ELCA: Climate Action and Resilience through Nature-Based Solutions
Europe is in the midst of a decade of profound climatic, ecological, and social transformations. Climate change, biodiversity loss, and increasing pressures on urban and rural infrastructures demand solutions that are more sustainable, effective, and equitable than those of the past. Within this complex context, EUKI project ELCA positions itself as a empowering hub at the intersection of climate policy, practical innovation, and local implementation capacity. ELCA brings together experts, municipalities, research institutions, and local stakeholders with the goal of rethinking climate action management for the long term – practice-oriented, evidence-based, and deeply embedded in regional structures.
Why Output 3 – Policy Recommendations & Assessment Results – is a Critical Step
Policy Recommendations and Assessment Results form the strategic culmination of the ELCA cycle and mark the transition to political and practical impact. While Output 1 focused on capacity building for local climate protection managers and Output 2 established stable regional structures through the ELCA Community Support Centers for Climate Action, Output 3 translates all accumulated knowledge and discussions into tangible, verifiable, and policy-ready results. This step is also where one of the central priorities of European climate policy comes into play: integrating Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) as core instruments of modern local climate governance.
Nature-Based Solutions in ELCA: Why Now and Here?
Nature-Based Solutions are no longer a peripheral topic in European climate policy. They are firmly embedded in key EU strategies and regulations, including the Green Deal, the Biodiversity Strategy 2030, the Climate Adaptation Strategy 2021, the LULUCF Regulation, the Farm-to-Fork Strategy and the Water Resilience Strategy. NBS function as multifunctional climate instruments, simultaneously addressing ecological, social, and economic goals. They are cost-efficient, environmentally compatible, and socially accepted, linking mitigation with adaptation measures.
Literature distinguishes three types of NBS: (1) minimal intervention to preserve (semi-)natural ecosystems, (2) sustainable management of multifunctional landscapes, and (3) intensive interventions or newly created artificial ecosystems. In all cases, the focus remains on human benefits. NBS make climate action tangible, connecting environmental transformation with Europe’s ambitious 2050 climate targets. In cities and municipalities, their full potential becomes visible: green roofs, urban forests, restored floodplains, ecological land-, ressource- and water-management, all improve quality of life, enhance biodiversity, they create spaces for community engagement and local economic cycles. The ELCA Community Support Centers act in this context as hubs for information, collaboration and knowledge transfer, connecting administration, science, civil society, and practitioners and facilitating co-creative problem solving.
Practical setup of a wetland roof in Hesse, © Blumberg Engineers
ELCA Showcases Climate Action Support Centers and Climate Action Plans at Land4Flood 2025 in Romania
In September, the international Land4Flood 2025 conference at Politehnica University Timișoara, brought together participants from across Europe and the USA, including researchers, practitioners, and representatives from municipalities and civil society. Discussions centered on Nature-Based Solutions and the role of private land in flood risk management. The conference was organized by the Support Center for Climate Actions (SCCA-UPT), established under the EUKI ELCA project, and marked the first major international event fully coordinated by the center. UPT’s participation in prestigious events such as EGU 2025, ECCA, IEES, and SGEM, Land4Flood 2025 represented a major milestone in establishing SCCA-UPT as a regional Romanian knowledge and networking hub. Six months before the project’s conclusion, the ELCA consortium presented in the “Empowering Local Climate Action” workshop, jointly organized by ELCA partners GNE (Germany), PIN (Czech Republic), and UPT (Romania) key achievements, including the full operationalization of two Support Centers, the training content of the new ELCA- Climate Protection Manager (CPM) training, and the facilitation of local co-creation sessions with public administrations, regional stakeholders, and educational institutions. The conference also featured the ELCA project approach as a best-practice example for supporting local climate action and highlighted the development of municipal Climate Action Plans (CAPs).
Natural Resilience Resonating Across Europe – Aachen 2025
In October, Aachen became the European hub for the future of Nature-Based Solutions during the LAND4CLIMATE Mid-term Forum, hosted by RWTH Aachen. Again experts, scientists, municipalities, and EU project partners, including ELCA representatives, discussed how to integrate NBS into municipal practice and political decision-making processes. The forum was part of the NBS4EU Cluster initiative, linking seven Horizon Europe projects. In his opening keynote, Professor Erik Andersson (University of Helsinki) emphasized that successful NBS rely on broad collaboration – from urban planning and science to local communities. He also highlighted key gaps, such as insufficient private sector involvement, the lack of prioritization for ecosystem restoration, and technological and institutional hurdles for scaling. Four thematic sessions followed, focusing on evidence and scalability, spatial requirements, funding and policy frameworks, and implementation barriers and solutions. The forum made clear that while NBS are gaining importance across Europe, their real impact depends on stable structures, shared responsibility, and long-term strategies. Full article: LAND4CLIMATE: Natural resilience resonating across Europe (Natural resilience resonating across Europe – People in Need)
ELCA team photo at the LAND4CLIMATE Mid-term Forum, hosted by RWTH Aachen, October 2025, ©Tereza Ocetková PIN
The Czech Experience: Recovery After a Tornado and Flash Floods as an Opportunity
The Czech ELCA team presented the municipality of Moravská Nová Ves, struck by a tornado in 2021. In cooperation with the local government, People in Need developed a climate action plan using nature-based measures for both recovery and prevention of future risks. Deputy Mayor Jiří Fila noted: “After the disaster, we didn’t want to simply rebuild what was destroyed – we wanted to create something more resilient.” The project demonstrates how combining biodiversity, community engagement, and impact assessment turns NBS into environmental and social innovations.
Roman Klecker from the Hodonín Community Support Center presented specific NBS flood protection projects in Dolní Bojanovice and discussed challenges in implementation. The topic sparked lively exchanges and brainstorming sessions, demonstrating the growing interest in scalable, effective NBS solutions.
Assessing the Effectiveness of Nature-Based Solutions
Evaluating NBS is complex, as ecological, social, and economic factors must be considered simultaneously. Long-term monitoring, replication, and scaling are essential because the effectiveness of NBS evolves over their lifecycle. Optimal results are achieved by expanding successful projects and adapting institutional frameworks, legal regulations, and societal norms. The methodology, derived from the completed EU project OPERANDUM (2018-2022), combines Open-Air Laboratories with numerical models, monitoring systems, climate projections, land use data, socio-economic contexts, and social acceptance. Hazards reduction, co-benefits, risk assessment, cost-benefit analyses, and knowledge transfer are integrated to capture the complex interactions between NBS and climate risks. In this way, it becomes clear how practical experience combined with structured methodologies transforms Nature Based Solutions into reliable instruments that deliver not only ecological benefits but also socio-economic and political value, driving the implementation of resilient and sustainable climate action at both local and regional levels.