EnvironSmart Navigation Natura

The EnviroSmart Navigation Natura (Cáceres, Extremadura) project focuses on identifying and propose technological solutions to prevent and minimize the tourist activities of river cruises in rivers included in the Natura 2000 Network and the Renpex Network, promoted in collaboration with the Tourism Cluster of Extremadura, to carry out this task, SMART technologies were applied for the first time to river navigation.

These technologies, based on computer applications and automation systems, act autonomously in the face of possible threats to the ecosystem of the area. The EnviroSmart initiative also included important activities to disseminate and raise awareness of the results obtained from the preliminary study. To this end, audiovisual material and a practical catalog of EnviroSmart solutions for tourist navigation in Protected Natural Spaces in Extremadura were created.

The project is justified by the growing popularity of aquatic tourist activities in Protected Natural Spaces that have a high biodiversity and environmental richness. Because of this, it is necessary to carry out these activities in a sustainable and respectful way in order to preserve their potential and beauty. In this sense, EnviroSmart Navigation Natura is an innovative effort in the ecosystemic application of this SMART technology in regional river projects. It applies technology to improve the protection and sustainability of the environment, in this case rivers, and to be able to carry out aquatic activities in protected environments with the least possible impact.

Thus, by developing innovative computer applications for the protection of valuable natural aquatic areas, it brings together in the same project two fundamental aspects of BLUE-C development, such as sustainability and the increased use of technology to automate and improve processes. It also favors collaboration between the different companies, creating synergies with technology, tourism, sustainability and collaboration companies.https://www.clusterturismoextremadura.es/proyecto/envirosmart-navigation-natura/