PHUSICOS, meaning ‘According to nature’, is a project funded by Horizon 2020.

    The project aims at demonstrating the effectiveness of nature-inspired solutions (NBS) and their ability to reduce the impacts of extreme weather events in rural and mountain areas. Nature-based solutions are cost-effective and sustainable measures inspired by nature that mitigate, and in some cases prevent, the impacts of extreme weather events.

    The interdisciplinary Consortium is made up of 15 partners from 7 European countries and includes research institutes, universities and public authorities. The project includes three Demonstration Cases (Italy, Norway and Andorra) where the function and effectiveness of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) will be experimented and tested on a large scale and two Case Studies (Austria and Germany) to test innovative ideas and solutions on at least five fronts: technology, service, governance, dissemination and product innovations. The Northern Apennines District Basin Authority, together with European partners, after having obtained this important financing in April 2018, started the process for the planning and design of the NBS works in the Lake Massaciuccoli area.

    What has been done? Nature Based Solution (NBS) works were created, preliminarily identified through a participatory process, with the aim of mitigating the hydrogeological risk, improving the quality of the water resource and the delicate environmental systems of the Lake Massaciuccoli area. Specifically, in areas with a strong agricultural vocation, buffer strips combined with conservative agriculture and cover crops, a sedimentation basin, gentle management of two canals, a continuous monitoring system of the chemical-physical parameters of the water in capable of providing data every 15 minutes. The NBS works limit soil erosion of cultivated fields and the transport of solid material and associated pollutants (nitrates and phosphates) from the fields towards the minor network and then again towards the lake.
    How was it done? Works were carried out in the area with the aim of experimenting and evaluating the effectiveness of nature-based solutions. The NBS created constitute an integrated system of nature-based works capable of improving the resilience, biodiversity and usability of the natural areas included in an entire sub-basin, thus bringing great added value of sustainability and synergy with other measures.
    Who did we do it with? The farmers involved are the main actors in the implementation of these NBS works; in fact, by making large agricultural areas available, their specific knowledge and actively participating in the implementation of the NBS works allowed the Phusicos project to take shape. The implementation of dedicated Living Labs then made it possible to build a path of shared participation with the main stakeholders (citizens, trade associations, local authorities, etc.) aimed at identifying and planning the works to be carried out.
    Where to replicate the project? On a regional and national scale, NBS measures can be easily replicated as “best practices” in other areas providing agricultural companies with new opportunities for growth and development by finding synergies with other economic sectors (technological, tourism, environmental). In fact, through a coordinated strategy in favor of the climate, biodiversity and the quality of water and soil, the project has demonstrated how it is possible to trigger and accelerate a process of profound transformation in the way of managing and governing the territory and its resources natural, but also of the way of producing, consuming, moving and, last but not least, carrying out research at the service of the environment.
    Who collaborated? The Phusicos project has a multidisciplinary character and has been based, in recent years, on collaboration between public institutions, national and international research bodies and private entities, with the aim of generating experiences and results that can be replicated in other territorial realities, not only in the hydrographic district of Northern Apennines, ensuring the achievement of sustainability objectives of global interest. In addition to the technicians of the Basin Authority, in fact, researchers and professors from the University of Pisa, companies with a strong innovative and technological mission, local agricultural companies and trade associations were also part of the working group.
    What prospects? The green transformation will be based in the coming years on solutions of this type, which can also be developed starting from those already implemented on an experimental basis on Lake Massaciuccoli. It therefore becomes of primary importance that the new European, national and regional programs focus on the experimentation and diffusion of this type of highly innovative nature-based works, consistent with the objectives of the new National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change, with the basin and regional planning. Such works, if implemented on a large scale, can in fact contribute to and encourage that process of change and adaptation that is fundamental for our future.

    Total amount financed by the EU to the PHUSICOS project: 9.633.000,00

    Amount to be used in the Massaciuccoli area: 1.459.000,00

    For further information: www.phusicos.eu