ZMT - Leibniz Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung

BEACONSplus: New €6 million Horizon Europe project to build climate resilience in coastal communities across the Atlantic

BEACONSplus unites 15 partner organisations from nine countries on both sides of the Atlantic to co-create climate adaptation solutions with coastal communities

A new research and innovation project has launched under the European Union's Horizon Europe programme to help coastal communities on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean adapt to climate change and strengthen their resilience. The BEACONSplus (Building Resilience in Atlantic Communities through Innovation and Science) project has received € 6 million in funding over a period of 3.5 years. It responds to a growing gap between current efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the rate of action required to meet the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement.

The project is coordinated by the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) in Bremen (Germany) and brings together 15 partner organisations from Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ghana, Ireland, Italy, South Africa and the United Kingdom, spanning research institutes, universities civil society and local government networks. BEACONSplus runs from 1 July 2026 to 31 December 2029.

As emissions reductions fall short, rising sea levels and more frequent and severe extreme weather events are increasingly damaging coastal infrastructure and economies and threatening the health, well-being and livelihoods of coastal communities.

Through trans-, multi- and interdisciplinary approaches, BEACONSplus will work directly with coastal communities to identify shared and region-specific challenges, and to develop, expand and share a range of adaptation solutions. The project will build on an existing All-Atlantic Network of Coastal Resilience Beacon Sites comprising a community of established and locally-managed coastal resilience sites that share a belief in community co-design, science and innovation as well as pan-Atlantic cooperation.

BEACONSplus will build widely accessible collaboration platforms to strengthen connections between scientists and coastal communities, co-designing local solutions to shared Atlantic challenges. New tools for exchange and communication are to be developed. These include a community vulnerability assessment tool specifically combining scientific and traditional knowledge to support the conservation and (re-)establishment of coastal ecosystems. In addition, a multi-media interface will make solutions, good practices and lessons from failed approaches accessible to all participating communities.

“BEACONSplus views empowerment and agency of coastal communities as central goals, achieved by enabling communities to participate actively in decision-making through a multi-actor approach rather than having solutions imposed from outside,” says Martin Zimmer, BEACONSplus coordinator from the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT).

BEACONSplus at a glance

Partner organisations

• Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) GmbH (Coordinator) | Germany
• Freeborne Fulcrum Limited | United Kingdom
• Resilience Mapping Canada Ltd | Canada
• University of Galway | Ireland
• Fondazione Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici | Italy
• MEOPAR Incorporated | Canada
• National Research Council Canada | Canada
• National Oceanography Centre | United Kingdom
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) | France
• ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability-Africa | South Africa
• University of Cape Coast | Ghana
• Centre de recherche sur les milieux insulaires et maritimes (CERMIM) | Canada
• Institut de Recherche pour le Développement | France
• Universidade Federal do Pará | Brazil
• University of South Africa | South Africa