RHE-Mediation

The RHE-MEDiation lighthouse aims at establishing a responsive hub deploying long-term governance centred on the mission to destress the Mediterranean Sea from chemical pollution, including peak concentrations in known hot spots. In particular, the most impacting components that currently affect Mediterranean resources and threaten its survival in the short term if no action is taken, like heavy metals, pesticides and PFAS & "forever chemicals", should be stopped and removed from the fresh and waste waters before they enter the sea.

 

Project type:

Horizon Europe, Topic: Actions for the implementation of the Mission Restore our ocean and waters by 2030, Call: HORIZON-MISS-2022-OCEAN-01-03 (Mediterranean sea basin lighthouse - Actions to prevent, minimise and remediate chemical pollution)

Duration:

36 months (June 2023 – May 2026)

Budget:

€7,000,000

Consortium:

11 European partners

Coordinator:

RINA Consulting SPA, Italy

Website:

https://rhemediation.eu/

EMB role:

Engagement in WP6 “Integrated approach to Business, Social and Governance Innovation based on RHEMEDiation technologies” and WP8 “Project and hub governance, ethical and social assessment, regulatory aspects”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Background and objectives

The RHE-MEDiation hub governance at the base of this transformation will a) deploy chemical pollution remediation technologies based on micro-algae solutions to enhance relevant TRL when integrated in existing water / wastewater treatment systems practises and assessed in their benefits with the involvement of the local communities; b) set-up a combined fixed and mobile cooperative monitoring system based on smart drifters to provide surface and depth water detection and measurement of pollutants; c) demonstrate through 3 piloting sites efficiency of scaled prototype solutions and quantify capacity in the longer term for the full scale configuration; d) assess and validate the responsiveness of the local community to manage this transformation; e) replicate the evaluation of the expected benefits by RHE-MEDiation approach potential over additional 5 “associated regions” demo cases, selected to maximise the validated technology basket exploitation; f) quantify the achieved technology and governance efficiency transfer from the lighthouse to the citizens, stakeholders, and policy makers, as main recipients of the RHE-MEDiation action stream for bridging benefits to next generations; g) test the “RHE-MEDiation Local Communities approach as primary driver for a critical mass mobilisation to free the Mediterranean Sea from chemical pollution, thus increasing the overall human health as a consequence of healthier seafood and products.

 

European Marine Board role:

EMB lead subtask 6.3 on "Scaling up governance through bottom-up knowledge transfer from local through National to European level". Within this task, EMB will collate the results from the case studies, and from the market perspectives and lifecycle assessment into a comprehensive policy document that will showcase the outcomes of the project and its importance to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the Water Framework Directive. This document will be translated into relevant case study languages for national implementation. This document will also be relevant to other Sea Basins, to replicate the Mediterranean Lighthouse results to other basins. 

EMB will also engage in subtask 8.4 on "Regulatory assessment and contribution to EC Directives" by liasing with other consortium partners and feeding back relevant information to European Commission working groups at which it already has an observer role, to ensure ongoing awareness of the project, its results and outputs, and its relevance for EC Directives.

You can follow the project on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Contact at European Marine Board Secretariat: Ángel Muñiz Piniella Email and Sheila Heymans Email