HORIZON EUROPE TERRASAFE Project: Resilience and terrestrial restoration strategies for (semi)arid and fragile ecosystems through a multi-stakeholder approach

TERRASAFE is a pioneering initiative that seeks to empower local communities in Southern Europe and North Africa to successfully address the growing challenges of desertification through the adoption of natural, social, and technological innovations. The TERRASAFE vision will be implemented in five pilot areas that share a high vulnerability to desertification, but which simultaneously represent the four main types of desertification (vegetation decline, soil degradation, water scarcity, and depopulation) and present marked differences in their sociocultural and ecological circumstances. This vision is supported by a transdisciplinary consortium, ranging from universities to SMEs that commercially exploit the innovations.

TERRASAFE's vision is implemented through a multi-stakeholder approach encompassing all work packages, particularly through the establishment of five partnerships in the five pilot areas. In a co-creation process, these partnerships:

1. They will define their visions for developing resilience to desertification and plan their subsequent work in TERRASAFE.
2. They will map and analyze past and current desertification, identifying critical points.
3. Evaluate and demonstrate innovations at these critical points, comparing them with current and traditional/organic practices.
4. Develop policy recommendations for greater adoption of TERRASAFE-certified innovations, both within and outside the pilot areas, taking into account lessons learned from past and current desertification policies.
5. Share the TERRASAFE experience with other regions, other communities prone to desertification, and the general public.

The consortium will support the alliances by providing not only harmonized frameworks for each activity, but also advice on how to adapt these frameworks to their specific needs. Finally, the SMEs will offer a wide range of innovations that they will adapt to their respective desertification hotspots, in close collaboration with the alliances.