The 4th RESTORE4Cs General Assembly was held in Valencia, Spain, on 27-30 May 2024 and was hosted by the University of Valencia | The Limnology Research Group of the Cavanilles Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology.
The first day began with a warm welcome from Prof. Joaquin Baixeras, the director of the Cavanilles Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, and continued with a session led by Case Pilots representatives on the expectations and interactions with each RESTORE4Cs‘ WP. Later in the morning, Benedict Bueb from WP1 presented the project’s policy roadmap, and from WP4 Benjamin Misteli led a session about meta-analysis, and Antonio Camacho a session about LUPLES method. In the afternoon, Clémentine Anglada from WP5 introduced and discussed the project’s multicriteria analysis, and Carmela Marangi from WP3 led the last session on the models and scenarios of RESTORE4Cs.
On 28 May, the European Community of Practice (ECoP) for Wetlans Restoration was also officially launched during Santiago Suarez WP2‘s session, and its roadmap was introduced following an interesting presentation by Ciro Pascual Garrido from Generalitat Valenciana.
The second day of RESTORE4Cs‘ 4th General Assembly began with a parallel session where Antonio Nogueria from WP9 presented the Aqualinks tool, and Christoph Schröder and Antonio Sánchez from WP6 presented the project’s assessment methodology. Following that, Anis Guelmami from WP7 led a session on RESTORE4Cs‘ data repository, toolbox and platform. Immediately after, Christoph Schröder from WP6 gave a session on the possibilities for upscaling.
During the afternoon of 29 May, two sessions took place simultaneously. Madeira Scauri from WP8 led one session sharing communication updates, launching the first trailer of RESTORE4Cs’ Valencian Wetlands Case Pilot for the documentary, finalising the filming schedule for the three remaining Case Pilots and mapping and conducting interviews with local stakeholders for each Case Pilot. The other session was led by Miguel Cabrera Brufau form WP4, discussing fieldwork, lab analyses, and data.
Closing the second day of the General Assembly, Maria Schade from WP6 presented the project’s information layers, and Santiago Suarez from WP2 and Clémentine Anglada from WP5 led a session on methods interactions with Case Pilots.
On the final day of the General Assembly, the consortium visited the project’s local Case Pilot, Marjal dels Moros, and saw firsthand where the project’s sampling is taking place. In addition, RESTORE4Cs’ partners enjoyed a visit to the Albufera Natural Park and a boat ride on the picturesque Albufera Lake, which allowed them to continue discussing the project’s progress and the next stages. The day ended with a walk through the beautiful Devesa pine forest and humid dune slacks, mobile sand dunes, and beach restored areas.
