PHAROS: LIGHTHOUSE FOR ATLANTIC AND ARCTIC BASIN

PHAROS is an Horizon Europe project, led by the Canary Islands Ocean Platform (PLOCAN), and implemented by a consortium of 24 organizations, which aims to provide nature-based solutions for restoring ecosystems and biodiversity while tackling climate change and human impacts in the Atlantic and Arctic maritime regions. These goals align with the European Union’s ambitious Ocean Mission objectives (Protecting and restoring marine ecosystems and biodiversity; Preventing and eliminating pollution of our ocean; Making the sustainable blue economy carbon-neutral and circular).

The project runs from September 2024 to August 2029 and consists of two phases: the first ‘development and piloting’ phase 1 by 2025, and the second ‘deployment and upscaling’ phase 2 from 2026-2030, during which it will address the following objectives and goals:

Objective 1: To engage in citizen and other stakeholder engagement, co-creation and citizen science for community-led biodiversity solutions. PHAROS will establish Living Labs, early in the project in each demo and replication region.

Objective 2: To demo the most relevant innovative Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) for ecosystem restoration in multiple demo sites in the Atlantic
> Demo 1: A highly innovative IMTA demo in Gran Canaria incorporating polyculture macroalgae with multiple aquaculture infrastructure, fish and high value abalone, sea cucumber and reef restoration combination in a site that suffers from extreme anthropogenic ecosystem damage and is approaching oligotrophic desert status.
> Demo 2: A marine forest and reef restoration demo in Gran Canaria to boost local biodiversity and enhance ecosystem complexity.
> Demo 3: An IMTA and Multiple Use of Space demo combining Salmon farming and macroalgae in Ireland for nutrient waste reduction and biodiversity increase.
>Demo 4: Invasive species reduction demo in Iceland for pink salmon, preventing ecological tipping points using real time eDNA monitoring.

Objective 3: To extend to large areas of the Atlantic, EU AOM islands and Arctic, the BLUE4ALL project Marine Protected Area (MPA)Blueprint platform and network for successful co-management of MPA issues, including identification, categorisation, adaptive management practices, governance and corridor integration

Objective 4 : To fundamentally change perception of roles by implementing fisher and citizen Guardians and Cleaners of the sea programs to address ocean pollution

Objective 5: Assist local entrepreneurs and SMEs co-create multiple demo based NBS business plans, host investor brokerage events, and for Associated Regions co-created replication roadmaps with systematic biodiversity and ecosystem restoration solutions for the AA basin and beyond, based on project results with innovative business models and sophisticated modelling

Objective 6: To extend the Network of Blue Schools to the AA basin to improve ocean literacy across school communities and support citizen science

Objective 7: To provide active support to the EU DTO by building a local DTO of two regions in Gran Canaria and Iceland, and by making the PHAROS project output interoperable with the EU DTO.