The megatrends are clear: by 2050, 84% of the European population will live in urban areas, while air pollution and climate change will continue to harm the health of European citizens. Despite minor improvements, pollution levels, that regularly exceed the European Union (EU) limits, and heatwaves, endanger the lives of young and elderly people. Urban forests are effective Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) that help mitigate the effects of climate change while improving air quality, urban temperature and lifestyle of modern cities. Main global cities are setting challenging urban reforestation targets while struggling to face related costs and citizens engagement to meet current changing and future needs. On the other hand, urban planning and forestry sciences have failed to provide interdisciplinary training to engage with innovative public-private urban forestry (UF) initiatives and trends. The UFOREST Alliance aims at promoting Europe’s innovation capacity among universities, cities and businesses to deliver a new approach to UF. It will do so by:• facilitating the exchange, flow and co-creation of knowledge among universities, local authorities, and business coming from 4 key interdisciplinary approaches that often are not cooperating: urban landscape planning, forest ecology, socio-economics and, information and communication technologies;• promoting a new, innovative and multidisciplinary global blended training course on UF for both students and professionals;• stimulating entrepreneurial attitude of students, researchers and professionals to provide public and private sectors with innovative and cost-effective UF solutions. The project will focus on Italy, Spain, Romania, Ireland, Netherlands and Canada. Results will have a strong EU-global dimension and transferability potential, capitalizing on existing national and international networks and through the partnership with the European Forestry Institute, a leading European networking and research instituti

RESONATE will bring together a consortium of world leaders in Nature-based Therapy (NbT) research, practice, policy, and innovation with stakeholders in the health, environmental, economic, and societal sectors to: a) build a stronger causal evidence base of the links between nature, health, and well-being by demonstrating nature’s biopsychosocial resilience building capacities; b) demonstrate how multi-sectoral stakeholders can collaborate to implement locally acceptable and inclusive NbTs; c) increase awareness and acceptance of these benefits among the public, multi-sectoral stakeholders, and policy makers; and d) ensure wider utilisation of cost-effective NbTs, to help build more resilient individuals and communities in urban, rural, and coastal settings. This will be achieved through an on-line Global Systematic Map of existing NbTs, and nine Case Studies (CSs) using longitudinal cohorts, Randomised Controlled Trials, and a Community of Practice trial, spanning 8 countries, urban, rural, and coastal settings, and all three levels of the health promotion/disease prevention pyramid. CSs will collect sector-specific and process-related data spanning four sectors: health, environment, economy, and society. Outcomes will include effectiveness, mechanisms, equity (fairness/inclusivity), environmental sustainability, cost-effectiveness, and social acceptability. Selected CSs will develop Social Innovation Action “Nature-based Resilience Hubs” to demonstrate best practice cross-sectoral collaboration and market potential. Results will be synthesised to give insights into scaling-up/scaling-out potential, and summarised in a Toolbox of practical Guides and Tutorials aimed at different end-users, as well as an overall “What Works Nature-based Therapy Guide” for NbT implementation at scale (i.e. Impact). An International Expert Advisory Board of world leaders in NbTs will support integrated communication, dissemination, and exploitation activities for maximum reach.

In eco2adapt we will develop the Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) framework, derived from Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), that harnesses biodiversity and ecosystem services to reduce vulnerability and build social-ecological resilience to climate change. We will work in Living Labs in Europe and China, located in climate hotspots, and adopt a cutting-edge Decision Theatre approach to investigate how forest managers integrate disturbance and vulnerability into decision-making. Scenarios of how disturbance affects forest dynamics and ecosystem services at a landscape scale will be derived through modelling, and in Living Labs, stakeholders will learn how their choices affect ecosystem services in neighbouring forests. We will combine interdisciplinary knowledge from scientists and stakeholders in Europe and China to understand perception and provide incentivization for adopting EbA solutions, through local capacity-building and national policy plans. Through the same Decision Theatre methodology, we will use a capacity-building approach to create and promote innovative technical, economic and governance mechanisms at a regional level. Semantic technology will be applied to create a knowledge base for hosting FAIR data and creating a SmartPhone Application (named the OneForest ToolBox) that allows users to access and add data concerning climate-resilient species, provenances, mixtures, management techniques and ecosystem services, whilst taking into account future uncertainties about climate and societal changes. We also provide a suite of cutting-edge tools to monitor vulnerability and resilience (including invasive species and above-and below- ground biodiversity), at all levels of society – from the citizen to the policy-maker. By including tailored communication to all levels of society, we will reach out to a broad audience that has the capacity to cause positive change.