PHAROS: Lighthouse for Atlantic and Arctic Basin

The EU has set bold quantified and measurable targets to achieve its Ocean Mission objectives relating to protecting and restoring marine ecosystems and biodiversity (Mission Objective 1); preventing and eliminating pollution of our ocean (Mission Obj. 2); and making the sustainable blue economy carbon-neutral and circular (Mission Obj.3) by 2030. The EU Mission Implementation Plan has two demanding, but necessarily near-term phases: the first ‘development and piloting’ phase by 2025, and the second ‘deployment and upscaling’ phase from 2026-2030. PHAROS will be the logical steppingstone bridging Mission Phase 1 ‘development and piloting’ and the second ‘deployment and upscaling’ phase from 2026-2030.

• PHAROS will have three demos in the Atlantic using a combination of newly developed innovative NBS and IMTA, tailored to the local context, resulting in multiple biodiversity and ecosystem restoration benefits (Mission Phase 1). These demos will also leverage key Mission projects including Ocean Citizen, Climarest, and Ultfarms (Mission phase 2).
• PHAROS will also partner with H2020 ECOTIP to leverage and extend its project in a demo to reduce invasive species in Iceland with eDNA monitoring (Mission phase 1 and 2).
• PHAROS will expand (TRL advance) and implement the Mission’s main projects throughout the AA basin, including the CSIC’s MINKA citizen science initiative for marine biodiversity observation, the Blueprint platform for MPA management from the Prep4Blue programme, the Nettagplus and Remedies Fisher Guardian and Citizen Litter Entrepreneur programmes for marine litter reduction, recycling and recovery, and the ProBleu EUBlue School Network platform for education (bridge to phase 2).

PHAROS will establish Living Labs, early in the project in each demo and replication region, securing participation for its co-creation approach, across all relevant and necessary actors including different levels of government, researchers and innovators, education institutions, small and large, businesses, investors and civil society. Business plans and models will also be created for these living labs, along with financing plans, in order to scale up Pharos’ solutions and ensure continuity and impact in local communities after the project’s completion.