COMCHA (Community-based Change: Local and Traditional Knowledge(s) in Nature-Based Solutions) is an innovative international research project focused on exploring the transformative potential of community-driven nature-based solutions (NBS) for biodiversity regeneration, social justice, and sustainable change. The project addresses critical gaps in the current understanding of NBS by emphasizing marginalized and threatened communities in Europe and overseas—communities that have been historically overlooked despite facing persistent environmental, social, and economic challenges.

Nature-based solutions have emerged as powerful approaches to tackle complex societal challenges related to biodiversity loss and climate adaptation. However, they often lack attention to the cultural, political, and economic dimensions necessary to ensure equitable and just benefits. COMCHA aims to bridge this gap by focusing on the invisible or marginalized groups living in vulnerable contexts: rural settlements threatened by environmental conflicts, indigenous lands affected by natural resource exploitation, geographically isolated peripheral islands, and urban peripheries exposed to ghettoization processes with inadequate basic services.

Grounded in critical political ecology, economic sociology, social innovation theory, and participatory governance frameworks, COMCHA seeks to understand how local and traditional knowledge systems can reinforce regenerative ecological practices while promoting social cohesion and inclusion. The project examines community-led initiatives through participatory action research, combining qualitative and spatial methods such as cognitive mapping, visual sociology, and participatory mapping. This approach facilitates in-depth engagement with community stakeholders and ensures the co-production of knowledge and solutions.

COMCHA is structured around three thematic research nodes – food systems, alternative urbanism, and technologies of production – that reflect distinct facets of nature-based solutions interconnected with community resilience and ecological transition. These nodes explore agroecological practices in rural and indigenous contexts, inclusive urban regeneration in marginalized neighborhoods, and community-based technologies for sustainable production and ecological infrastructure.

A hallmark of COMCHA’s approach is its commitment to intercultural translation and mutual learning between European and Latin American contexts, fostering knowledge exchange on regenerative practices rooted in diverse social, cultural, and environmental realities. This transnational dialogue broadens the conventional notions of innovation, adaptation, and community resilience, enriching the NBS framework with perspectives that highlight environmental justice, representational justice, and the rights of marginalized groups.

The project not only advances theoretical frameworks for just transformative change but also contributes practical tools and criteria for evaluating and monitoring nature-based solutions that recognize intangible values, collective agency, and long-term regenerative impact. Through collaborative governance models and an emphasis on self-organisation and cooperation, COMCHA amplifies the role of community economies and social dynamics essential to sustaining biodiversity and well-being in threatened territories.

COMCHA brings together a consortium of 12 partners from seven countries, combining expertise from social sciences, ecology, geography, anthropology, and communication to ensure a multidisciplinary and comprehensive outlook. The project integrates ethical, gender, and data management protocols aligned with European standards to safeguard responsible research practices.

Beyond academic contributions, COMCHA actively engages stakeholders—ranging from community leaders, local authorities, farmers, and indigenous representatives to NGOs, professionals, and the wider public—through participatory workshops, communication campaigns, and dissemination initiatives. Its inclusive communication strategy leverages digital platforms, visual storytelling, and policy briefs to make project findings accessible and actionable for diverse audiences.

By centering threatened communities and their alternative knowledge systems within the nature-based solutions agenda, COMCHA pioneers pathways toward ecological restoration intertwined with social justice and just transitions. It offers policymakers, researchers, and practitioners grounded insights and innovative frameworks to support resilient, equitable, and culturally sensitive environmental governance at local, national, and transnational levels.