Sessions 2026

Conveners

Description

The management of liquid manure from intensive animal farming poses a major environmental and agronomic challenge due to the risk of nitrogen leaching, greenhouse gas emissions, odors, and long-term soil degradation. As livestock production expands and environmental standards become stricter, there is an urgent need for sustainable and practical solutions that close the nutrient loop between animal waste and crop production systems. This session focuses on innovative strategies that transform liquid manure from an environmental liability into a valuable resource for soil and crop productivity.
Key topics include emerging technologies for manure stabilization, treatment, and precision application, such as anaerobic co-digestion, ammonia recovery, nitrification-denitrification systems, and controlled-rate fertigation. Research findings on improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in crops through optimized timing, placement, and chemical or biological amendments will be highlighted. These methods aim to maximize nutrient recycling while minimizing nitrate leaching to groundwater and reducing gaseous nitrogen losses in the form of ammonia and nitrous oxide. The role of additives and filtration systems in odor mitigation and pathogen reduction will also be discussed, emphasizing their contribution to improving air quality and worker health in farming communities.
The session will further address the importance of maintaining soil health under repeated manure applications. Presentations will explore soil physical and chemical responses to long-term manure use, including effects on microbial activity, organic matter dynamics, and nutrient balance. Integrating these insights can guide the design of adaptive management frameworks that harmonize productive agriculture with environmental protection.
By bringing together researchers, policymakers, and industry innovators, this session seeks to stimulate dialogue on scalable, evidence-based approaches for sustainable liquid manure management. The shared goal is to develop systems that reduce pollution, recover valuable nutrients, maintain healthy soils, and support a more circular and resilient agricultural economy.

Conveners

Description

Plant biostimulants are emerging as a key pillar in the transition toward more sustainable and resilient agricultural systems. Unlike fertilizers, which supply nutrients, or pesticides, which protect against pests and diseases, biostimulants enhance the natural processes within plants and soils to improve nutrient efficiency, stress tolerance, and overall crop vitality. They include a diverse group of substances and microorganisms such as humic and fulvic acids, seaweed extracts, protein hydrolysates, beneficial fungi like Trichoderma, plant-growth–promoting rhizobacteria, and silicon-based products. Their strength lies not in replacing existing practices outright but in complementing them to improve performance while reducing environmental pressures.
Sustainability in agriculture demands solutions that maintain high productivity while minimizing the ecological footprint. Biostimulants contribute to this goal by enhancing nutrient uptake, thereby enabling farmers to reduce fertiliser inputs without compromising yield. This reduction helps limit nutrient runoff—a significant contributor to water pollution and eutrophication. Moreover, biostimulants enhance root development and soil structure, increasing water-holding capacity and promoting more efficient water use, a critical benefit under increasing drought frequency and irregular rainfall patterns driven by climate change.
Another major challenge for modern agriculture is plant stress, whether caused by salinity, heat, drought, or transplant shock. Biostimulants help plants regulate stress-related physiological pathways, stabilising membranes, improving antioxidant activity, and supporting faster recovery. As a result, crops become more resilient, reducing losses and decreasing reliance on chemical inputs aimed at mitigating stress symptoms.
From an ecological perspective, many biostimulants support the soil microbiome—an essential component of soil health. Enhanced microbial activity improves nutrient cycling and organic matter formation, promoting long-term fertility and reducing soil degradation. Over time, this fosters regenerative agricultural practices, where soil functions are restored rather than depleted.
Economically, biostimulants can help farmers optimize resource use, reducing input costs while increasing quality traits such as fruit size, colour, uniformity, or shelf life. These improvements can enhance marketability and overall profitability, particularly in high-value crops.
As climate pressures intensify and regulatory frameworks push for reduced chemical use, plant biostimulants offer a highly promising, science-based strategy for achieving sustainable agriculture. They bridge productivity with environmental stewardship, helping build resilient agroecosystems capable of feeding a growing global population.

Conveners

Description

Agricultural systems are increasingly challenged by climate variability, soil degradation, and rising demands for food production. In this context, Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) have emerged as effective approaches that work with ecological processes to strengthen farm resilience, sustain productivity, and protect biodiversity. Practices such as agroforestry, soil-health–oriented management, nature-based water regulation, and landscape-scale restoration demonstrate how leveraging natural functions can generate multiple benefits across environmental, social, and economic dimensions.
This session welcomes studies, research findings, and practical experiences that advance our understanding and implementation of NBS in sustainable agriculture. We invite contributions that explore innovative practices, evaluate their multifunctional benefits, and examine strategies for scaling NBS in diverse agricultural contexts. Case studies, experimental research, modeling approaches, and participatory methods that link scientific knowledge with real-world applications are particularly encouraged.
The session will focus on:
• The scientific basis and hydrological, ecological, social, and economic benefits of NBS in agriculture context.
• Practical case studies demonstrating successful implementation and measurable outcomes.
• Policy, governance, and stakeholder engagement approaches that support adoption and scaling of NBS.
• Innovative methods for monitoring, evaluating, and optimizing NBS interventions.
The session will take the shape of oral presentations (15 minutes each), followed by 5–10 minutes of questions and discussion, allowing in-depth exchange between presenters and the audience.

