Research

NRD participates in several research projects both as coordinator and as partner.
Below is a complete list of all research projects NRD has been involved in.
The projects are listed in chronological order starting from the most recent ones.

(MONitoring and Assessing Land degradation and desertification through prevention and restoration Initiatives for achieving Soil heAlth) 

HORIZON-MISS-2023-SOIL-01-04: Innovations to prevent and combat desertification

Coordinator NRD, budget € 6 991 831,25, duration 48 months, launch date September 2024.

The main objective of MONALISA is to identify, demonstrate the socio-economic and environmental effectiveness and promote the adoption of innovative solutions to prevent and reverse land degradation and desertification processes. This initiative aims to improve soil productivity and health in European and Mediterranean arid and semi-arid environments covering a wide range of land uses, including natural and semi-natural grasslands, forestry, agroforestry and agricultural systems. MONALISA will promote the application of a range of nature-based and technological solutions in 6 Mediterranean case studies. The selected case studies are representative of areas subject to desertification within the Mediterranean
(European and non-European), characterized by different levels of aridity in five countries (Italy, Spain, Greece, Tunisia, Palestine) and a set of challenges related to land degradation and desertification (LDD) processes: intensification and abandonment, with consequent increased risk of fires and soil degradation, water scarcity in agro-silvo-pastoral systems in Sardinia, Italy; water scarcity, loss of organic matter and fertility due to unsustainable agricultural practices, soil erosion in agro-silvo-pastoral systems in Spain; water scarcity (limited water resources in quantity and quality), soil erosion in Tunisia; biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation due to land use changes (from grasslands to cereal-based cropping systems), fires and mining in a National Park (Alta Murgia) in Italy; Biodiversity loss and land degradation due to overgrazing, fires and soil erosion in Asterousia, Greece; water scarcity, limited access to water, low soil fertility due to poor management and political problems in Beit Dajan, Palestine. The key strategies of the MONALISA project include the creation and implementation of technologically advanced monitoring systems for areas at risk of desertification, operating both at European and Mediterranean scales, and at regional/local levels. This includes predictive models and scenario analyses combining management systems for agricultural/forestry systems under different environmental and socio-economic conditions. Finally, the project will develop decision support systems through the inclusion in the partnership of private companies specialized in the development of these tools (Agricolus) addressed to policy makers and users such as farmers and technicians.

(Mitigation of the risk of pollution from nitrates of agricultural origin in vulnerable areas of Sardinia)

Donor Autonomous Region of Sardinia Agreement for the management of funds allocated by L.R.7/2007, budget € 420,200, duration 36 months, start date 21/12/2023, Lead Partner CNR Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection

SARNITRO is a research project aimed at developing new sustainable options to effectively manage the risk of pollution from agricultural nitrates in the vulnerable zones (VNZ) of Sardinia. Through an integrated approach, SARNITRO proposes a participatory process that takes into account the ecological and social specificities of the rural communities involved. The project will provide scientific evidence to support new action plans that take into account not only the reduction of the upstream nutrient load, but also agroforestry practices that, by exploiting natural processes, can contribute to accelerating the natural denitrification processes. The participatory approach is essential to allow communities to gain greater awareness of the nature of ecological processes and identify paths to recover groundwater quality without compromising the economic sustainability of agro-zootechnical activities.

Main actions:

- Diagnosis of pollution causes and design of mitigation solutions.

- Analysis of agro-zootechnical systems to improve nutrient use efficiency.

- Implementation of pilot devices for pollution mitigation.

- Support to the concertation tables to promote synergy between the actors involved.

(Sustainable water storage and distribution in the Mediterranean) 

PRIMA Call 2022 – Section 1 – Water Management – Topic 1.1.1 Sustainable and integrated management of natural and artificial water storage systems and distribution infrastructure

Lead partner Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), budget € 4,439,785.00, duration 36 months, start date 1 June 2023

