Living Lab

Nestos Delta / University of Thessaly & International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies

Researchers at the University of Thessaly and the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier (CIHEAM-IAMM) are establishing a living lab within the area of Nestos Delta in Greece. Stakeholders include farmers, farmers’ associations, beekeepers, researchers, agricultural advisors, cooperatives, citizens, value chain stakeholders and regional authorities. They will host annual meetings and additional educational activities to inform wider audiences about the outcomes of the project and the importance of pollinators.

In the context of the activities of the Living Lab, the data obtained from the preliminary monitoring of pollinators will be used as an input for the bio-economic model which will be used in the near future as an important tool for the decision-making process. Additionally, through feedback from stakeholders and members within the community, a valuation of payments for ecosystem services (PES) will be modeled to better understand how these different actors perceive and value the multiple benefits provided by wild pollinators.

This Living Lab is a recent member of the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL).

Activities within the Living Labs

Within the Living Lab network, we are conducting an array of different activities at different levels. These include:

Level 1

The center level contains activities that are conducted at the living labs but coordinated by RestPoll members (i.e. pollinator monitoring).

Pollinator and vegetation monitoring (Task 1.2a)
Pollination monitoring (Task 1.2b)
Measuring the effect of co-design (Task 1.3)
Rapid assessment of plants and pollinators (Task 1.4)
Evaluate interactions among landscape-scale drivers and local restoration measures on pollinators (Task 2.2)
Identify synergies and opportunities for improvements of current restoration implementations (Task 2.3)

Level 2

The second level contains activities that are conducted within the living lab with all stakeholders involved (i.e. workshop to discuss implementation of co-designed measures).

Assess co-benefits of pollinators restoration measures and the direct and indirect impacts of restoration measures on bio-economy (Task 2.4 + 3.3)
Develop and test a novel instrument based on Payments for Restoration-mediated Pollination Services (PRPS) (Task 3.2)
Establishing and monitoring progress and knowledge flow with the Living Lab (Task 4.1)
Assessing enabling conditions for pollinator restoration measures (Task 4.3)

Level 3

The third level are activities that are conducted within the living lab during demonstration events, including a larger audience (i.e. workshop on horizon scan).

Level 4

The final level includes activities that involve the general public within the living lab vicinity (i.e. testing of feasibility of tools).

Assessing the awareness of pollinators and willingness to protect them (Task 3.1)
Estimate the value added by wild pollinators to the food value chain (Task 3.4)
Test and evaluate tools for the RestPoll toolbox of restoration methods (Task 5.2)
Survey consumer willingness to purchase biodiversity-friendly products (Task 5.3)
Understanding and evaluating the co-design of pollinator-friendly labels (Task 5.4)