Conveners

Description

Circular nutrient management is a cornerstone of resilient, productive, and climate-robust agricultural systems, yet analyses often remain fragmented across ecological, economic, and governance domains. This session brings together interdisciplinary research to examine how nature-based, agroecological, and regenerative approaches reconfigure nutrient cycles at farm, landscape, and food-system scales.
We invite contributions that (i) quantify changes in nutrient flows, balances, and use efficiencies using empirical data and modelling approaches; (ii) analyse trade-offs and synergies among environmental, economic, and social outcomes over time; and (iii) investigate institutional, policy, and governance arrangements that enable adoption, scaling, and long-term viability of circular nutrient practices.
The session will combine short invited talks, contributed papers, and a moderated panel discussion to synthesise insights across disciplines and scales. By integrating ecological evidence, systems modelling, and governance analysis, the session aims to generate transferable knowledge and policy-relevant insights to support transitions from linear nutrient inputs toward circular, soil-centred agricultural systems.

Conveners

Description

It is well known that grape quality is a major factor determining the quality of the final product in the vitivinicultural sector. However, land degradation processes such as soil erosion, crusting, soil and water contamination/pollution, and biodiversity loss are increasingly affecting terroirs worldwide and reducing their productivity. The degradation of these areas can be observed from the pedon to the catchment scale, but understanding the dominant processes across increasing spatial scales is further complicated by landscape complexity, management practices, and diverse microclimatic conditions. At present, holistic approaches or targeted studies capable of providing new insights into control measures and/or innovative ideas for efficient land management plans are lacking in many regions. Understanding multiscale degradation processes and assessing the impacts of appropriate biological restoration practices, as well as effective management strategies, remain major research challenges and have become indispensable tasks.

This scientific session aims to foster a constructive, interdisciplinary discussion on the current state of the art of terroirs, with the goal of improving their sustainability through both scientific knowledge and traditional farmers’ management practices. Hydrologists, geographers, engineers, enologists, agronomists, biologists, economists, environmental scientists, ecologists, geologists, and stakeholders are all welcome. Studies related to soil, plants, water, animals, and microorganisms are particularly relevant and appropriate for this session. We look forward to discussing this important topic with you.

Conveners

Johannes Ries

Thomas Iserloh

Description

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are increasingly recognized as essential strategies for addressing the intertwined challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainable food production. This session explores the role of NbS in enhancing resilience and ecosystem functioning across agricultural and natural landscapes. Contributions will examine how approaches such as agroforestry, wetland restoration, regenerative farming, and landscape-scale habitat connectivity can support both productive agriculture and biodiversity conservation.

We welcome interdisciplinary perspectives spanning ecology, agronomy, hydrology, social sciences, and policy studies. Topics may include ecosystem service optimization, carbon sequestration, soil health improvement, water regulation, and socio-economic outcomes for rural communities. Special attention will be given to implementation challenges, monitoring frameworks, and evidence-based evaluation of NbS effectiveness across different climatic and land-use contexts.

The session aims to foster dialogue between researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to accelerate the translation of scientific knowledge into scalable, real-world applications. By highlighting case studies, innovative methodologies, and governance models, this session will contribute to advancing sustainable land management strategies that balance agricultural productivity with ecosystem integrity.

Ultimately, this session seeks to strengthen the scientific foundation and practical deployment of nature-based solutions for resilient agricultural and natural systems.

Conveners

Description

The future of climate action may lie where agriculture meets construction. Agro Building Carbon (ABC) explores this frontier by promoting the use of construction crops—like straw and bamboo—in bio-based buildings, creating long-term carbon storage while supporting circular economy principles.

A partnership of 11 organizations across Europe (from Netherlands, to Greece and Ukraine) work together to strengthen regional policies and funding programs that encourage carbon uptake in agriculture and building. By aligning local practices with the EU Green Deal and the upcoming Carbon Removal Certification Framework (CRCF), ABC helps regions unlock the climate potential of nature-based solutions.

The project focuses on policy improvement and certification systems, exchanging best practices to make carbon storage measurable, verifiable, and financially rewarding. ABC empowers farmers with new income streams while supporting sustainable construction practices, creating a win-win for both sectors.

Through regional collaboration, ABC demonstrates how innovative policies, strategic planning, and practical tools can transform agricultural residues into climate assets, fostering resilient rural economies and a low-carbon building sector.

ABC is proof that carbon-smart agriculture and construction can work together—turning crops into climate solutions for Europe’s sustainable future.

What are our lessons learned from working together on carbon uptake with different countries? What are our best practices and how do we inspire our stakeholders?

