Climate Resilience in EU Communities

The Mediterranean region has long been recognised as a climate hotspot, facing prolonged heatwaves, severe droughts and intense wildfires. These extreme conditions negatively impact human health,  outdoor activities, ecosystems, and food production. Potential damage to critical infrastructure can disrupt water and energy supplies as well as mobility, significantly affecting human lives, local businesses, and ecosystems.

To address these hazards, the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change aims to support at least 150 European regions and communities towards climate resilience by 2030. One of the most effective approaches to build climate resilience is by integrating nature-based solutions (NBS) that provide and protect valuable ecosystem services. NBS can address simultaneously biodiversity loss, healthier cities and disaster risk reduction to create stronger climate resilient communities and infrastructure.

Developing resilient critical infrastructures with NBS-based adaptation practices requires sufficient resources, citizen and private-sector engagement, along with political leadership that serves climate action. Building robust societies can be achieved by ensuring equitable, inclusive and just adaptation pathways that protect all, including the most vulnerable.

About MED-IREN

The MED-IREN project aims to protect local critical infrastructures from climate-extreme events across the Mediterranean region. By
combining nature-inspired solutions with engineering practices, the project will provide a nature-based approach to safeguard
Mediterranean societies from flooding, wildfires, heatwaves, coastal erosion and other climate hazards that threaten critical sectors,
such as transport, water, energy and social services.

The project will be showcased in five regions across the Mediterranean – Granollers, Spain; Provence – Alps– Côte d’Azur, France; Ischia, Italy; Tuscany, Italy; Egaleo, Greece – and the solutions and interventions will be replicated into four regions across the EU – Larnaka, Cyprus; Sitia, Greece; Burgas, Bulgaria; Helsinki, Finland.
Med-IREN will also demonstrate key factors for upscaling and replicating of these innovative NBS within Mediterranean regions and beyond The Med-IREN project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement N°101157707.

Facts