On 5 September 2025, the EARTHONE project organised an online workshop to co-develop digital tools for climate adaptation, greenhouse gas mitigation, and inclusive land management. The aim was to involve stakeholders in shaping practical solutions that can improve land use under climate constraints. More than 70 participants from across Europe joined the session.
Climate change and GHGs: setting the scene
The workshop opened with a presentation by Borja Arroyo (UPM) on climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. The audience questionnaires confirmed the scale of the challenge:
- 51.7% said they had observed some noticeable changes in their region over the last 10 years, while 44.8% reported major changes affecting daily life and work.
- The most visible issues were increased temperatures (89.7%), shifts in growing seasons (69.0%), and unpredictable rainfall (65.5%).
- These changes were linked to reduced agricultural productivity (51.7%), water shortages (51.7%), and higher risks of pests and disease (44.8%).
When asked what would help them adapt, participants prioritised closer collaboration with researchers (79.3%), government incentives and aid (75.9%), and training opportunities (69.0%).
Framing the EARTHONE project
Silvia Uribe (UPM) outlined how EARTHONE is addressing these challenges: developing practical tools to support land managers, integrating scientific modelling with local realities, and building a framework where stakeholders’ needs directly shape the design.
Exploring the EARTHONE tools
Three sessions focused on the project’s tools:
- Multi-sensing Ecosystem (David Fabjan, CEDARS): a network of soil, vegetation, and climate sensors enhanced with drones and satellites. Stakeholders valued continuous monitoring as extremely useful (57.1%), and most preferred access via mobile apps (75.0%) or dashboards. Cost, installation, and data reliability were seen as the main barriers.
- Scenario Builder & AI-based decision support (Aris Bonanos, EXUS): an interactive system to test “what-if” land-use and climate scenarios. Participants wanted historical data integrated (90.0%), AI recommendations explained with confidence levels (96.7%), and outputs displayed through interactive dashboards (86.7%).
- Information Factory (Miguel Ángel López & Juan Sebastián Ochoa, SATEC): a new data hub designed to harmonise diverse datasets under FAIR principles. The most valued datasets were climate and weather (75.9%), agricultural and forestry records (62.1%), and biodiversity indicators (44.8%). Calls for better standardisation and user-friendly visualisation tools were especially strong.
What we learned
The feedback highlighted both enthusiasm and practical concerns:
- Monitoring and prediction tools are in high demand, but users need affordable and reliable solutions.
- AI-based recommendations must be transparent, adaptable, and easy to interpret.
- Access to standardised, interoperable data remains a major pain point.
- Ongoing training and support will be essential for broad adoption.
When asked which tool would be most useful, the Multi-sensing Ecosystem (42.3%) came out on top, followed by the Information Factory (30.8%) and the Scenario Builder (26.9%).
Looking ahead
The workshop demonstrated the value of bringing different perspectives together. By combining technical innovation with stakeholder experience, EARTHONE is ensuring that its tools are not only advanced, but also practical, inclusive, and adaptable to local needs.
The full workshop recording is available on the EARTHONE YouTube channel: