NATMed is an EU-funded project through the PRIMA Program, aiming to develop, apply and validate a set of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) integrated into existing gray and natural water infrastructures for resilient Water Management in the Mediterranean area.
To this end, different NbS are being developed in each of the 5 case studies that make up the project, all of them focused on improving and increasing the sustainability of water management throughout its entire cycle, facing, on the one hand, the common challenges presented by the Mediterranean regions, mainly derived from climate change, and on the other hand, the different difficulties marked by the local context. These solutions, which are called Full Water Cycle NbS (FWC-NbS), are therefore developed in 5 locations in 5 different countries: Spain, Greece, Italy, Turkey and Algeria.
As part of the project, periodically every six months, the partners meet in person at one of the locations, to review together the progress of the project, and to know the context and status of the case studies and the FWC-NbS being implemented, and in this case, we traveled to Bozcaada, Turkey.
During the first week of October, Claudia Sanchez, representing the NBSCLIMATE team, traveled to the small island of Bozcaada (37.6 ha.) in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has a Mediterranean climate with hot summers, and with no major watercourses, water availability has become a challenge, both for human consumption and agricultural use, aggravated by the effects of climate change and high tourist pressure during the summer months. In addition, traditional water extraction wells are no longer used due to the intrusion of seawater into the aquifers, causing their salinization.
To address these aspects, several NbS have been developed, which we were able to visit hand in hand with local partners (Municipality of Bozcaada, Demir Energy, IZTECH and EGE University):
- Natural infiltration techniques to promote water infiltration into the subsoil through the creation of Gradoni terraces and the cultivation of vegetation cover, to also improve water retention in the soil. A network of monitoring wells has been created over the entire surface of the island to measure the state of the aquifers in real time and assess the impact of the NbS implemented.
- Smart agricultural practices for soil management: A fig orchard plot is dedicated to experimentation with different plant covers (bare soil, with legumes and mulch) and monitoring equipment.
- Climate-resilient agriculture: the local wastewater treatment plant also has a plot for agricultural irrigation with recycled water, assessing its impact on soil management.
All in all, we could see a great job done by the Turkish team, which allowed the full implementation of all NbS and the start of the monitoring and evaluation work.
NATMed is now halfway through its journey, with very good prospects, thanks to the great management of the coordinating team of Cartif and the collaboration and commitment of all the partners of the consortium, of which we are delighted to be a part: Cartif Foundation, Environment and Water Agency of Andalusia (AMAYA), Social Climate, Tero, Environmental Center of Western Macedonia (KEPE), Università degli Studi di Sassari, Demir Energy, EGE University, IZMIR Institute of Technology (IZTECH), Centre de Recherche Scientifique et Technique sur les Régions Arides (CRSTRA), Municipality of Bozcaada, the University of Western Macedonia (UoWM) and the Università degli Studi di Cagliari (UNICA).
You can find more information about NATMed Prima project in: https://natmed-project.eu/
This project has received funding from the European Union’s PRIMA Research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 2221.