NPower, a project led by Cetenma and funded by the Horizon Europe Programme, has kicked off in Cartagena with the attendance of all members of the 24 partner organisations from 5 European countries and Switzerland, including the Federation of Municipalities of the Region of Murcia.
The launch conference of the European project “NPOWER: Balancing Nitrogen and Phosphorus flows by budgeting at regional scale”, coordinated by CETENMA and funded by the European Commission under the HORIZON EUROPE programme, has been held. In it, 24 partners from five European countries and Switzerland have presented the project and the activities that will be carried out over the next four years of joint work between its participants: experts and key actors in relation to the challenges presented by the management of nutrients in air, water and soil in the bioeconomy in urban, rural and coastal areas.
It is an innovative European initiative to combat nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, which, although good for plants, are harmful to seas, rivers and lakes in excess. It is focused on four regions: Spain, Belgium, Finland and Ireland, developing six recovery technologies that can transform nitrogen and phosphorus waste into eight different types of fertilizers.
This project is not only focused on reducing nitrogen and phosphorus affecting rivers, lakes and seas, and in the case of the region, predominantly the Mar Menor, but also on creating something valuable from this waste. This could be considered a great example of a circular economy, rather than a linear model of take-produce-discard, since we are closing the cycle, recovering resources and minimizing waste.
The FMRM has an important role in NPower, because it will try to involve the political class, as well as regional, national and European public workers. The organisation that includes the 45 Murcian municipalities will be responsible for the organisation of four workshops where the measures that can be taken to achieve the project's objective will be discussed, as well as the holding of a final conference in Brussels to present the results obtained, and the measures that will allow progress to be made in reducing the levels of nitrites and phosphates in our rivers, lakes and seas, especially in the Mar Menor.
With this project, the Federation of Municipalities has now funded 7 projects by the European Union since it embarked on this type of initiative in 2019, with 5 currently active.
FMRM President Víctor Manuel López Abenza says that “participating in this project is one of the great challenges for the coming years, which will further enhance the role of public administration in making decisions that affect the care of our environment.”
Manuel Pato, director of the European Projects area of the Federation of Municipalities, present at the event organised by Cetenma, explained that “this project will contribute to ensuring that innovation and knowledge influence local and regional political instruments, in order to achieve sustainable towns and cities in harmony with nature and citizens, and that is the reason that excites us in this environmental commitment”.