Conveners

B. Ayça Ataç-Studt

Robert Jüpner

Thomas Hartmann

Description

Floods are among the most frequent and devastating natural disasters worldwide, and their impacts often continue long after the water goes down. While flood risk management, especially mitigation and adaptation has received significant academic and policy attention, much less focus has been placed on what happens after a flood event: The recovery phase. This phase is often framed as a return to “normal,” yet this raises the question – what is normal, and for whom? In many cases, recovery decisions risk reproducing existing vulnerabilities or inequalities and foreclosing opportunities for recovery pathways that incorporate nature-based solutions as part of longer-term flood risk reduction and spatial adaptation strategies.
The recovery phase is often treated as a technical or logistical task rather than as a deeply political and multidimensional process. However, recovery is rarely linear; it is shaped by contested negotiations over speed, justice, sustainability, and long-term resilience. It intersects with technical, institutional, legal, financial, ecological, and cultural systems. Besides, it plays a critical role in determining whether nature-based solutions, such as floodplain restoration or hybrid green/grey approaches, are enabled or constrained after flooding.

This special session aims to critically examine the dynamics of flood recovery by drawing on interdisciplinary research and lessons learned from past large-scale flood events. Such events have generated a wealth of practical insights into what facilitates or hinders effective and equitable recovery, including the conditions under which nature-based solutions are considered, implemented, or constrained. The session invites contributions that explore not just how recovery happens, but whose recovery is prioritized, who governs it, and what social, spatial, and ecological futures are made possible or foreclosed in the process. To this end, the session integrates insights from the social sciences, engineering, planning, law, and environmental studies to explore the governance, institutional, and technical dimensions of recovery.

This special session invites contributions from researchers, planners, policy-makers, and practitioners working on flood risk management, post-disaster recovery, and the governance of nature-based solutions. Key questions include:
(1) What roles do civil engineering, insurance, and financial mechanisms play in enabling or constraining recovery, and how do these interact with longer-term nature-based adaptation strategies?
(2) How do institutional arrangements and property rights shape post-flood recovery processes?
(3) How is responsibility in the recovery phase distributed among different actors?
(4) How do public expectations and societal pressure shape the political dynamics and priorities of flood recovery?
(5) How are environmental and cultural values considered, negotiated, or sidelined during recovery, particularly in relation to nature-based and adaptive strategies?

Conveners

Artemi Cerdà

Saskia Keesstra

Description

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are emerging as effective and multifunctional strategies for reducing the impacts of natural hazards while delivering co-benefits for biodiversity, climate adaptation, and human well-being. This session focuses on the role of NbS in mitigating hydro-meteorological hazards, with particular attention to floods, droughts, and wildfires across diverse landscapes and climatic regions.

We invite contributions that explore how ecosystem-based approaches—such as floodplain restoration, wetland conservation, reforestation, peatland protection, soil organic matter enhancement, and green firebreak design—can reduce hazard intensity and exposure. The session will also highlight how NbS can strengthen landscape resilience, improve water retention, regulate microclimates, and support long-term ecosystem stability under changing climate conditions.

Interdisciplinary perspectives are strongly encouraged, including research on modelling hazard risk reduction, monitoring NbS performance, socio-economic co-benefits, governance frameworks, and stakeholder engagement. Particular interest lies in studies demonstrating measurable outcomes, scalable implementation pathways, and integration of NbS into regional risk management and spatial planning strategies.

By bringing together scientists, practitioners, and decision-makers, this session aims to advance the scientific evidence base and promote practical implementation of NbS as cost-effective, sustainable tools for reducing natural hazard risks while enhancing ecosystem and community resilience.

Conveners

Description

Wetland restoration is increasingly recognised as a key nature-based solution for enhancing natural water retention capacity, supporting climate change adaptation, flood risk reduction, biodiversity conservation, and multiple ecosystem services. Despite its growing relevance in European policies and strategies, the successful implementation of wetland restoration remains highly context-dependent and often constrained by technical, ecological, and socio-economic challenges.

This session focuses on identifying and discussing critical success factors in wetland restoration, with particular attention to the interplay between ecological and hydrological functioning, technical design, and socio-economic conditions. Drawing on good practice examples from across Europe and insights from ongoing research and implementation projects, including the SpongeBoost project, the session aims to move beyond single-discipline perspectives and highlight integrated approaches to restoration.

From an ecological perspective, contributions may address hydrological processes, soil and groundwater interactions, biodiversity outcomes, and the resilience of restored wetlands under changing climatic conditions. The technical dimension includes restoration design, engineering solutions, monitoring approaches, and the integration of wetlands into broader landscape and agricultural systems. The socio-economic perspective covers governance frameworks, policy instruments, land-use planning, stakeholder engagement, landowner acceptance, and economic incentives supporting long-term functionality and maintenance.

The session welcomes contributions from researchers, practitioners, and policy actors presenting empirical case studies, comparative analyses, methodological advances, or lessons learned from implementation. While the session builds on insights from the Horizon Europe SpongeBoost project, it is open to contributions beyond the project, addressing wetland restoration and natural water retention from diverse disciplinary, geographical, and institutional perspectives. By explicitly linking ecological performance, technical feasibility, and socio-economic viability, the session seeks to identify transferable lessons and practical pathways for scaling up wetland restoration as an effective nature-based solution for enhancing natural water retention capacity across diverse European landscapes.

