FutureLakes WP5 Workshop: Advancing Replication and Upscaling Strategies
In June, the FutureLakes team gathered in Florence, Italy for a focused working workshop dedicated to Work Package 5 (WP5): Replication and Upscaling. Hosted by our partner institute Iridra at their offices in Florence, the workshop provided a valuable opportunity to collaborate in person and make significant progress on the core tasks of WP5.
The workshop was designed as a hands-on, collaborative space, with group work sessions structured around the three key tasks of WP5:
🔹 WP5.1 – Prioritization Framework
This task is developing a prioritization framework to help identify and prioritize lakes for restoration. The framework aims to support strategic decision-making at the EU scale, ensuring that restoration efforts are targeted, impactful, and aligned with broader environmental goals.
🔹 WP5.2 – European Lakes Digital Innovation Hub
Work continued on the creation of a data portal that will serve as a central hub for lake restoration knowledge, tools, and datasets. The European Lakes Digital Innovation Hub will facilitate access to key resources and promote data-driven innovation across the freshwater restoration community.
🔹 WP5.3 – Regional Replication of the Restoration Blueprint
This task focuses on replicating the FutureLakes restoration blueprint in three associated regions. Discussions centered on planning the onboarding of the Associated Regions in September.
🔹 WP5.4 – Roadmap for EU Lake Restoration
The final task is developing a Roadmap for EU Lake Restoration, which will synthesize insights from across FutureLakes WPs. This roadmap will outline strategic actions, policy recommendations, and implementation pathways to guide future restoration efforts at the European level.
The Florence workshop was a productive milestone for WP5, strengthening collaboration across partners and refining the tools and strategies that will support replication and upscaling across Europe.
We’re grateful to Iridra for hosting us and look forward to sharing more progress in the months ahead.
