Restore desertified areas with an innovative tree growing method across the Mediterranean border to increase resilience (LIFE The Green Link)

In the Mediterranean area, the impacts of climate change are becoming increasingly perceptible and severe. Many semi-arid regions are suffering significant declines in water availability and increases in temperature, which has increased the rate of desertification and the prevalence of forest fires. Dealing with dry and non-productive soils requires an integrated approach through adaptation measures that reduce the vulnerability and strengthen the resilience of Mediterranean ecosystems.

The main objective of the LIFE The Green Link project is to demonstrate an innovative growing method which replaces irrigation by using ‘water buckets’ in desertified areas where the failure rate of restoration can reach 70%. The so-called Cocoon system is made out of recycled cartoon, it is very water efficient, low-cost and 100% biodegradable and has shown survival rates of 90% in trials without irrigation.

Specific objectives include:

• Demonstrating that the Mediterranean area can combat climate change with an effective tool through six trials in three countries suffering from desertification;
• Demonstrating the economic feasibility of an improved and more sustainable technology to plant trees without the use of irrigation;
• Designing specific ecological interventions to respond to the demands of climate change adaptation through selection of indigenous and resilient species that will survive in the predicted bio-climates for 2050-2100;
• Integrating novel methodologies to measure biodiversity, soil carbon stock, soil loss and human well-being in the mid-term, while allowing assessment of climate change impact and resilience in the future;
• Mapping ecosystem services at landscape level to improve adaptation strategies, on the basis that better understanding of positive outputs from the project will improve future scaling and policymaking; and
• Replicating the project experience during the project cycle by actively engaging stakeholders (research bodies, SMEs, NGOs, public authorities and local communities) in order to share methods and results for uptake across southern Europe.