With a vision to reshape Europe’s approach to climate resilience, the Horizon Europe SpongeWorks “Co-creating and Upscaling Sponge Landscapes by Working with Natural Water Retention and Sustainable Management” project was officially launched in a dynamic kick-off meeting in Larisa, the capital of Thessaly on November 27-28, 2024. Bringing together SpongeWorks partners, scientists, and stakeholders, the event marked the beginning of a transformative journey to co-create and scale up Nature-based Solutions in the Pinios River Basin—focusing on sustainable water management, natural retention, and sponge landscape strategies. Discussions centered on implementation priorities, the role of local governance, and the wide-ranging benefits of working with, rather than against, nature.
50 participants including European SpongeWorks partners, representatives from the Pinios implementers and knowledge partners attended the kick-off meeting in Larissa.
In just five years, the Pinios River Basin, Greece’s agricultural heartland has been ravaged by storms ILIAS, IANOS and DANIEL which caused widespread destruction, severely disrupting the local economy, undermining social stability, and inflicting significant damage on the region’s ecosystems. Moreover, the basin faces severe pressures stemming from heavy agricultural use underscoring the urgent need for robust measures to mitigate these challenges.
It is one of the 3 SpongeWorks’ demonstrator sites across Europe, together with Lèze (FR) and Vecht (NL/DE) river basins. Its impressive partnership comprises of 11 partners including 4 implementers, Tavropos Local Irrigation Organisation, E-Trikala Anaptixiaki, the Municipality of Agia and the Melivia Cooperative and two scientific partners, SWRI and WWF which will monitor the effectiveness of the applied measures.
Participants visited the visited all 4 demonstration areas crossing the entire basin from the East to the West.
During the meeting, the Pinios Basin implementers presented the local Action Plan comprised of Nature-based Solutions that will be applied in the designated pilot fields which are customized to the pilot’s needs and the peculiarities on the ground. These include from buffer strips and systematic mulching in the cotton fields of Karditsa, to the creation of a narrow riparian forest and a SpongePark in the city of Trikala, to mulching in urban and peri-urban parks in the Agia plain and restoration of terraces along with harvesting/reusing soil water to name but a few.
Split into groups, participants mapped and evaluated the relevant governance structures that exist in Greece, the key actors, their roles and responsibilities and concluded with a set of concrete next steps.
Highlighting the relevance of the project’s aims for the region and its timely application, the meeting received extensive media coverage. SpongeWorks partners were interviewed from prominent local and regional TV, radio and online platforms and the press release featured in all leading local and regional media.
By enhancing water retention functioning in over 200 individual sites in the basin through the application of “sponge measures” for the next four years, Spongeworks aims to address floods, droughts and biodiversity decline in the region. The combination of scientific excellence and practical know-how, it will also contribute in catalyzing a shift in the pace of implementation of sponge measures and strategies across Europe and beyond.
