Clients: Plan Bleu, HCMR, ISPRA, MEDSEA, Institute of Menorca Studies – Socio-Environmental, Observatory of Menorca, Municipality of Monfalcone, ECOACSA, Denkstatt, The Green Tank
Date: 2024 – 2026
Location(s): Southern Europe
We supported a consortium of 10 partners (public authorities, research institutes, private finance and natural capital experts) in the development of a 3-year collaboration aiming to revert the degradation of seagrass meadows in the Mediterranean Sea. The project will deliver 4 transnational pilots to raise the technical, financial, awareness and political readiness for seagrass restoration, together with first-of-their kind guidelines to promote the replication of lessons learnings.
Seagrass meadows deliver critical ecosystem services (ES) to Mediterranean societies and economies. Worldwide, they store close to 20% of the world’s blue carbon and provide € billions in coastal protection, recreational opportunities for tourism and fishing for instance. However, seagrasses are still an overlooked ecosystem and close to 7% of meadows are lost annually due to pressure such as fish farming, bottom trawling, anchoring and coastal developments.
Approach
ARTEMIS integrates the monetary and non-monetary value of seagrass ecosystem services into restoration protocols, first-of-their kind Payment for Ecosystem Service Schemes (PES), stakeholder engagement processes and policy arrangements to be tested in 4 transnational pilots (Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Monfalcone, Crete). These cover all stages of seagrass restoration project maturity (from definition of transplantation protocols in fully degraded areas in Crete and Sardinia to protection of healthy meadows in Menorca) and differing levels of integration of seagrass ES values into policy frameworks (from compulsory compensation schemes in Monfalcone to legal patchwork in Crete), for maximum replicability of results.
Impact
ARTEMIS will test its approach in the restoration of 2 ha of degraded seagrass meadows, which will lead to 10x returns in ecosystem services and €2M in additional funding through secured PES agreements. ARTEMIS will deliver ready-to-use guidelines for the set up of seagrass PES schemes, a Mediterranean action plan for seagrass restoration and a roadmap for the integration of seagrass values into corporate reporting frameworks and processes.
Seagrass meadows cover 1.2 million hectares along Europe’s Mediterranean coastlines and provide critical ecosystem services to societies and economies, yet they are still one of the most overlooked ecosystems in the Mediterranean area. ARTEMIS is restoring degraded seagrass meadows in 4 Mediterranean sites, combining technological, financial, social and policy innovations to revert degradation and foster the multiple benefits healthy meadows provide.
– Pere Giralt, Innovation Consultant