Conveners

Carla Ferreira

Cong Cong

Tomás de Figueiredo

Rares Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir

Zahra Kalantari

Description

Cities are at the forefront of climate change impacts, facing increasing risks from heatwaves, flooding, air pollution, and biodiversity loss. Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI), such as urban forests, wetlands, green roofs, and other multifunctional green spaces, has emerged as a key nature-based approach to mitigating climate change, enhancing urban resilience, and delivering co-benefits for human well-being and ecosystems. Despite growing policy attention and investment, significant challenges remain in generating robust evidence, identifying effective implementation pathways, and assessing the long-term impacts of UGI interventions.
This session aims to bring together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to examine the state of the art and future directions of UGI as Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The session is structured around three interlinked dimensions: (1) Evidence, focusing on advances in monitoring, modelling, and evaluation methods to quantify the climatic, ecological, and social impacts of urban NbS; (2) Implementation, addressing governance arrangements, planning instruments, financing mechanisms, and stakeholder engagement processes that enable successful deployment across diverse urban contexts; and (3) Impact, exploring the assessment of co-benefits and trade-offs related to social equity, public health, biodiversity, and long-term urban sustainability. Contributions may include empirical research, comparative and place-based case studies, methodological innovations, and critical reflections on barriers, synergies, and enabling conditions for scaling up NbS in cities. The session particularly welcomes interdisciplinary perspectives that bridge science, policy, and practice, as well as contributions from climate-vulnerable and rapidly urbanizing regions.
By fostering dialogue across disciplines and sectors, this session seeks to advance an integrated, evidence-based understanding of how urban NbS can support the transition towards climate-resilient, inclusive, and sustainable cities. We welcome contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following topics:
• Climate mitigation and adaptation performance of urban NbS;
• Monitoring, modelling, and indicators for assessing NbS effectiveness in urban environments;
• Governance, policy integration, and urban planning tools for NbS implementation in urban areas;
• Social equity, environmental justice, and community co-creation processes;
• Economic valuation, financing mechanisms, and cost–benefit analysis of urban NbS;
• Scaling up NbS and integrating them into climate-neutral and resilient city strategies.

Conveners

Description

Conveners

Description

Cities are facing interconnected climatic, social, and economic challenges that require integrated adaptation responses. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have the potential to act as multi-problem solvers, delivering environmental, social, and economic benefits simultaneously. However, scaling NbS in urban contexts could be very complex, requiring long-term processes and interdisciplinary approach.

This session will highlight opportunities, challenges, risks and trade-offs of multi-stakeholder governance models for delivering NbS at scale in cities, with a focus on the practical application of political issues, landscape visions, and scientific challenges.

The session will present the case study of Osservatorio La Goccia, an interdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder initiative involving 11 partners—including SMEs, universities, and associations—designed to address complex challenges such as the application of NbS for natural reclamation in contaminated urban areas.

Conveners

Description

Phytomanagement is a land management approach that uses plants and their associated soil microbiota to manage contaminated soils while maintaining or restoring soil functions. Rather than focusing solely on contaminant removal, phytomanagement applies a risk-based and functional perspective, integrating strategies such as phytostabilisation, phytoextraction, rhizodegradation, and biomass valorisation. This approach is recognized as a Nature-Based Solution (NbS), as it combines contamination risk management with ecosystem service provision and long-term land usability.

As a sustainable remediation technology, phytomanagement offers significant advantages over conventional remediation methods. Physical and chemical techniques, including excavation, soil replacement, and ex situ treatments, often generate substantial environmental and social impacts, high costs, and irreversible soil degradation. In contrast, phytomanagement minimizes soil disturbance, reduces energy and material inputs, and preserves soil structure and biodiversity. By integrating remediation objectives with carbon sequestration, soil health improvement, and biomass production, phytomanagement aligns with the principles of sustainable remediation and circular economy.

Phytomanagement is particularly relevant in urban environments, where contaminated soils frequently coexist with strong social, spatial, and regulatory constraints. In cities, conventional remediation can disrupt infrastructure and generate nuisance. Phytomanagement allows contamination risks to be managed while supporting urban greening, climate adaptation, biodiversity enhancement, making it a promising solution for brownfields, public spaces, and multifunctional urban landscapes.

This session will explore phytomanagement as an operational and policy-relevant Nature-Based Solution for sustainable land management. Contributions will address recent scientific advances, field-scale applications, and long-term monitoring of phytomanagement systems, with a particular focus on urban and peri-urban contexts. The session will also cover risk assessment frameworks and biomass management and valorisation strategies, as well as lessons learned from European and national case studies. In addition, the session will discuss how phytomanagement can be integrated into regulatory and policy frameworks, in line with the EU Soil Strategy for 2030, the European Green Deal, the Zero Pollution Action Plan and the new Soil Monitoring Law. By bringing together researchers, practitioners, and policy actors, the session aims to foster dialogue on the role of phytomanagement in enabling sustainable, socially acceptable, and nature-based solutions for contaminated land management.

Conveners

Ioannis Daliakopoulos

Description

Urban environments are under increasing human pressure and are highly vulnerable to environmental degradation driven by climate change, land sealing, pollution, and population growth. Nature-based solutions (NbS) are increasingly becoming the preferred option for policymakers, urban planners, and environmental professionals seeking to strengthen climate resilience while improving the liveability, health, and sustainability of cities. NbS offer multifunctional benefits, including temperature regulation, flood mitigation, biodiversity enhancement, and improved air and water quality.