The Mediterranean region is unique in its human society, natural environment and biodiversity, and climate variability. However, it is experiencing rapid population growth, water scarcity, increasing anthropogenic pressures and rapid climate change. This leads to intensified water demand through increased irrigation and water consumption, seriously threatening socio-economic stability and ecosystem integrity. In tune with the challenge and scope of PRIMA’s call in Point 1.1.1, the OurMED project is designed to highlight the urgent need for a more comprehensive management of water storage and distribution in the Mediterranean region than existing plans, considering natural resources and engineering infrastructure in the short and long term. OurMED is a new vision of equitable, balanced and co-designed management of water storage and distribution in the Mediterranean region, which includes stakeholder perception and benefits from advanced monitoring techniques, intelligent predictive models, and digitalization capabilities. OurMED aims to develop an integrated and holistic water management at various scales, ensuring multi-sectoral requirements and avoiding conflicts between domestic/industrial water use, food production and ecosystem needs. OurMED also aims to strengthen short-term (winter/summer) forecasting of water storage and distribution and long-term water management. To this end, a consortium of water experts with multidisciplinary but complementary expertise intends to develop and implement sustainable and adapted nature-based solutions for water storage and distribution in eight local and one regional demonstration sites, representative of typical water imbalance problems on both shores of the Mediterranean region. The demonstration sites were carefully selected, representing different climatic conditions (arid to temperate), water and ecological challenges (water inefficiencies, soil erosion and sedimentation, water quality deterioration and aquifer depletion) and different natural and artificial water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers, aquifers and wetlands). OurMED aims to co-design and demonstrate water management pathways and solutions for each demonstration site, creating new and lasting spaces for social learning among multi-sectoral and interdependent stakeholders, societal actors and scientific researchers. The efficiency and sustainability of mitigation options suggested by stakeholders under different socio-economic and climate projections will be assessed using environmental and socio-economic indicators. OurMED aims to strengthen science-based equitable water management in the Mediterranean region, especially under increasingly pressing future anthropogenic and climate conditions, learning from the impacts of historical extreme events experienced by the demonstration sites during the last decades. OurMED envisages moving from a traditional single-sector water management, which is based on a general threshold value and a fixed time horizon, to a more scientifically based, multi-sectoral and case-specific “Precise Management”, recognizing the specificity of each demonstration site. To ensure scalability and replicability of the adapted solutions to other countries, the whole Mediterranean basin is considered as a separate demonstration site, with special focus and investigation on essential water-ecosystem variables, systematic monitoring and data sharing, as well as policy considerations towards multi-sectoral and sustainable water management and efficient governance at regional level.
The long-term goal of the OurMED project is to establish guidelines and develop demonstrable test cases towards optimal and equitable water storage and distribution in the Mediterranean region.

(Enabling the potential of the unexplored: exploiting tailored microbial
consortia to enhance environmental, societal and economic sustainability and resilience of Italian agro-ecosystems)

Donors: Fondazione Cariplo, Fondazione CRC, Fondazione Cariparma, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo, Fondazione Perugia, Fondazione Tercas, Fondazione Friuli, Fondazione con il Sud, Fondazione MPS, Fondazione di Sardegna;

PROGETTO AGER Call – Third Edition - Dal suolo al campo - Approcci
multidisciplinari per migliorare l’adattamento delle colture al cambiamento
climatico

Lead partner CNR Istituto per la Protezione Sostenibile delle Piante

Budget NRD € 180.000, duration 36 months, start date 1/6/2023

Micro4Life aims to: a) Develop tools to assess grapevine and rice traits in soil microbial interactions, identifying resource efficiency and stress tolerance, and understand rhizosphere processes. b) Investigate the impact of natural environments on plant-microbial interactions, unraveling relationships between soil health, microbial diversity, and agroecosystem services under varying conditions.
c) Engage stakeholders and disseminate findings to enhance crop resilience to climate change, facilitating the use of root and rhizosphere traits. Through research and education, Micro4Life seeks to improve resource efficiency and crop performance, while restoring soil quality and addressing climate challenges.

(SOIL health monitoring and information systems FOR sustainable soil
management in the MEDiterranean region)

PRIMA Call: Section 1 – Farming Systems 2022 Topic 1.2.1-2022 (RIA) Developing integrated soil data for the Mediterranean Region: a gateway for sustainable soil
management

Lead partner NRD, budget € 4.100.000, duration 42 months, Start date May 2023

The level of soil health and land resources in the Mediterranean is low and already inadequate to support economic, development and food security objectives, particularly in the Near East and North Africa (MENA) countries.

The limited availability and quality of soil data and information (SDI) and the low use made of them in the region constitutes a serious obstacle to sustainable land management, to the design and implementation of policies aimed at protecting, restoring and improving soil health and to the achievement of targets related to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (territory neutrality with respect to degradation, food security, climate change and biodiversity loss, and economic development).
SOILS4MED has the following objectives: 1) to engage stakeholders in line with the Living Lab approach and raise awareness on the benefits of increased investments in SDI; 2) to develop policy-relevant sets of integrated indicators and monitoring protocols adapted to the environmental specificities and needs of MR; 3) to validate the protocols in study areas representing the main agro-ecological regions and soil types, generating the first regionally harmonized soil health dataset for MR;
4) demonstrate the capacity of the SDI produced by the protocols, complemented by pre-existing soil data, to feed state-of-the-art tools to support sustainable soil and water management, land degradation neutrality and improved regional mapping of soil conditions, including carbon stock mapping; and 5) design and implement nationally standardized soil information systems (SIS) for effective management and use of SDI.
SOILS4MED works in synergy with international initiatives on SDI availability and use in MR, in particular supporting the harmonization of SDI efforts led by the FAO Global Soil Partnership and ongoing international soil health mapping initiatives by JRC, FAO and ISRIC.

