Chapter 2 - Working with nature to protect our planet and health

Europe’s lands and seas, and the biodiversity they host, provide a bounty of natural and economic wealth. Ensuring the sustainability of agriculture, fisheries, forestry and mineral extraction will provide all Europeans who depend on these resources with long-term security.

Nature is also a key resource in the fight against climate change. Europe’s natural environment plays a central role in capturing and storing carbon, and in mitigating the impacts of natural disasters such as floods, droughts and heatwaves. This is why protecting and preserving nature is a core component of the European Green Deal.

The answers to challenges we face can often be found in nature, or supported by natural processes. These solutions are cost-effective and offer a range of environmental, social and economic benefits. The EU has the stated ambition of leveraging nature-based solutions to position Europe as a leader in building more sustainable societies.

New challenges and new solutions

The expanding aquaculture industry is one of the emerging nature-led business models that offers economic and environmental benefits. With support from EU funding, the C-FAARER project is developing community-driven business models in the expanding aquaculture economy. Meanwhile, the KELP-EU project has helped design the EU’s first sustainable seaweed biorefinery method – a technology that will accelerate Europe’s nascent seaweed industry.

CINEA is also supporting projects to help scientists better understand climate change, providing decision makers with the evidence needed to deliver effective adaptation and mitigation strategies. The PROTECT project offers new models for projecting rising sea levels at both global and local scales, while in Germany, the LIFE MULTI PEAT project is working to prevent carbon leaking from wetlands, while also looking to revive their potential to act as carbon sinks.

Health for land, people and planet

Agriculture stands to benefit too. The LIFE Plants for Plants project is using innovation to help farmers reduce their environmental footprint while also increasing yields. The project has developed a new generation of organic, plant-derived bio-stimulants that reduce the need for irrigation, fertilisers and pesticides.

By helping preserve and protect our precious natural resources today, each of the projects in this chapter is ensuring that nature will continue to sustain us in the future.