This session aims to explore the critical but often overlooked role of soils in urban systems and their interaction with urban water management. We invite contributions addressing soil functions such as water infiltration, carbon storage, pollutant filtering, and support for urban vegetation. Special focus will be given to innovative NbS approaches, including green infrastructure, permeable surfaces, urban wetlands, green roofs, and nature-integrated stormwater management systems.

We welcome interdisciplinary research on methodologies, monitoring approaches, modelling frameworks, and decision-support tools that address urban environmental degradation. Contributions that link scientific evidence with practical implementation, governance frameworks, and stakeholder engagement are particularly encouraged.

By bringing together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, this session seeks to strengthen the scientific foundation and practical application of NbS to support sustainable urban development and long-term urban resilience in the face of climate and environmental challenges.

Conveners

Description

Rapid urbanisation has increased the vulnerability of coastal cities to natural disasters, such as, flooding and tsunami, highlighting the need for effective resilient measures. Despite advancements in technology including geospatial analysis, the exclusion of local environment knowledge results in limited adaptive capacities, reduced community involvement in risk preparedness and neglect of region-specific ecological indicators undermine resilience strategies. This paper contends that integrating indigenous knowledge with urban planning is a novel approach that can address these gaps and strengthen disaster resilience strategies in coastal cities. Drawing upon an extensive literature review, this study highlights the importance of indigenous knowledge, and the reciprocal benefits of its integration with mainstream urban planning within the framework of disaster management. It argues that integration of traditional environmental knowledge (TEK) enhances resilience, sustainability and liveability in coastal urban areas. Case studies of the Jarawa tribe of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and the Moken Sea Nomads, demonstrate how knowledge about nature embedded in indigenous knowledge systems enabled these communities to successfully predict and safeguard themselves against the 2004 tsunami in the region, highlighting the potential of integrating NBS and TEK in mitigating the effects of climate-induced disasters.  Both communities successfully recognised early environmental cues preceding the 2004 tsunami which even modern hazard systems had not interpreted, thereby safeguarding themselves long before formal alerts were issued. These insights underscore the potential of integrating TEK into NBS, urban planning, and disaster-management systems, particularly in coastal regions where rapid urban expansion intersects with fragile ecosystems. Through its emphasis on the role of indigenous knowledge in augmenting community preparedness and fostering inclusive urban planning, this paper demonstrates that its integration into mainstream initiatives can mitigate climate-induced disasters and empower local communities in urbanising areas.

Conveners

Description

Rapid urbanisation, climate change, and environmental degradation pose significant challenges to contemporary cities, particularly in relation to heat stress, flooding, biodiversity loss, and declining urban liveability. Nature-based solutions (NBS) have emerged as an integrative planning approach that leverages natural processes and ecosystems to address these challenges while delivering multiple environmental, social, and economic co-benefits. This session focuses on the role of NBS in urban spatial planning, examining how green infrastructure, ecosystem-based design, and landscape-led strategies can be systematically embedded into urban development frameworks.
The session aims to explore how spatial planning instruments—such as land-use zoning, master planning, urban design guidelines, and regeneration strategies—can facilitate the effective implementation of NBS at multiple urban scales. Contributions are expected to address both strategic and site-specific applications of NBS, including green corridors, urban forests, blue-green infrastructure, nature-based flood management, and climate-adaptive public spaces. Emphasis will be placed on evidence-based planning approaches that enhance climate resilience, improve ecosystem services, and support social equity in dense urban environments.

In addition, the session will critically examine governance, policy, and institutional dimensions shaping the adoption of NBS, including regulatory frameworks, stakeholder collaboration, financing mechanisms, and community participation. Particular attention will be given to challenges related to implementation, maintenance, and long-term performance, as well as methods for evaluating the spatial, environmental, and socio-economic impacts of NBS interventions.
By bringing together interdisciplinary perspectives from urban planning, architecture, landscape design, environmental science, and policy studies, this session seeks to advance knowledge on how nature-based solutions can move beyond pilot projects to become mainstream components of urban spatial planning. The discussions aim to generate transferable insights and practical recommendations for planners, policymakers, and practitioners working towards resilient, inclusive, and sustainable urban futures.

Conveners

Description

Digital transformation refers to the systematic use of digital data, technologies, and analytical frameworks to improve how evidence is generated, validated, and used in decision-making. In the context of climate change mitigation, this transformation plays a critical role in strengthening the scientific rigor, transparency, and scalability of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation strategies. For Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), digital transformation enables the transition from conceptually promising interventions to measurable, verifiable, and decision-ready climate actions.

NBS are increasingly recognized for their potential to contribute to GHG mitigation alongside adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable resource management. However, their broader deployment remains constrained by persistent challenges: uncertainties in quantifying mitigation outcomes, limited transparency and comparability across projects, gaps between scientific methods and operational implementation, and difficulties in translating complex environmental processes into credible evidence for policy, finance, and compliance frameworks. Addressing these challenges is essential for ensuring that NBS can meaningfully contribute to climate targets and mitigation commitments.

