NIVA participates in newly funded H2020 project FUTUREmares

Marine and transitional waters (estuaries and other coastal systems influenced by freshwater flow) support a large portion of the global biodiversity and play a major contribution to society, harboring key climate regulating processes and habitats, contributing to worldwide food security, in addition to other valuable economic and well-being services and resources. 

A newly funded H2020 project, FUTUREmares, will provide socially and economically viable nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation and mitigation to safeguard these ecosystems’ natural capital, biodiversity and services. 

NIVA is a leading research partner in the FUTUREmares project, that will advance our understanding of the links between species and community traits, ecological functions and ecosystem services as impacted by climate change by analysing the best available data from monitoring programs and conducting targeted experiments and beyond state-of-the-art modelling. The lead institution is the University of Hamburg.

“This project will enable the delivery of new solutions to climate change challenges in productive coastal ecosystems enhancing ecological and social resilience in these rapidly changing times,” Professor Richard Bellerby said. Bellerby will lead NIVA´s participation in the project.

NIVA will integrate our understanding of contemporary and future habitat change combining observations from NIVA´s coastal monitoring programs and coupled climate-ecosystem models. This new knowledge will guide experiments on multi-trophic ecosystems at NIVA Solbergstrand Research Station, the results of which will inform vulnerability studies and identify opportunities for coastal ecosystems enabling demonstrations of nature-based solutions with a strong focus on Kelp ecosystems and aquaculture.