NEMESIS: a new Horizon Europe project to restore Mediterranean soils
14.10.2025
The Nemesis project, funded by Horizon Europe, aims to combat desertification and restore soil health in vulnerable Mediterranean regions through five interconnected Living Labs. The University of Murcia joins an international consortium working on sustainable, community-driven soil solutions.
The University of Murcia has joined the European research project Nemesis (Soil Health Living Lab Network for Combating Desertification in the Mediterranean), funded under the Horizon Europe programme and aligned with the EU Mission "A Soil Deal for Europe". The project officially started on October 1st, 2025.
Nemesis aims to combat desertification and soil degradation in the most vulnerable regions of the Mediterranean basin. It will do so by establishing a network of five Living Labs in Spain, Italy, France, Cyprus, and across Tunisia and Algeria. These labs will serve as real-life environments for co-creation, co-ownership and co-governance of sustainable soil solutions.
The project brings together 37 partners and two associated partners from 13 countries across Europe, North Africa and beyond. It is coordinated by the Eratosthenes Centre of Excellence (Cyprus), and has been granted a total funding of nearly €12 million over four years.
Each Living Lab will tackle a specific challenge:
- Cyprus: soil-water management
- France: soil-biodiversity
- Italy: soil-crop systems
- Spain: soil-pasture
- Tunisia & Algeria: cross-border soil management
Local stakeholders — including farmers, researchers, policymakers, companies and NGOs — will be actively involved in developing, testing and scaling new approaches to soil regeneration, biodiversity and sustainable land use.
"The challenge is to combat desertification while embedding data-informed, needs-based soil health decisions as a cornerstone of European and Mediterranean policies"
Ioannis Varvaris, Scientific Coordinator of the project.
Nemesis will also deliver a wide range of tools and services to ensure long-term impact, including:
- An open, interoperable data ecosystem for soil monitoring and knowledge sharing
- Training materials and an e-learning platform for vocational and lifelong learning
- Inclusive governance models and scalable business strategies
- Policy recommendations, awareness-raising activities and social innovation tools
The official in-person kick-off meeting will take place in Limassol, Cyprus, from 26 to 28 November 2025, where all consortium partners will come together to coordinate the first phase of the work plan.