Earth observation provides spatially and temporally consistent data to monitor land use, vegetation dynamics, water availability, and ecosystem change across scales relevant to mitigation accounting. When combined with in situ measurements and contextual data, these observations form the empirical backbone for assessing carbon stocks, fluxes, and land-based mitigation performance. Artificial intelligence and data-driven analytics enable the integration and interpretation of these heterogeneous datasets, supporting robust indicator generation, uncertainty analysis, forecasting, and scenario evaluation. Digital monitoring, reporting, and verification (dMRV) systems further operationalize scientific rigor by enabling continuous, standardized, and auditable tracking of mitigation outcomes, thereby increasing transparency, traceability, and trust. Decision-support systems translate these data and models into actionable insights that inform project design, adaptive management, policy instruments, and investment decisions.

This session focuses on how Earth observation, artificial intelligence, dMRV, and decision-support systems can jointly support the design, implementation, monitoring, and scaling of GHG-focused Nature-Based Solutions across agriculture, natural ecosystems, urban environments, and industrial landscapes. Bringing together perspectives from science, policy, finance, and industry, the session will highlight practical applications, governance considerations, and lessons learned. Ultimately, it aims to explore how digital transformation can enforce scientific rigor and credibility in NBS-based mitigation, enabling scalable climate action aligned with planetary boundaries and long-term sustainability goals.

Conveners

Description

An uncomfortable legacy for the constructed environments of cities is that urban drainage (rainfall-runoff) transports greater annual loads of particulate matter (PM), metals, organics and chemical oxygen demand (COD) than untreated domestic wastewater discharges from the human population of that same urban environment. Yet, this legacy is chronic and has intensified with increasing urban traffic, pavement area and urban populations.
The built environment has evolved with a predominant focus on individual motor vehicles and trucks, extensive impervious pavements for transport and parking, and spatial configurations that amplify climate change impacts, urban heat island effects, and hydrological alteration. This evolution is no longer sustainable and results, in part, in chronic human health stress associated with anthropogenic chemical and particulate matter generation, cycling and exposure. Conventional urban design produces microclimates that are less supportive of necessary human physical movement and reduces motivation to engage in physical activity. Such conditions highlight the need for a paradigm shift toward nature-based solutions (NBS) that can be integrated within existing urban infrastructure to restore degraded urban water cycles and urban microclimates.
Urban microclimates benefit substantially from vegetation that is proximate to or integrated within infrastructure, including green roofs and wall systems on buildings and interspersed, connected green areas throughout and along transportation corridors and parking land uses. Greener infrastructure systems with mature vegetation re-invigorate the built environment as a sustainable space for both human and ecological habitat. These systems enhance ecosystem services related to stormwater regulation, contaminant sequestration, thermal moderation, urban comfort and environmental quality.
Such nature-based solutions represent both a retrofit and a functional reset for urban microclimates and therefore must be carefully integrated within existing urban infrastructure constraints while preserving operational viability and functionality of all system components. Structural treatment systems commonly referred to as best management practices (BMPs) have not mitigated the existing legacy of urban contamination and are often neither economically nor ecologically sustainable when compared to mature vegetation systems. Quantitatively, no structural BMP has demonstrated greater combined efficiency and effectiveness than a mature tree for regulating the urban water cycle and sequestering contaminants.
The theme of this session is “Seeing is believing.” The session presents case studies and methodologies focused on nature-based solutions, rather than purely structural BMPs, to disseminate experience with retrofit designs and measured or modeled outcomes. These contributions illustrate cost–benefit relationships, impacts on urban hydrology and contaminant load reduction, and opportunities for recovery and reuse in cities globally.

Conveners

Description

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are increasingly recognised as critical components of sustainable agriculture and food systems, with the potential to simultaneously support food production, climate mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and freshwater regulation. However, the ability of NbS to effectively contribute to transitions towards living within Planetary Boundaries is constrained by persistent gaps in monitoring, evaluation, and attribution. In particular, scalable and integrative methods for assessing how NbS function in agricultural landscapes and what impacts they deliver across multiple Earth system dimensions remain underdeveloped.
This session aims to explore recent advances in methods and concepts relevant for monitoring NbS in agriculture and food production systems. While particular attention is given to emerging artificial intelligence (AI) applications, the session explicitly remains open to a broad range of approaches. Contributions are invited that employ or critically assess AI-enabled techniques, remote sensing, process-based models, field-based indicators, participatory monitoring, and mixed-methods frameworks integrating biophysical and socio-economic data.
The session will focus on how NbS processes can be measured and linked to impacts on agricultural productivity, resilience, and environmental sustainability, including large-scale effects on the status of Planetary Boundaries. Potential contributions may examine machine-learning methods for time-series analysis, data fusion across optical, radar, and in situ observations from different platforms, as well as non-AI approaches to attribution, causal inference, and counterfactual assessment of NbS interventions.
Explicit links will be made to key Planetary Boundaries, including climate change, biosphere integrity, land-system change, and freshwater use, and to the assessment of trade-offs and synergies in agricultural and food systems. By bringing together methodological advances, applied case studies, and conceptual perspectives, this session seeks to strengthen the evidence base needed to design, scale, and govern NbS in agriculture and food systems, supporting transitions towards sustainable, resilient, and just food production within planetary boundaries.

