding: 4 311 937,50 Euro - 3 998 450,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

Eutrophication is a major problem causing poor ecological status of European lakes with its severe impacts being enhanced by climate change. However, at the same time, eutrophication could be the potential solution to the depletion of global phosphate (P) reserves, threatening global food security. A vast amount of P and other nutrients are lost from the catchment and transported into lakes, making most lakes a nutrient-rich reserve, as observed by the frequent occurrence of massive, devastating algal blooms in many lakes. FERRO bridges the nutrient enrichment problem to the depletion of P problem to create a sustainable solution to both challenges by circular management. We will develop a next-generation lake restoration approach by combining targeted restoration techniques with nutrient recovery and recycling to achieve multi-benefits: improved ecological status of lakes, support a circular economy, climate adaptation, support food production, promote biodiversity, and boost ecosystem services provision. The multiple environmental and socio-economic co-benefits extend beyond the scale of intervention, supporting wider sustainability and accounting for social and economic ambitions.

FERRO supports the natural recovery of lakes (after many years of nutrient enrichment) through four transdisciplinary pillars: 1) classification and prioritization of lakes for restoration (integrated in-situ and remote sensing-based techniques); 2) implementation of sustainable catchment-oriented solutions (biotechnology to prevent nutrient losses in agriculture and nutrient recovery at lake inflows and reuse in agriculture), 3) implementation of sustainable in-lake restoration solutions (nutrient recovery from lakes and reuse in agriculture); and 4) knowledge transfer. FERRO marks a major shift in how lake restoration will be done for ages.

Status

SIGNED

Call topic

HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-01-04

Update Date

15-11-2024
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Horizon Europe
HORIZON.2 Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness
HORIZON.2.2 Culture, creativity and inclusive society
HORIZON.2.2.0 Cross-cutting call topics
HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-01
HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-01-04 European natural lakes: demonstration of integrated approaches for protection and restoration of natural lake ecosystems and their biodiversity
HORIZON.2.4 Digital, Industry and Space
HORIZON.2.4.0 Cross-cutting call topics
HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-01
HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-01-04 European natural lakes: demonstration of integrated approaches for protection and restoration of natural lake ecosystems and their biodiversity
HORIZON.2.5 Climate, Energy and Mobility
HORIZON.2.5.0 Cross-cutting call topics
HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-01
HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-01-04 European natural lakes: demonstration of integrated approaches for protection and restoration of natural lake ecosystems and their biodiversity
HORIZON.2.6 Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
HORIZON.2.6.0 Cross-cutting call topics
HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-01
HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-01-04 European natural lakes: demonstration of integrated approaches for protection and restoration of natural lake ecosystems and their biodiversity