REDESIGN

Funding bodies: Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation - PNIV.5.8.1 COFUND and Horizon Europe, https://uefiscdi.gov.ro/

Project leader: Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. The project brings together seven partners from Poland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain.

The REDESIGN project (Restoration and Depopulation Synergies for Nature) is an interdisciplinary research project funded under the European Biodiversa+ programme, implemented between 2026 and 2028. The consortium includes research institutions from seven European countries: Jagiellonian University in Kraków (Poland, coordinator), KU Leuven (Belgium), Czech Technical University in Prague (Czech Republic), Aarhus University (Denmark), Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (Slovakia), Spanish National Research Council (Spain), and the Research and Development Institute for Wildlife and Mountain Resources (Romania).

The current biodiversity crisis and the consequences of climate change highlight the urgent need for large-scale ecosystem restoration efforts. In this context, the European Nature Restoration Regulation sets ambitious targets for habitat restoration, particularly in rural areas. At the same time, a significant part of Europe is experiencing pronounced rural depopulation, accompanied by major land-use changes, including widespread agricultural abandonment. Although these demographic and ecological processes occur simultaneously and are closely interconnected, the role of depopulation as a factor that may facilitate or hinder biodiversity restoration remains insufficiently studied and integrated into relevant policies.

The REDESIGN project aims to provide an interdisciplinary perspective on rural depopulation in the European Union, treating it as a key element of transformative change in socio-ecological systems. The research is structured around four main scientific objectives.

The first objective focuses on identifying social constraints and opportunities associated with biodiversity restoration in depopulated areas. Through direct engagement with stakeholders - local communities, NGOs, regional authorities, and policymakers - the project will explore their perceptions, values, and expectations regarding different future scenarios for both nature and human communities affected by depopulation.

The second objective aims to analyse the effects of past land-use changes on the current state of biodiversity. Through detailed case studies in six countries - Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Slovakia, and Romania - long-term changes in habitats, species, and ecological processes will be assessed in areas experiencing early or recent depopulation.

The third objective involves evaluating the effectiveness of ecological restoration initiatives implemented across Europe in the context of rural depopulation. Representative restoration and rewilding initiatives will be analysed, identifying factors that promote or hinder their success from both ecological and socio-economic perspectives.

The fourth objective focuses on modelling future demographic and land-use changes in order to identify areas with high potential for biodiversity restoration in the coming decades. The project will generate spatial scenarios of population dynamics and land use up to 2050, integrated with projections of plant diversity up to 2300 under different climate and rewilding scenarios.

The project methodology combines social science methods - interviews, Q-sort deliberations, scenario workshops, and the Policy Delphi method - with advanced techniques such as remote sensing, agent-based spatial modelling, and species distribution models, ensuring a truly interdisciplinary approach.

The project results will be relevant both for rural communities facing depopulation and land-use changes, and for decision-makers at regional, national, and European levels. Key deliverables include publicly available interactive maps and spatial datasets, restoration scenarios tailored to different European regional contexts, policy recommendations for National Restoration Plans derived from the European Nature Restoration Regulation, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, and the Birds and Habitats Directives, as well as decision-support tools accessible to practitioners.