TRANS-lighthouses at TERRAenVISION 2025

Our project “TRANS-Lighthouses: More than green – Lighthouses of transformative nature-based solutions for inclusive communities” will also be present at the TERRAenVISION 2025 Conference, which will be held from 8 to 11 July 2025 at the University of Granada in Spain. Our colleagues in the project, Isabel Ferreira (Centro de Estudos Sociais, Portugal) and Gerd Lupp (Technische Universität München, Germany) will present the session “Socio-ecological, socio-cultural, socio-political and socio-economic aspects of NBS“.

The two TRANS-lighthouses researchers will discuss the importance of direct involvement of local communities in the implementation of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). In order for these solutions to be truly effective and adopted with conviction, it is essential that they respond to citizens’ needs and expectations, ensuring a fair distribution of benefits among all the actors involved.

According to Ferreira and Lupp, the implementation of NBS cannot be done without a participatory approach. Citizens and stakeholders can actively contribute to the co-design, co-development, co-monitoring and co-evaluation of these solutions. This collaboration allows to bring out the full spectrum of benefits that NBS can offer, not only in environmental terms, but also in social, cultural, political and economic terms.

Thanks to this inclusive modality, NBS become valuable tools to strengthen social cohesion and promote participatory governance models, capable of responding more effectively to the needs of territories.

“Despite the growing interest in Nature-Based Solutions, much remains to be done to demonstrate their positive impact on society. It is essential to collect scientific data and develop concrete examples of good practices that can serve as models for other communities and facilitate replicability on a larger scale”, write Ferreira and Lupp in the presentation of their section.

According to them, with a participatory and evidence-based approach, NBS can become a fundamental pillar to address climate change and improve the quality of life of communities, building a more equitable future in harmony with the environment.

TERRAenVISION 2025 is an international conference dedicated to nature-based solutions as a tool to fight global environmental challenges. The event will bring together scientists, policy makers, financial institutions and industry representatives to promote the transition to a sustainable society.

The conference will be structured around five main themes:

• Nature-based solutions for agriculture and natural areas (soil, water and landscape).
  
• Solutions to address natural risks such as fires, floods and droughts.
  
• Land and water management in urban and industrial contexts through nature-based solutions.
  
• Methods for measuring processes and impacts of nature-based solutions, including the use of artificial intelligence and remote sensing.
  
• Role of scientific facilitators in the transition to a climate-resilient and circular society.
  

The organizing committee includes leading experts such as Professors Artemi Cerdà (University of Valencia), Jesús Rodrigo Comino (University of Granada), Margot de Cleen (Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Netherlands), Saskia Keesstra (Wageningen Environmental Research, Netherlands) and Ioannis Daliakopoulos (Hellenic Mediterranean University, Greece).

TERRAenVISION 2025 is aimed at the scientific community and professionals working in climate change mitigation and adaptation, sustainable development of cities and agriculture, and the circular economy, with a focus on the sustainable use and management of natural systems. For more information and to register for the Conference by April 15, you can visit the official website: https://terraenvision.eu/.