Project: Learning and action alliancEs for NexuS EnvironmentS

Acronym	LENSES
Duration	01/05/2021 - 30/04/2024
Project Topic	LENSES ambitious goal is to bring transformative change in the way our societies approach the Water Ecosystem Food Nexus. The project argues that this is possible only through the activation of inclusive nexus partnerships, the Learning & Action Alliances (LAAs). The objective for the pilot Alliances in the Med region is to design and implement adaptive Nexus Management Strategies under future uncertainty that will co-progress the Nexus sectoral objectives of improved water allocation, enhanced food security and ecosystem preservation. This will help building resilient Nexus systems. In this context, LAAs will (a) co- produce new knowledge regarding Nexus interactions to support the development of Participatory System Dynamics Models at suitable spatial and temporal scales and (b) explore multiple co-developed scenarios of demographic change, climate change, socio-environmental, economic incentivization and regulatory policies. The LAAs and their activities are the means to (i) develop stakeholder trust, feed cross-sectoral exchange of knowledge and build shared visions, (ii) test the multi-dimensional efficacy of integrated policies aiming at improving system resilience, and (iii) build legitimacy for evidence-based decisions towards sustainable transitions. The project will leverage Ecosystem Services and Ecological/Environmental Economics approaches and develop a Nexus-SDG toolkit to guide multi-objective policy- and decision-making in the pilot cases. Against this basis, Nature- based Solutions (NBS) addressing pilot-specific challenges will be planned and designed. This full cycle of interconnected activities gives confidence on the environmental, institutional, social and financial sustainability of the proposed solutions. On a policy level, LENSES will progress the linkage between the Climate Change Adaptation and Nexus management as a means to push forward the Nexus agenda. The approaches above will support LENSES’ vision for Nexus systems that are managed within renewable natural resource constraints.
Website	visit project website
Network	PRIMA
Call	Section 1 Call 2020 - Nexus

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	Council for Agricultural Research and Economics	Coordinator	Italy
2	University of Padova	Partner	Italy
3	Water Research Institute of the National Research Council	Partner	Italy
4	ETIFOR srl	Partner	Italy
5	AgriSat Iberia, S.l.	Partner	Spain
6	ECOADAPTA	Partner	Spain
7	ELLINIKOS GEORGIKOS ORGANISMOS - DIMITRA	Partner	Greece
8	POLYTECHNEIO KRITIS - SPECIAL ACCOUNT OF RESEARCH FUNDS	Partner	Greece
9	Draxis environmental SA	Partner	Greece
10	MIGAL - Galilee Research Institute Ltd	Partner	Israel
11	National Agricultural Research Organization	Partner	Jordan
12	International Agricultural Research and Training Center	Partner	Türkiye
13	EA-TEK International R&D, Engineering, Software and Consultancy Company	Partner	Türkiye