RHE-MEDiation
Funding: HORIZON Europe
Description: The RHE-MEDiation lighthouse aims at establishing a responsive hub deploying a long-term governance centred on the mission to destress the Mediterranean Sea from chemical pollution, including peak concentrations of its known hot spots. In particular, the most impacting components that currently affect our sea resources and threat its survival in the short term if no action is mobilised, like heavy metals, pesticides and PFAS & “forever chemicals”, are to be stopped and removed from the fresh and waste waters before they enter the sea.
The RHE-MEDiation governance at the base of this transformation will a) deploy technologies and suitable best practises at relevant TRL for integration in existing water and waste water treatment systems and endorsed by local communities; b) setting-up a mobile monitoring system based on collaborative drifters to provide surface water detection and measurement of pollutants; c) demonstrate through 3 piloting sites efficiency of scaled prototype solutions and integrated practises and quantify capacity in the longer term and under the full scale configuration and testing at the same time the responsiveness of the local community to manage this transformation; d) replicate the investigation of the expected benefits by RHE-MEDiation approach potential over additional 5 associated regions demo cases, suitably selected to maximise the validated technology basket exploitation; e) quantify the achieved efficiency of technology and governance transfer from the lighthouse to the citizens, authoring stakeholders, and policy makers, as main recipients of the RHE-MEDiation action stream for bridging benefits to next generations; f) test the “RHE-MEDiation Local Communities approach as primary driver for a critical mass mobilisation to freedom Mediterranean Sea from chemical pollution, thus having as targeting payback the increase of own and overall health conditions as a consequence of healthier sea food and products.
The project is being coordinated by RINA CONSULTING SPA and the partners are: BLUEMATER SA, MDM TEAM SRL, SENSICHIPS SRL, CENTRO DE CIENCIAS DO MAR DO ALGARVE, CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE, HELLENIC CENTRE FOR MARINE RESEARCH, ETAIREIA YDREYSEOS KAI APOCHETEFSEOS PROTEYOYSIS ANONIMI ETAIREIA, TURKIYE BILIMSEL VE TEKNOLOJIK ARASTIRMA KURUMU, UNES OSMAN, EUROPEAN MARINE BOARD IVZW.
Duration: 06/2023 – 05/2026