FERRO

Eutrophication is a major problem causing poor ecological status of European lakes with its severe impacts being enhanced by climate change. However, at the same time, eutrophication could be the potential solution to the depletion of global phosphate (P) reserves, threatening global food security. A vast amount of P and other nutrients are lost from the catchment and transported into lakes, making most lakes a nutrient-rich reserve, as observed by the frequent occurrence of massive, devastating algal blooms in many lakes. FERRO bridges the nutrient enrichment problem to the depletion of P problem to create a sustainable solution to both challenges by circular management. We will develop a next-generation lake restoration approach by combining targeted restoration techniques with nutrient recovery and recycling to achieve multi-benefits: improved ecological status of lakes, support a circular economy, climate adaptation, support food production, promote biodiversity, and boost ecosystem services provision. The multiple environmental and socio-economic co-benefits extend beyond the scale of intervention, supporting wider sustainability and accounting for social and economic ambitions. FERRO supports the natural recovery of lakes (after many years of nutrient enrichment) through four transdisciplinary pillars: 1) classification and prioritization of lakes for restoration (integrated in-situ and remote sensing-based techniques); 2) implementation of sustainable catchment-oriented solutions (biotechnology to prevent nutrient losses in agriculture and nutrient recovery at lake inflows and reuse in agriculture), 3) implementation of sustainable in-lake restoration solutions (nutrient recovery from lakes and reuse in agriculture); and 4) knowledge transfer. FERRO marks a major shift in how lake restoration will be done for ages.