Against the growing effects of climate change, our landscapes and environments are more and more vulnerable. For this reason, it is fundamental to improve landscape resilience and understand how it can contribute to the effective mitigation of the impacts of climate change. ResAlliance (complete name “Landscape resilience knowledge alliance for agriculture and forestry in the Mediterranean basin”) is a thematic network project funded by the Horizon Europe Programme of the European Union, which aims at facilitating information and knowledge flow to increase awareness, understanding, and capacity of farmers and foresters on landscape resilience.

The problem

Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. It is believed that at least 85% of the world population has experienced extreme weather events worsened by climate change, with particularly high damages and losses in agriculture and forestry. In this context, the Mediterranean basin is particularly vulnerable to climate change, as this region is warming 20% faster that the global average. Against this background, today there is a growing consensus among academics, experts and practitioners that these hazards must be addressed proactively through building resilience at landscape level. Despite this, application and uptake of solution to improve landscape resilience is still slow and facing many barriers.

The project

Focusing on Mediterranean countries, ResAlliance will gather and assess knowledge, gaps, barriers and good practices to achieve resilient landscapes, with particular emphasis on measures against the hazards of climate change. In addition, the project will create a Mediterranean alliance – the LandNet – on landscape resilience for forestry and agriculture. By engaging and training farmers, foresters, and other key stakeholders, the LandNet will continuously identify new cooperation and networks to improve and increase knowledge and good practices, also delivering an extensive range of easy-to-access material. Finally, ResAlliance will implement the four Landlabs, each one focusing on a different thematic: landscape governance, land management, finance, and technology. These Landlabs will provide knowledge and learning opportunities, as well as connect international and national solutions and apply them at the regional level.

Our contribution

Etifor is among the project’s partners, and it is mainly responsible for the communication and dissemination of the project outputs. At the same time, Etifor will support the creation of the LandNet and of the online course with the aim to help spread knowledge and best practices on landscape resilience.