Horizon Europe project NBS4Drought consortium meeting: Exploring nature-based solutions for water resilience

The annual consortium meeting of the Horizon Europe project NbS4Drought took place in Barcelona from 29 September to 1 October. Bringing together the project partners, the meeting provided an opportunity to exchange on ongoing activities, discuss progress and explore nature-based solutions directly at two Spanish showcase sites.

As part of the programme, the consortium visited an urban water retention park in Barcelona, designed to mitigate the effects of flooding caused by heavy rainfall, a frequent challenge in Mediterranean cities. The second showcase, located near Barcelona, is a wetland connected to a wastewater treatment plant. Water filtered and purified by the wetlands is partly returned to the natural environment and partly reused for cleaning the city’s streets, illustrating a practical approach to urban water reuse.

Just before the consortium meeting, EIFER organised an expert workshop on the Barcelona showcase. Ten experts representing four stakeholder groups participated: public local and regional authorities and public land managers, academia and research institutions, innovation and technology organisations, and environmental NGOs. The workshop focused on evaluating the park’s capacity to provide various ecosystem services.

The consortium meeting also included an exchange with the sister project WATERGRID to identify synergies and explore opportunities for cooperation between the two projects.