OKEANOS

The Isla Bonita Project: Supporting Managing Authorities to Restore the Oceans and Waters on Islands officially launched this week in La Palma, Canary Islands. Funded by the Horizon Europe programme, the project brings together research institutions, authorities and other partners from island regions across Europe.

Coordinated by PLOCAN – Plataforma Oceánica de Canarias, the project will run from September 2026 to August 2031 and has more than €16 million in European funding. Over the next five years, Isla Bonita will support island regions in restoring their marine and freshwater ecosystems, strengthening resilience to environmental change and developing solutions adapted to the needs of each territory.

The project includes nine island demonstrations and nine Living Labs, where solutions will be developed and tested in collaboration with local authorities, researchers and other stakeholders. These Living Labs are distributed across three lighthouse basins: the Atlantic and Macaronesia, the Mediterranean, and the Baltic/North Sea.

The OKEANOS Institute is part of the Isla Bonita consortium through the Azores Demo, one of the project’s demonstrations in the Azores.

In the Azores, the work will focus on assessing and mitigating the impacts of noise associated with whale-watching activities. Through the monitoring and research of the marine acoustic environment, the aim is to improve understanding of the effects of this activity on cetaceans and contribute to the development of measures that promote more sustainable use of the marine environment.

The Azores Demo will be developed in collaboration with the other project partners and local stakeholders, bringing together scientific knowledge and stakeholder participation to define solutions and a long-term strategy for the region.

The Kick-off Meeting, taking place from 21 to 23 September in La Palma, marks the official start of the project’s implementation and brings together representatives from the consortium partners. During the meeting, partners will introduce the nine pilot projects, align priorities, launch the Living Labs and begin shaping the Mission Ocean roadmap for Europe’s islands.

The Isla Bonita project will strengthen collaboration between European island regions, promoting knowledge exchange and the replication of solutions across different territories and ocean basins.

In the Azores, OKEANOS will contribute to this goal through the Azores Demo, bringing together science, monitoring and management to better understand and reduce the impacts of human activities on the marine environment.

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