Promotion of green infrastructure in the Mediterranean to maximize the biodiversity and resilience facing climate change
Promotion of green infrastructure in the Mediterranean to maximize the biodiversity and resilience facing climate change
Droughts, floods and heat waves sharpened by climate change are testing the resilience of the ecosystems in the Mediterranean arch. Green infrastructures are an essential tool to adapt to these phenomena. They are natural or semi-natural spaces, like urban parks, managed wetlands or green zones that can, among other things, contribute to storing water and managing rainwater or to regulate the temperature. Moreover, they facilitate the conservation and improvement of biodiversity.
BIOVERA aims to emphasize the importance of these spaces and to promote their implementation in the Mediterranean arch and other semiarid zones. For this purpose, the project will carry out an integrated assessment of the green infrastructures. The project will identify, quantify, and monetize the ecosystem services provided by the green infrastructures, that is to say, the environmental, economic and social benefits that an ecosystem provides and that improve people’s health, economy and quality of life.
In addition, within the framework of the project BIOVERA, recommendations will be developed on places and adaptation measures for different climate change scenarios to promote the future implementation of green infrastructures. All of this is to maximize the provision of ecosystem services.
The study will be based on three pioneering green infrastructures related to the integrated water cycle. The areas to be analyzed are Clot del Galvany, a wetland managed with reclaimed water in Elche; La Marjal, a floodable park in Alicante; and a set of artificial aquifer recharge ponds located in Baix Llobregat (Barcelona).
The ecosystem services of these three case studies will be monitored through sensors, in-situ sampling, satellite imagery, and citizen science, with the aim of demonstrating all the benefits they provide to society and biodiversity.
BIOVERA is supported by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO, by its Spanish acronym), through co-funding from the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER, by its Spanish acronym).
The opinions and materials presented in this publication are the sole responsibility of the author or authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the entities that financially support the project.