Conveners

Margot de Cleen

Description

Soil life is an important factor in the delivery of ecosystem services and thereby in creating solutions to stay within the planetary boundaries. But what is the exact role of soil life? What does the presence and populations of soil life tell us about the ability to deliver soil functions? What is the role of climate, soil characteristics eg? Do you know how to measure this? Do you know the relation? Do we have enough data and tools to use that knowledge, and transpose this knowledge into sustainable soil and land management or to contribute to climate measures?

In the Netherlands we do research into these relations, and we try to measure soil life by microscope. Research is being done to speed this up by AI.

During TerraenVision we want to organize a session on this theme. Be welcome to share your research, analyses, tools and practices. Join discussions on how to monitor, measure and translate soil life to ecosystem services and management perspectives. Work together to find ways to exchange knowledge and practices and translate insights in soil life into soil health and soil health management. Send in an abstract of your research or pilot study to give a pitch, presentation or draw up a poster. Serious games or workshop ideas are also welcome. 

Conveners

Jörn Hendrich Block

Henrik Krehenwinkel

Eva Julia Lohse

Till Hendrik Macher

Georg Müller-Fürstenberger

Birgit Peters

Description

This session focuses on DNA-based methods and their contribution to European biodiversity protection. From an interdisciplinary perspective, we discuss the overall picture and state of biodiversity that the methods are able to paint, and implications for European biodiversity regulation, as well as their disruptive economic potential. 

The ecological value of nature can be assessed using a wide range of indicators, such as species diversity or genetic diversity. Technological developments—particularly remote sensing (Frantz et al., 2022), automated image analysis (Zhu et al., 2022), and DNA-based methods (Macher, 2023; Macher et al., 2025; Krehenwinkel, 2017) — can now not only expand existing monitoring approaches but they may also contribute to a new perspective on biodiversity protection. For example, environmental DNA metabarcoding can provide species identification, community composition, functional and taxonomic diversity, environmentally induced changes, and potentially also quantification and age distribution. Still, the methods rely on computational capacity, specialized knowledge and may therefore be too burdensome to establish biodiversity monitoring in the Global South. 

In this panel, we therefore concentrate on the pitfalls and potentials that these methods offer for European biodiversity monitoring, regulation and the valorization of nature. On the economic side, due to low costs, low impact, and its non-invasive nature, the research is likely to disrupt traditional approaches to environmental monitoring in Europe. Beyond its scientific importance, the research has significant commercial potential, fostering the development of innovative physical products and the emergence of new service-based enterprises and industries. This leads to questions that concern the commercialization of technology, intellectual property and questions how venture capital, scientific communities, and regulatory frameworks interact to shape this process? 

Concerning the regulatory side, in particular, these technologies become relevant in the EU for the restoration of degraded habitats, where they may determine the quality of ecosystems or needs for restoration. However, quantified targets set for restoration must be translated into restoration plans that define areas and measures in a binding and measurable manner (inter alia, CJEU, 2023). Under the new EU restoration law, it is still unclear what requirements arise for the assessment of ecosystem status, the development of restoration plans, and the implementation of restoration measures? Therefore, we need to address which role the new methods can play in the formulation of those plans. Moreover, we have to address what restoration plans are, and how national authorities can access and use scientifically created information on (degraded) eco-systems.

The panel will turn to the revolutionary potential and some of its downsides, for the wider context of European biodiversity protection. It will feature biological, economic and legal perspectives. 

Description of the format

The session will feature short input statements from about 10-15 minutes and a moderated discussion (30 Minutes), in which the overall potential, but also its downsides and impacts on European entrepreneurship and regulation will be discussed, together with the audience.

Conveners

Manuel Seeger

Description

NBS must be applied in agriculture, forestry and natural areas to achieve sustainable management. The NBS are usually smaller scaled and based on soil or landscape solutions but they must be applied upon policies that apply strategic solutions for regions and countries. Besides, an accurate assessment of soil sustainability includes the characterization and analysis of a wide range of parameters like soil structure, erosion, quality, biodiversity, degradation, resilience, management, health, use, productivity, etc. Topics like sensors installed in UAVs, in-situ monitoring at high temporal resolution, data mining, machine learning analysis, advanced geo-statistical methods, connectivity of water and sediment, sustainable land management options in intensive and extensive agriculture or social, economic, biophysical and perception constraints are welcome. Next to the biophysical implementation also the socio-economic implementation is a topic we invite to this session.  

Conveners

Saskia Visser

Laurene Lebelt

Stelios Dritras

Description

Agriculture stands at a pivotal crossroads, where food security, farm income and environmental integrity all intersects with the urgency for climate action. This session focuses on practical pathways that are both feasible on real farms and scalable across agricultural systems, drawing on large demonstration networks and renewable energy integration
This session will convene leading scientists, practitioners, farmers, and innovators to explore practical and systemic transformation options for agriculture—from on-farm implementation of climate-smart and renewable energy solutions to broader economic and social dimensions that shape whole-system change.