For further information, please contact the professor Claudio Zucca: clzucca@uniss.it 

(NATMED- Nature-based Solutions on existing infrastructures for resilient Water Management in the Mediterranean)

Prima Call 2022 Section 1 Water IA, budget € 4.089.297,50, budget NRD € 528.160,00, duration 36 months, start date April 2022

Lead partner Fundación CARTIF (SPAIN)

The NATMed project will develop, implement and validate a set of innovative Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in existing water infrastructures in order to improve water cycle management and provide ecosystem services, as well as environmental, social and economic benefits. These solutions will be implemented in five case studies located in Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Algeria, and will be validated through the IUCN Global Standard for NbS. To strengthen and empower local communities and stakeholders in the Mediterranean region, a Community of Practice (CoP) will be created together with which to develop co-design and governance processes.
With regard to the Italian case study, the NATMed project aims to enhance the Forest Infiltration Areas (FIA) solution implemented in the context of the Menawara project (https://www.enicbcmed.eu/projects/menawara) in order to mitigate nitrate contamination in the Arborea (OR) aquifer, identified as Vulnerable Zone to Nitrates of agricultural origin (Vulnerable Zone to Nitrates of agricultural origin (VNZ) in accordance with the Nitrates Directive 91/676/EEC. In order to enhance the Passive Treatment System (PTS) of the FIA ​​system, NATMED will identify technical solutions to improve the quality of drainage water directly in the infiltration trenches, to reduce the concentration of anionic and cationic contaminants (e.g. phosphates) and solving the problem of biological clogging. Furthermore, the automation of AFI monitoring will be implemented, using information and communication technologies (ICT) for the remote control of multi-parameter probes for real-time monitoring of drainage water and groundwater quality.

(Sustainable Approaches to LAnd and water Management in Mediterranean Drylands)

PRIMA Call 2021 – Section 1 – Management of Water – Topic 1.1.1-
2021(RIA) Sustainable soil and water management for combating land
degradation and desertification and promoting ecosystem restoration

Lead partner NRD-UNISS, budget € 2.835.714,04, budget NRD € 409.781,00, duration 36 months, start date April 2022

SALAM-MED is designed to provide a scientific and innovation contribution to the fight against desertification by promoting innovative solutions and business opportunities for sustainable management of soil and water resources. SALAM-MED proposes practical solutions to improve the resilience of threatened socio-ecological systems in the MED area through an integrated approach that combines (i) top-down processes based on research and development of technologies and solutions for sustainable management of soil and water resources and (ii) bottom-up processes based on the improvement of local capacities through the creation of new social learning spaces in different ecological and socio-economic contexts.
The Project aims to fill the gap in scientific knowledge on sustainable management of soil and water resources in arid and semi-arid Mediterranean areas, with a focus on agro-forestry and silvo-pastoral systems, through the promotion of site-specific practical solutions in different rural contexts where drought and abandonment are the main drivers of land degradation. A key focus of SALAM-MED is on improving soil hydrology and fertility and restoring degraded soils at the catchment scale. SALAM-MED also aims to contribute to bridging the gap between research, policy and business by increasing the effectiveness, sustainability and scalability of the identified practical solutions through a participatory approach based on “Living Labs”, intended as social learning spaces to test, develop, validate and co-create innovation with a high level of technology transfer (TRL) and social acceptability (SRL).

(Linking East and West African farming systems experience into a BELT of sustainable intensification”)

Horizon 2020 - Call: H2020-SFS-2018-2020 (Sustainable Food Security) 

Lead partner NRD 

budget € 7 499 456.25, budget NRD € 1 507 625.00, duration 48 months + 12 month extension, start date 1 Ottobre 2020

The EWA-BELT project has as its main objective the sustainable development of organic agriculture, agroforestry and livestock production systems in 26 study areas of 6 countries belonging to East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania) and West Africa (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Sierra Leone). The research activities are carried out at Farmer Field Research Units (FFRU) and involve local marginalized and/or abandoned areas to increase their yield potential, through the improvement of current scientific knowledge and the introduction of new highly innovative technologies that can be easily used in the field even by unskilled personnel. The EWA-BELT project also addresses several gender issues, through the active involvement of women in each phase of the process.

(Sustainable coastal groundwater management andpollution reduction through innovative governance in a changing climate)

PRIMA – Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area, PRIMA 2018 section II, budget € 1.125.374,66, budget NRD € 200.041.66, duration 36 months + 12 month extension, start date 1 June 2019

Lead partner Technical University of Crete, School of Environmental Engineering

The main objective of Sustain-COAST is to develop and test new approaches in coastal aquifer governance, through the active involvement of a variety of stakeholders and beneficiaries in four study areas located in countries on both sides of the Mediterranean (Greece, Italy, Turkey and Tunisia), affected by climate change-related problems.
Sustain-COAST intends to develop a Decision Support System (SSD) and a GIS (Geographical Information System) platform with online access for stakeholders and policy makers involved in water resources management. The SSD and the platform will be based on continuous and pro-active participatory and social learning processes, on the use of advanced technologies and tools, such as optical sensors and remote sensing tools to support management choices, iii) the use of numerical models (Feflow and Modflow) for the quantitative and qualitative prediction of coastal aquifer dynamics and iv) the development of appropriately adapted web applications.
Sustain-COAST was designed to preserve the coastal aquifers under study from pollution associated with human activities through the promotion of a local water resources management model based on the principles of the 4Rs (Reduce, Recycle, Reuse and Restore).