Upscaling Nature-Based Solutions: Mid-Term Forum and Consortium Meeting in Aachen Highlight Collaboration Between Regions, Research and Practice
The Mid-Term Forum, held on 6 October 2025 at RWTH Aachen University, brought together participants from across Europe to share experiences on advancing the implementation of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). Organized by TU Dortmund University as part of the Land4Climate project, the event served as a joint platform for the NBS4EU cluster, a network of seven Horizon Europe sister projects working toward Europe’s climate resilience goals.
The forum focused on scaling and mainstreaming NBS across regions and governance levels, highlighting both achievements and challenges in bringing together science, policy, and practice. Keynote speaker Prof. Erik Andersson (University of Helsinki) opened the event with reflections on the importance of NBS for resilience and cohesion policy. The following panel session allowed sister projects to present their vision and progress, setting the stage for a day of interactive discussion.
In the afternoon, participants joined four parallel sessions addressing (1) the evidence base and scalability of NBS, (2) spatial requirements, (3) funding strategies and policy frameworks, and (4) implementation challenges and ways to overcome them. The sessions fostered lively exchange across disciplines and regions, identifying key leverage points for policy and governance.
The following day, the fifth Land4Climate consortium meeting brought together the front-runner regions, replicating regions, and academic partners to review progress, discuss next steps, and align future research activities. The discussions centered on integrating project results into regional adaptation strategies and identifying communication and dissemination strategies to raise NBS acceptance.
The three-day event concluded with an excursion through the county of Euskirchen on 8 October. Participants visited several sites where nature-based measures have been implemented, meeting with private landowners and local representatives who shared insights into the opportunities and challenges of applying NBS on private land. These visits provided valuable real-world perspectives and underlined the project’s innovative focus on the intersection between public interests and private property.
Together, the Mid-Term Forum, consortium meeting, and site visits highlighted the importance of collaboration across governance levels and disciplines in driving Europe’s transition toward climate resilience through nature-based solutions.