NEWS

WI4EURECA Consortium Awarded Phase 2 of the PCP WISE Project

Ngawang Sherpa
Ngawang Thapke Sherpa
SEPTEMBER 14, 2026 • 3 MINS READ

After successfully completing Phase 1 of PCP WISE, our WI4EURECA consortium has been awarded Phase 2 of the project. Arbonaut is proud to continue partnering with Planetek Italia, Latitudo 40, Agricolus S.r.l., Tracasa Global, Kompetenzzentrum Wasser Berlin (KWB), and D-Orbit to develop innovative solutions for climate resilience, environmental monitoring, and sustainable water management across Europe.

Background

Climate change is causing severe global problems, such as droughts, floods, and disruptions in water supply. These issues also affect soil stability, water quality, and increase the risk of wildfires. It creates enormous potential for damage.

The WI4EURECA stands for Water Intelligence for European Urban and Rural Environmental & Climate Assessment. The project addresses some of Europe's most pressing climate challenges:

  • Droughts
  • Floods
  • Wildfires
  • Heat stress
  • Land subsidence
  • Impacts of climate change on urban and rural environments

Through PCP WISE, we are combining satellite Earth Observation, LiDAR, AI, hydrological modelling, and geospatial analytics to transform environmental data into actionable intelligence for climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction, water resource management, environmental monitoring, and emergency response.

WI4EURECA: Arbonaut's contribution

During Phase 1, Arbonaut developed detailed wildfire fuel maps describing surface and canopy fuels, carried out wildfire susceptibility assessments, and analyzed wildland-urban interface fire risk around buildings and roads to better understand where people and assets may be most exposed to future wildfire impacts. We also produced high-resolution terrain and vegetation structure datasets, providing detailed information on ground elevation and forest canopy characteristics to support hydrological and environmental modelling.

Wildland-Urban Interface 50m
Wildland-Urban Interface 10m
Wildland-Urban Interface showing 50-meter defensible zone (left) for fire risk assessment around buildings, where individual trees are identified and evaluated to determine vegetation requiring fuel management measures to reduce wildfire risk to buildings. Wildland-Urban Interface showing 10-meter defensible zone (right) is shown around roads, where individual trees are identified and evaluated to determine vegetation requiring fuel management measures to reduce wildfire risk.
Canopy Fuel Weight map
Horizontal Fuel Gaps map
Canopy Fuel Weight value (left) around building’s 50-meter defensive perimeter. Horizontal Fuel Gaps (right) are areas with insignificant or no vegetation that can be used to create firebreaks, thereby reducing fuel continuity, and helping to limit wildfire spread.

In Phase 2, we will further advance monitoring, forecasting, risk assessment, and decision-support capabilities to help authorities and stakeholders better understand environmental conditions, anticipate emerging climate risks, and make informed decisions.


Fire Susceptibility Map
Tree Species Classification Map
Fire Susceptibility Map (left) shows areas with varying levels of wildfire risk based on vegetation health, species composition, forest structure, and terrain characteristics. Tree Species Classification Map (right) illustrates the spatial distribution of different species. Certain species, such as pines, are generally more prone to fire due to their flammability.

About WI4EURECA

The WI4EURECA Consortium brings together expertise in Earth Observation (EO), hydrological modeling, civil engineering, agriculture, crisis management, and spatial data science.

The solution that the Consortium is working on is a modular, cloud-based decision-support system designed to support climate adaptation. The key features of the solution include:

  • Physically-Based Modelling: To ensure consistent and scientifically sound outputs
  • User-Centric Interface: An interactive dashboard to visualize, analyze, and compare key indicators (e.g., soil moisture, evapotranspiration, land surface temperature) for scenario analysis and climate risk assessment
  • Multi-Scale and Multi-Content Capability: To generate time series for analyzing seasonal variables, extreme events, and spatial variability for both rural and urban use cases

At the core of WI4EURECA are advanced models that describe the Soil-Water-Vegetation system in a consistent and scalable way across Europe.

About PCP WISE

The PCP WISE is a Pre-commercial Procurement (PCP) action funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Programme and selected under the call HORIZON-CL6-2024-GOVERNANCE-01-5. PCP WISE plays a key role in advancing the European Green Deal’s objectives by enhancing the use of Environmental Observation, data and products. The project has started in January 2025 and runs for 36 months.

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