Exo Environmental and partners have been working together on this Interreg 2seas programme since November 2017, where a culmination of ideas and thinking distilled into the SARCC project. The project developed another year until it was submitted to the Joint Secretariat of Interreg 2seas in November 2018.

By early 2019 we received the approval for the SARCC project and most recently we have completed the ‘initiation’ phase as planned. This means that we at Exo are going to be very busy with Nature Based Solutions at least until September 2022.

The aim of the SARCC project is to mainstream nature-based solutions (NBS) into coastal management and policy making, whether that is as stand alone projects or NBS-hybrids, where they are integrated into existing grey infrastructure and flood defences. The project builds the capacity of urban leaders, decision-makers and officers involved in costal flood defences to deploy NBS and understand the additional benefits that they offer in comparison to traditional grey infrastructure.

Our coastlines are under threat of sea level rise, more extreme weather events and coastal squeeze. The loss of natural habitat and the inherent nature based coastal defences are particularly noticeable in urban areas. Nature Based coastal defences in western Europe are mainly sand dunes, saltmarshes and subtidal and intertidal reefs.

Although Exo Environmental has significant experience with Nature Based Solutions, our efforts will be focused on hybrid Nature Based Solutions. These are grey infrastructure coastal protection project, in an environment unsuitable for conventional NBS. Hybridised solutions are studied to create a more sustainable and environmentally friendly solution. We plan to do this through optimisation of surface texture, offering opportunities for biodiversity, eco-reefs and bio protection.

For more information on the SARCC project, take a look at the website: http://sarcc.eu.
Or for more information on Exo’s latest work, take a look at our other blog posts: https://exo-env.co.uk/blog