The action will support the co-creation of narratives, and innovative visualisation tools such as maps, related to different scenarios of what the EU and its ocean, seas and water spaces could look like by 2030 and 2050 if innovative solutions to restore our ocean and waters would be applied, so that the targets of the Mission Ocean and Waters and consequently those of the European Green Deal are fully reached. These narratives must be supported by the co-design of different science-based transition pathways together with citizens including students and key stakeholders such as scientists, experts and decision-makers responsible for planning ocean and water spaces. The co-design process should be inclusive, participatory following transdisciplinary and structured science-policy-society interface methodologies and taking into consideration environmental, social, economic and political considerations.

Proposals should also develop specific regional visions, scenarios and narratives for each of the four Mission lighthouse areas in the Atlantic-Arctic, Danube, Mediterranean Sea, Baltic and North Sea, supported by innovative visualisation tools and co-created by multi-actors such as local stakeholders and citizens. By choosing a minimum of four large scale case-studies, the action should enable the participatory co-design of alternative futures where the Mission objectives have been achieved in the lighthouse area, and develop together with the relevant stakeholders the action pathways and necessary narratives to achieve these alternative futures.

Proposals should develop and visualise different scenarios for each of the case-studies, with both 2030- and 2050-time horizons in line with the Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters and EU Green Deal targets. They should at least encompass a business-as-usual scenario, in which current trends are extrapolated, as well as a scenario where European Green Deal and relevant environmental legislation targets for climate, biodiversity and pollution are fully reached through the large-scale deployment of innovative solutions. They should rely on and be compatible with the EU Digital Twin Ocean developments and eventually become one of its use-cases.

Scenarios of the future should in particular include the deployment at scale of innovative solutions with a special emphasis on nature-based solutions, which are proven to be environmentally, economically and socially effective and which address in particular the climate change, biodiversity and pollution driven challenges to the ocean and water system, including biodiversity loss and its impacts on marine ecosystems and sectors relying on it, sea level rise, extreme weather, as well as pollution of the seas, coasts and rivers. The scenarios should take the objectives of current EU policies and legislation into consideration for their design.

Proposals are expected to develop a map and visualisations as an interactive, dynamic and digital tool and application to be co-created and used by citizens, including schools and planners at EU, national, regional and where applicable local level, using whenever possible the Digital Twin of the Ocean core public infrastructure and its services. This could take the form of an interactive 2D and 3D visual experience of the future envisioned EU and regional landscapes (NUTS 2 and NUTS 3) and ocean and water space incl. the seabed.