We will bridge insights from two complementary EU initiatives:
· The HarvRESt project, explores how integrating renewable energy systems into farming can enhance sustainability, diversify farm incomes and inform decision-support tools that balance production, emissions reduction and socio-economic impacts.
· The Climate Farm Demo project a pan-European network of 1,500 pilot farms that test and showcase climate-smart farming practices, using peer-to-peer learning, multi-actor engagement and living labs to speed up adoption of mitigation and adaptation measures.

In this session we invite contributions that address:
· On-farm transformations that reduce emissions and increase resilience through climate-smart practices, renewable energy integration, and farmer-mediated knowledge exchange.
· Evaluation frameworks and evidence streams that help compare trade-offs and synergies across environmental, economic and social dimensions of farm transformation.
· Innovative governance, incentive and business models that de-risk transitions for farmers and rural communities while ensuring equitable access to technologies and markets.
· Cross-scale integration, from local demonstration insights to regional, national and EU-level strategies that support climate neutrality, rural livelihoods and ecosystem health.
Through a mix of research presentations, case studies, panel discussion and interactive Q&A, this session will surface actionable insights and pathways that accelerate agricultural transformation—not just towards climate targets, but towards resilient, inclusive and thriving rural systems.

Conveners

Margot de Cleen

Saskia Keesstra

Description

The successful implementation of nature-based solutions (NbS) depends not only on scientific innovation, but also on strong connections between science, policy, education, and society. While NbS are widely recognized for their potential to address climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation, their large-scale adoption requires societal understanding, institutional capacity, and effective knowledge exchange. This session focuses on the science–society interface that enables NbS to move from research to real-world practice.

We invite contributions that explore how education systems, science communication, and public engagement can support awareness and acceptance of NbS across different societal groups. Special attention will be given to the role of science policy in creating enabling environments through regulatory frameworks, funding mechanisms, and integration of NbS into national and regional strategies. Contributions addressing interdisciplinary collaboration, co-creation processes, and participatory governance are strongly encouraged.

The session will also highlight capacity building needs, including professional training, knowledge transfer to practitioners, and institutional strengthening in both public and private sectors. Topics may include skills development, transdisciplinary learning approaches, and the role of local and indigenous knowledge in NbS implementation.

By strengthening links between science, policy, education, and society, this session aims to support the long-term, inclusive, and effective deployment of nature-based solutions.

Conveners

Margot de Cleen

Gera van Os

Description

In the Netherlands the executive agency of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Rijkswaterstaat, set up a national network with local authorities, industries, farmers and knowledge institutions on circular land and soil management. Within this network partners exchange knowledge and experiences, start projects together and develop tools to communicate and understand the drivers behind collaboration or the inhibitions to collaborate. These instruments help to find pathways towards cooperation fitting all the partners. An example of such a tool is the  Social Readiness Level Instrument.

Within this workshop we will share our experiences and show the working of the Social Readiness Level instrument.

We invite you to join us if you want you to learn about building a network with stakeholders, to find out about tools to share interests and prioritize joint activities. You are invited to try out some of the tools we developed and you get to know the do’s and don’ts in match making. We want to discuss with you how to overcome differences in interests and frictions in regulation in the field of circular land and soil management.

If you have experiences in circular land and soil management yourself, we invite you to share your results or case study with us in a poster. We will share your insights and discuss your results in this workshop.

Conveners

Description

Given the need to shape social developments within planetary boundaries, nature-based solutions are a promising approach to transformation. Numerous projects demonstrate their potential in this area, but are confronted with the fact that the desired success does not occur or only partially occurs. Therefore, the question arises. What about the barriers? Social, political, or economic dynamics, which must not be overlooked in project design and implementation, frequently shape the extent to which solutions are successfully put into practice.

This is precisely where the workshop takes shape: We invite practitioners, researchers, and policymakers who have encountered challenges in the implementation of measures. Together, we will first identify key practical obstacles: Where do projects stall or lose momentum? What conflicting objectives emerge during implementation? Which assumptions – initially considered plausible – prove to be too optimistic in practice? Building on these insights, we will collaboratively analyze the underlying causes of observed problems – going beyond the scope of nature-based solutions research and development.

The workshop organizers contribute a human geography and social science perspective as a complementary lens, highlighting insights that are often underrepresented. This includes e.g. institutional constraints, asymmetrical cooperation, limited social participation, legal ambiguities, embedded power relations or cultural specificities of local contexts. Far from being in opposition to nature-based solutions, these so-called 'soft' factors are recognized as essential components within a broader agenda for transformative change.

In the final third step, focus shifts to collaborative strategic thinking. We develop and critically evaluate visions for social innovations that could propel societal transformation. Key questions guiding this phase include: How can projects be designed to ensure lasting impact under prevailing social conditions? What potential do multi-professional collaboration formats hold? And how can different disciplinary perspectives contribute to more impactful solutions?

The workshop adopts an interactive, open, and collaborative approach. Rather than relying on traditional lectures, participants engage in mixed-group discussions that bring together scholars and practitioners from the natural and social sciences, politics, economics, engineering, and planning. The workshop aims to foster a shared understanding of the multifaceted dimensions of social-ecological transformation and to co-develop implementable, scientifially sound, and socially sustainable solutions.