In this blogpost, we introduce Restore4Life, an innovative EU project that focuses on restoring wetlands in the Danube basin to enhance climate change resilience and sustainability. The project aims to develop an online system featuring a Citizen Science toolbox and a Wetland Educational program to support restoration efforts, promoting community engagement and environmental education.
Restore4Life will work closely with citizen scientists to optimize assessment methods for wetland ecosystems, including carbon stocks, water quality and biodiversity. The goal is to develop user-friendly methods that can be adopted by non-scientists and that are transferable to other European regions lacking scientific infrastructure.
In spring 2024, several students from BOKU in Austria are working in the March floodplain areas. They are developing methods and protocols to assess the wetlands. This includes measuring carbon stocks in soil and vegetation, monitoring species occurrence, and assessing the biodiversity of trees and herbaceous plants in the riparian forests. The methods will be tested and optimized with the help of citizen scientists. Additionally, the data collected by citizen scientists will be compared with expert data to determine which surveys can also be used effectively by non-scientists in other European wetlands.
For more information, visit the website of Restore4Life https://restore4life.eu/
