Leading coastal and marine ecologists, economists and maritime engineers from 37 organisations across Europe, Turkey and Israel gathered in Barcelona between 2 and 5 November 2021 for the official kick-off meeting of the new project. It is one of the just four projects, among 180 candidates, funded by the so-called Green Deal call of the EU Horizon 2020 programme supporting the restoration of ecosystems and their services.

Under the leadership of Project Coordinator Prof. Augustin Sanchez-Arcilla and Project Executive Dr Iván Caceres from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) the meeting discussed the milestones, challenges and work plans ahead of this ambitious project. REST-COAST research activities are centred around nine pilot sites. Three of these sites (The other two sites are Wadden Sea shared between the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark and the Lagoon of Venice in Italy), among which the Ebro Delta on the Spanish Mediterranean coast, will benefit from large-scale restoration actions.

Photo: The REST-COAST consortium