Project Financing

RISE has financed its first innovative rural development projects, namely:

The Coastal Bay Design in Norfolk, England.

This research pilot project aim is to stabilise an eroding beach for 21 km and protect 7 villages from flooding and/or erosion with a population of some 4,500 people together with several historic buildings, 4,200 ha farmland and fresh water habitat including Natura 2000 sites.
This research is ongoing and an implementation report is expected soon.


The Cereal Steppes of rivers Jarama and Henares, north of Madrid.

This innovative management project is the result of the framework agreement between the Community of Madrid and the forestry engineering department of Polytechnic University of Madrid and that collaboration agreement between these departments and the private company PROCOSANZ ÁRI DOS S.A.

The aim of the project was to research the use of the “Lodos Secos” system, a new sludge treatment process for rural land reclamation. The system improves the composition of agricultural soil by treating different types of sludge (from quarries, mining, construction, phosphate industries, sugar refining) and consists in separating the solid and liquid phases of sludge management. This is done with 80-90% water saving and minor maintenance costs compared to currently available systems. Moreover, the project has set in motion a series of actions for steppe species’ habitat improvement, specifically the Great Bustard (Otis tarda) in that zone of Madrid. It continues monitoring the actions and its influence on the bustard’s population.

In other words the main objectives are to improve the quality of arable lands through the use of sludge recovered from dry sludge treatments; to establish an adequate management of the territory and to start actions led to improve natural habitats. As such, this project is a model of sustainable development for Madrid’s agrosystem.