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When nature becomes the solution: meeting societal challenges in the Mediterranean

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The Mediterranean Basin is a global biodiversity hotspot that is currently afflicted by the combined pressures stemming from human activities and climate change. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are emerging as a major tool that can protect populations and territories. Based on resilient ecosystems that can be true natural allies, they reconcile conservation, human well-being, and socio-economic development. This is the key objective of the RESCOM project, which is being coordinated by the Tour du Valat for the Mediterranean Biodiversity Consortium (MBC). It aims to deploy these solutions, which despite their many benefits are still underutilized in the Mediterranean region.

Nature-based Solutions driving collective action in the Mediterranean

Meeting of the RESCOM project regional steering committee bringing together all institutional, technical and financial partners in the Antalya region of Turkey © Yolda Initiative

The Mediterranean Biodiversity Consortium (CMB) [1] brings together several leading organisations like the Tour du Valat long involved in nature conservation in the Mediterranean. By pooling their expertise, these partners work together to protect the natural resources of the Mediterranean Basin. Their mission is to preserve the integrity of ecosystems (coastal areas, small islands, forests, wetlands, marine areas) in ways that can sustainably ensure the vital services they provide society, while revealing their full potential as sources of NbSs

This collective ambition is embodied in the RESCOM project (Making Mediterranean Ecosystems more Resilient), the CMB’s first flagship project, which is co-financed by the French Global Environment Facility, the MAVA Foundation, and the French Development Agency. Deployed across 15 pilot sites in the Mediterranean, the project supports natural area managers in implementing concrete management, conservation, and restoration actions in Albania, Egypt, Italy, Libya, Morocco, Montenegro, Tunisia, and Turkey.

These interventions are all conceived around Nature-based Solutions. By providing essential services – food security, water and wood supply, soil stabilisation, thermal regulation, carbon sequestration, flood risk mitigation, and protection against submersion or other natural phenomena – NbSs provide alternative or complementary solutions to grey infrastructure. They are also more resilient and economically advantageous in sectors such as land use planning, agriculture, water management, and health. They contribute to the quality of life of local residents and to local socio-economic development by supporting industries working toward the sustainable use of natural resources in the fishing, tourism, agricultural and other sectors.

Nature-based solutions (NbSs): a methodological concept promoted by the IUCN

The RESCOM project is grounded in the concept of an NbS, as it has been defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Nature-based Solutions are defined as “actions aimed at protecting, sustainably managing, and restoring natural or modified ecosystems to directly address societal challenges in an effective and adaptive manner, while ensuring human well-being and producing benefits for biodiversity.”

The NbS concept first appeared some fifteen years ago. The original definition was refined in 2016 by the IUCN, which also developed an international standard in 2020 that was revised in 2025. This standard is based on a set of criteria and indicators designed to guide those developing NbSs. The concept has thus gradually gained recognition and is now integrated into numerous public policies at national, international, and European levels, such as the European Union’s Biodiversity Strategy 2030, the European regulation on nature restoration, and the third National  Adaptation Plan (PNACC3). [2]

Test, adapt, adopt: rolling out NbSs in the Mediterranean

Although NbSs are increasingly valued as a response to major societal challenges, such as the fight against climate change, their application in the field must still overcome operational, financial, technical, social, institutional, and regulatory obstacles. In this context, in 2025 the CMB conducted an in-depth study to capitalise on Mediterranean experiences and draw operational recommendations from them. [3]

Key factors and experience sharing

Our study reveals that the success of NbSs depends on several factors: the broad involvement and effective coordination of local actors, strong political support, as well as communication and awareness-raising efforts that target people to accompany changing practices and foster the emergence of a shared vision for a specific territory. Nature-based Solutions require long-term funding to make them truly sustainable. They also require the deployment of a robust monitoring and evaluation system to measure both the effectiveness of ecological restoration and the socio-economic impact of the actions undertaken. RESCOM will enable local stakeholders (natural area managers, civil society organisations, local authorities, public administrations, research centres, economic operators and local residents) to be closely involved in the implementation of NbSs. In addition, ecological and socio-economic assessments enable interventions to be prioritised according to the specific challenges facing each territory.

SfN : un outil adaptable et évolutif

Far from being “ready-made” solutions, NbSs must be shaped by the field. More than a rigid approach, they are a lever for dialogue and planning support.

They entail an iterative and flexible process, which can adjust to each site’s specific social and institutional realities and administrative and land constraints.

This experimental phase is a genuine collective learning process, the lessons of which feed into and reinforce the visibility and replicability of NbSs. RESCOM thus aims to build a community of practices that will bring together a wide range of actors around the Mediterranean Basin to foster the sharing and dissemination of solutions adapted to common climatic and societal challenges.

NbSs in action: examples from around the Mediterranean

Since the RESCOM project was launched in 2023, the CMB has been applying NbSs with a focus on the interactions and connectivity between terrestrial, coastal, and marine ecosystems, which are essential for species to move around and for maintaining major natural balances, such as water and nutrient cycles.

A focus on three sites covered by the project, on different shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

• In Italy, the restoration of seagrass beds for coastal protection
Restoration of Posidonia seagrass beds, a species endemic to the Mediterranean © Municipality of Villasimius

With support from the project, teams from the Capo Carbonara Marine Protected Area (MPA), located in south-eastern Sardinia, Italy, have undertaken the restoration of 230 m² of Posidonia seagrass beds. This species, endemic to the Mediterranean, has been weakened by decades of human impact, particularly by trawlers that once operated in this MPA.

The technique used involves recovering Posidonia rhizomes that have been naturally uprooted by bad weather and replanting them in degraded areas. To ensure that the operation is successful, new eco-friendly mooring buoys will be installed to encourage boaters to avoid anchoring in the seagrass beds, one of the main causes of their degradation.

There are several benefits of restoring Posidonia seagrass beds. First, it stabilises the seabed and reduces the speed of currents, thereby limiting coastal erosion. It also supports the life cycle of many marine organisms by serving as a nursery, spawning ground, and refuge for fish and other marine organisms, which in turn directly benefits fishing. Finally, it contributes very effectively to carbon capture.

• In Albania, dunes and lagoons are being restored to limit coastal erosion
Fishing in the Karavasta Lagoon, an important traditional economic activity and source of income for local communities © Sajmir Hoxha

In the Divjakë-Karavasta National Park, located on the Adriatic coast of Albania, RESCOM is focusing on rehabilitating the dune ecosystem, which has been severely degraded by seaside tourism, hiking, and unregulated vehicle traffic throughout the year. The interventions planned will combine dune revegetation, the control of invasive species, and measures to protect and delimit strictly protected areas, in order to stabilise these fragile coastal landscapes and limit coastal erosion.

In addition, the project aims to improve the ecological status of the Karavasta lagoon, a RAMSAR site and an important wintering and breeding area for more than 200 bird species, including the Dalmatian Pelican, and to restore degraded woodlands in the surrounding hills. These integrated measures aim to strengthen coastal protection, improve water quality, and increase the area’s ecotourism appeal. They will also contribute to strengthening ecological connectivity and restoring species of conservation concern.

 

• In Tunisia, forest restoration and support for the development of alternative income-generating activities for local communities
Consultation with local communities living in Oued Zen National Park as part of activities supported by the RESCOM project © Martin Fillot / AIFM

In Tunisia, priority actions for the Oued Ezzen National Park, located in the north-west of the country, focus on reforesting areas near douars and villages. Local communities are involved in planting versatile native species such as the carob tree, which is endemic to the Mediterranean. These actions will allow them to harvest the carob pods and engage in silvopastoralism in these restored areas, thereby generating potential sources of income. These measures will also help to improve water retention, combat erosion and landslides, and support biodiversity.

The project will also test the natural regeneration potential of different species, helping to identify those that are able to withstand drought, fire and other extreme climate phenomena. Finally, the project aims to regulate tourist activities, which are currently unregulated, by developing an innovative co-management approach with local communities that is likely to generate economic benefits (training of guides, sale of local products, camping fees) and can be replicated elsewhere in Tunisia.

The Oued Zen National Park in Tunisia is home to a forest ecosystem of cork oaks, zen oaks and afar oaks endemic to the Mediterranean © Martin Fillot / AIFM

Project manager: Marion Douchin [4] | [email protected] [5]

Team: Lisa Ernoul, Antoine Gazaix, Carol Mañoso Gimeno, Philippe Lambret, Arsène Marquis-Soria, Pauline Rocarpin, Salima Slimani, Marc Thibault, Elisa Tuaillon

Partners: