Call: Understanding and valuing coastal and marine biodiversity and ecosystems services

The EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 is a cornerstone of the European Green Deal that will put Europe’s biodiversity on the path to recovery by 2030, for the benefit of people, the climate and the planet. It will also prepare the EU to take a leading role in the upcoming international negotiations on a new global framework to halt biodiversity loss. With the Green Deal’s ‘do no significant harm’ vision, all EU policies will become more biodiversity-friendly, focusing more on the sustainable use of ecosystems, supporting the recovery in a post-pandemic world[[COM/2020/380 EU biodiversity strategy for 2030: Bringing nature back into our lives]]. This policy vision is fully supported in the strategic plan of Horizon Europe for 2021-2024 in its first key strategic orientation ‘Protecting and restoring ecosystems and biodiversity and managing sustainably natural resources on land and at sea, and achieving climate neutrality and adaptation’. Consequently, Destination ‘Biodiversity and ecosystem services’ intends to achieve the following expected impact from Cluster 6 ‘Biodiversity is back on a path to recovery, and ecosystems and their services are preserved and sustainably restored on land, inland water and at sea through improved knowledge and innovation’. All actions funded under this destination must therefore help to deliver this main impact.

Research and innovation is key to delivering results that will have an important impact on biodiversity, food, health, water and climate, which are all interconnected, and to achieving the goal of healthy and resilient ecosystems by 2030. It will also enable transformational change engaging European society and economy and their global impacts, making decisions more biodiversity-friendly. R&I will support policy targets, develop nature-based solutions[[Nature-based solutions are “inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience. Such solutions bring more, and more diverse, nature and natural features and processes into cities, landscapes and seascapes, through locally adapted, resource-efficient and systemic interventions. Hence, nature-based solutions must benefit biodiversity and support the delivery of a range of ecosystem services.”]] and holistic approaches to address the main causes of biodiversity loss, particularly in connection to production systems, bringing all sectors together to be integrated in ecosystem-based management. Investments in R&I will help to protect and restore the integrity of terrestrial, aquatic and marine ecosystems, currently under multiple pressures, and protect and restore their capacity to deliver a wide range of essential services. Under Horizon Europe, a long-term strategic research agenda for biodiversity will also be developed.

The sixth mass extinction is taking place: one million species are at risk of extinction, and the degradation of ecosystems severely affects the fabric of life that enables the survival of humankind[[IPBES global assessment (2019). Summary for policy-makers.]]. None of the globally agreed targets of the 2011-2020 strategic plan for biodiversity has been fully achieved[[United Nation’s 5th Global Biodiversity Outlook (2020).]], with the biodiversity crisis even deepening. Our knowledge on biodiversity status, pressures, impacts and responses needs to be improved, requiring even basic taxonomic work in certain ecosystems. Understanding biodiversity decline and addressing its main drivers through data-driven science, integrated multidisciplinary knowledge, new tools, models and scenarios, will support Europe’s policy needs and boost global biodiversity science. Solutions for preventing and addressing the individual and cumulative effect of direct drivers of biodiversity loss (land use change, overexploitation, climate change, invasive species, pollution) need to be further developed and made available to policy makers and practitioners, such as through the new EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity[[https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/biodiversity_en]]. For more impact on society and economic sectors, citizen science and crowdsourcing also require big data analysis, artificial intelligence, social sciences, communications and policy tools.

Valuing and restoring biodiversity and ecosystem services is necessary to develop tools to guide decisions, inform and implement policies on the environment, water, health, climate, disaster risk reduction, agriculture, forests and other land use types, protected areas management, the sustainable bioeconomy, the blue economy, maritime and cross-sectoral spatial planning, and responsible business practices. The continued degradation of the ecosystems and their services affects biodiversity and climate change[[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0738-8]], and increases the risk of severe ecological disasters and pandemics. The European Green Deal and its biodiversity strategy call for urgent action to restore damaged aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in order to increase biodiversity and deliver a wide range of ecosystem services.

The contribution of ecosystems to human wellbeing and the economy is not properly accounted for in market transactions, or in planning and investment decisions: the social and economic co-benefits of healthy ecosystems are often disregarded. Natural capital accounts need to be developed and mainstreamed. Investments in R&I will also lay the ground for scaling up and speeding up the implementation of technological, societal and nature-based solutions (NBS). NBS support vital ecosystem services, biodiversity and biomass provision, as well as access to drinking water, clean soil, improved livelihoods, healthy diets and food safety and security from sustainable food systems. NBS deployment will also create green jobs and build resilience to climate change and natural disasters. Citizens, authorities, businesses, social partners and the research community must be engaged at local, regional, national and European levels.

Managing biodiversity in primary production: Biodiversity is the basis for sustainable and resilient agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture and forestry, as also recognised in the farm to fork and biodiversity strategies under the Green Deal. With diverse genetic resources, it is possible to use in primary production plants and animals that are adapted to different environments, ecosystems and meet diverse needs. Furthermore, the interplay between species below and above ground delivers important ecosystem services, such as pollination, soil fertility, pest and risk control. Despite these recognised benefits, current production systems tend to be specialised and rely on a limited number of crops, breeds and forest tree species whose genetic basis is narrow. Reversing this trend and increasing their resilience is critical and of global concern in particular in the current context of accelerated climate change and a growing population whose production and consumption footprint is increasing.

Enabling transformative change [[Transformative change has been defined by IPBES as “A fundamental, system-wide reorganization across technological, economic and social factors, including paradigms, goals and values”. IPBES global assessment (2019). Summary for policy-makers.]] in biodiversity: Science (IPBES and IPCC) and Policy (the global post-2020 biodiversity framework and the EU biodiversity strategy) clearly underline that biodiversity loss can only be successfully addressed if transformative changes are initiated, accelerated, and up-scaled. There is however hardly any knowledge on potentials and challenges arising from transitions focused on biodiversity. System-level change of this kind starts with social innovation in the form of, for example, regulations, incentives, local and participatory processes, and through the introduction of new technologies, new production processes, or new consumer products, which change how socio-technical and socio-ecological systems operate and impact their environment. Such transformative change must decrease the impacts of indirect drivers of biodiversity loss, which are in turn, underpinned by societal values and behaviours. Indirect drivers of biodiversity loss are understood to mean here: production and consumption patterns, human population dynamics and trends (including their footprints), trade, technological innovations, and local to global governance (including financing). Research and innovation can enable these transformative changes to happen and initiate processes, behaviour changes and actions which are transforming the way we impact biodiversity. Socio-economic and multidisciplinary research, including on the role of education, will develop knowledge and tools to understand the role of transformative change for biodiversity policy making, address the indirect drivers for biodiversity loss, and accelerate transformative changes in our society that are relevant to biodiversity.

Interconnecting biodiversity research and supporting policies refers to the establishment of the European Partnership ‘Rescuing biodiversity to safeguard life on Earth’ and to the support to other science-policy interfaces. The European partnership on biodiversity[[https://www.biodiversa.org/1759]] will connect national, local and European research, innovation and environmental programmes, combining resources in support of one goal, i.e. that by 2030 biodiversity in Europe is back on the path to recovery. It will co-develop multidisciplinary research and innovation programmes with stakeholders, set up a European network of coordinated observatories for biodiversity monitoring, and implement a broad range of activities to increase the relevance, impact and visibility of EU research and innovation in tackling the biodiversity crisis in line with the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030.

Science-policy interfaces on biodiversity and nature-based solutions have made good progress in recent years[[Good leverage effects have been achieved, notably through EKLIPSE, Oppla, the NBS platform, the EU4IPBES support action 2018-2021.]], and must be stepped up to achieve targeted impacts on biodiversity-relevant policies, that can in turn be used as structured policy input into the research cycle. These interfaces are also key to guiding biodiversity governance, and to implement the EU Green Deal and international conventions[[In particular, the UN Convention on Biodiversity, and the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030]]. In line with the Commission priority 'A stronger Europe in the world', the EU must take and demonstrate leadership in this field, notably by increasing its support to IPBES[[The Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services]] -to bring it up to the same level as the IPCC-, and to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Besides economic support, this also includes efforts to create synergies and cooperation between IPBES, regional Multilateral Environmental Agreements and other relevant research communities to ensure a full coverage of all relevant aspects of biodiversity and ecosystem services in order to underpin the full scope of the post 2020 global biodiversity framework.

All topics will directly contribute to the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 and to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 13, 14, 15, 17.

Several missions will also help to achieve biodiversity-related impacts, notably in the areas of ‘Adaptation to climate change including societal transformation’, ‘Climate-neutral and smart cities’, ‘Ocean, seas and waters’ and ‘Soil health and food’.

Expected impact

Proposals for topics under this destination should set out a credible pathway contributing to Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and more specifically to one or more of the following impacts:

• Biodiversity decline, its main direct drivers and their interrelations are better understood and addressed through the production, integration and use of open data, knowledge, education and training, innovative technologies, solutions and control measures, in collaboration with European and international initiatives.
• Biodiversity and natural capital are integrated into public and business decision-making at all levels for the protection and restoration of ecosystems and their services; science base is provided for planning and expanding protected areas, and sustainably managing ecosystems.
• Europe builds competitive sustainability and tackles climate change and natural disasters through the deployment of nature-based solutions, including ecosystem-based disaster risk-reduction approaches fully reaping their economic, social and environmental benefits for a green recovery across all European regions.
• The interrelations between biodiversity, health, food, soil, water, air and climate are better known and communicated to citizens and policy-makers; in particular, risks associated with microbiomes and biodiversity-friendly prevention/mitigation measures, and opportunities for biodiversity recovery are identified.
• Practices in agriculture and forestry support biodiversity and the provision of other ecosystems services based on a) a better understanding of functional biodiversity (above and below ground), b) effective knowledge and innovation systems and c) ready-to use solutions for land managers, adapted to specific conditions.
• Access to a wider range of crops and breeds with a broadened genetic base is improved in line with global biodiversity commitments by gaining greater insight into the characteristics of genetic resources and by enhancing capacities for their preservation and use in breeding and in primary production (farming, forestry, fisheries, aquaculture). More (bio)diverse, resilient production systems will have positive knock-on effects on value chains, consumption, healthy diets and the wider, non-managed biodiversity.
• Approaches for enabling transformative changes in society for biodiversity and ecosystems recovery are identified, tested and implemented in policy, governance, law business and society; all indirect drivers of biodiversity loss are addressed and ‘do not harm’ biodiversity policies become a mainstream part of all sectors.
• Biodiversity research is interconnected across Europe, supporting and enhancing the ambition of national, EU and international environmental policies and conventions.

When considering the impact of the proposals, their compliance with the ‘do no significant harm’ principle[[As per Article 17 of Regulation (EU) No 2020/852 on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment (EU Taxonomy Regulation)]] has to be assessed. Also it has to be ensured that the research and innovation activities do not cause a significant harm to any of the six environmental objectives of the EU Taxonomy Regulation.

The portfolio of actions under this destination will have impacts in the following areas: “Enhancing ecosystems and biodiversity on land and in waters”; “Climate change mitigation and adaptation”; “Clean and healthy air, water and soil”; “Sustainable food systems from farm to fork on land and sea”; and “A resilient EU prepared for emerging threats”.

Expected Outcome:

• In support of the implementation of the Green Deal and the biodiversity strategy, and in order to better understand biodiversity decline, its main direct drivers and their interrelations, successful proposals will contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: Closure of the gap in the knowledge and exploration of marine and coastal biodiversity at the level of species, the intraspecific/genetic level, ecosystems, functionalities, trophic-interactions and interconnections across temporal and spatial scales;
• New theoretical frameworks for the organisation of marine biotic communities, with key species, from microbiome to megafauna, from benthic to pelagic, especially invertebrates and apex predators, and considering sex segregation determined by environmental parameters, in space and time and the ecosystem processes linking them (energy and biogeochemical cycles, including the role of migratory species behaviour ), from deep sea to coastal biotopes including intertidal areas
• Ocean health prediction (including climate change vulnerability), decision-making and policy implementation supported by the full integration of ecological components with physical and geochemical components (in four dimensions: surface, water columns, seafloor, time) into improved global and regional high-resolution models of ecosystems conditions and dynamics;
• Improved detection and monitoring of invasive alien species, assessment of their impact on biodiversity and conservation monitoring of endangered species;
• Natural capital accounting with an estimation of the value and co-benefits of services from healthy deep sea to coastal ecosystems, including non-financial benefits such as well-being and social and cultural values for policy and decision-making; development of a common EU methodology and criteria for the non-financial ecosystem benefits;
• Improved science-based maritime spatial planning and identification of Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas and design of Marine Protected Areas.

Scope:

Studies estimate there may be 0.7 to 1.0 million eukaryotic marine species, of which about only 226,000 are described. The EEA State of Nature Report 2013-2018 found a general lack of marine species data that hampers the elaboration of conservation and restoration measures, the sustainable management of ecosystems and, therefore, the achievement of favourable conservation status. For instance, invertebrates supporting the lower level of the food chain or marine mammals are among those species with the highest proportion of unknown assessments (over 78 %). In the deep sea, over 90% of the species may be new to science. Additionally, very little is known about the effects of modern biogenic structures related to feeding types and morphological traits that may play a major role in biogeochemical cycles. Marine biodiversity hotspots in tropical and subtropical shallow areas host species and processes that are yet undescribed. The lack of biodiversity knowledge and appropriate monitoring are critical limiting factors in the definition and implementation of measures, where the range, population size and suitable habitat area are unknown in the majority of Member States and for the majority of vulnerable marine species and ecosystems. The main reasons are the limited access and high cost of explorations of the diversity of biotopes in the vast marine and coastal realm, in particular the deep sea, and the resources available to identify organisms across the full range of sizes (from microorganisms to megafauna).

Acidification, deoxygenation, global warming and climate change, including seasonal patterns, are affecting marine ecosystems faster than terrestrial ecosystems, with their cumulative and long term effects amplifying the unprecedented pressures of the rapidly evolving ocean economy, driven by human needs for food, energy, transportation and recreation, as underlined by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES GA, 2019). The effects have been documented on mobile and habitat building species over the past two decades and reveal an accelerating trend (IPBES GA, IPCC 2019). Many marine species are highly mobile, often migratory and rely on a number of different habitats throughout their developmental stages. In addition, the marine realm hosts numerous species for which sex determination is dependent upon environmental conditions such as temperature, seasonal patterns, and other geochemical parameters. For these species, environmental changes may cause different responses and effects on species populations and related ecosystems functions that are not shown when studying the species indiscriminately of sex and population dynamics.

With so much still unknown, ecosystem processes cannot be fully understood. This weakens models of marine ecosystems and their responses to pressures and diminishes our capacity to predict and take the best measures. Since biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate in Earth’s history, there is an urgent need to take conservation measures and develop holistic ecosystem-based management approaches, so that these ecosystems become resilient to environmental changes and are able to provide services for humankind and the planet’s life support system. For this, it is critical to improve the knowledge and understand and model marine biodiversity as soon as possible. Proposals should address all of the following aspects:

• Increase understanding of the dynamics of marine biodiversity and ecosystems processes and functioning (including primary production, food webs and biogeochemical cycles) in Europe, in its outermost regions and overseas countries and territories, whose participation is encouraged, and in areas beyond national jurisdictions. Ensure that new modelling and scenario approaches integrate new and existing biodiversity data and knowledge from other EU, international and national projects and from long-term ecosystem and socio-ecological research infrastructure on species, biotopes and ecosystem processes.Genomics and taxonomic technologies for the inventory and fast identification of marine species from microbes, plankton and invertebrates to migratory species (including diadromous species), apex predators such as sharks and mammals, corals and other habitat building species, generating reference datasets from identified voucher specimens and novel methods to improve biodiversity monitoring and inventory.
• Increase understanding of how input from freshwater and estuarine systems influence coastal marine communities and their ecosystem functionality.
• Use acoustic and non-invasive monitoring as an integral component of any marine ecosystem exploration and assessment.
• Develop methods and indicators for regular and timely integrated assessments of the state / health of marine biodiversity and its key ecosystem services, in the EU and associated countries’ marine waters (Good Environmental Status) and in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
• Contribute to the Global Taxonomy Initiative of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and to free and open access to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility’s biodiversity data.
• Identify opportunities for cooperation with relevant projects, such as EUROPABON, which was awarded funding under the call ‘SC5-33-2020: Monitoring ecosystems through research, innovation and technology’, or the projects resulting from topics under the Heading ‘Understanding biodiversity decline’" in Destination ‘Biodiversity and ecosystem services’ as well as topics from Destination ‘Fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food systems from primary production to consumption’ (aquaculture, fisheries), Destination ‘Circular economy and bioeconomy sectors’ (biotechnologies, microbiome), Destination ‘Land, ocean and water for climate action’ (Carbon cycle and natural processes) and Destination ‘Innovative governance, environmental observations and digital solutions in support of the Green Deal’ (environmental observation). Cooperation is also expected with the Biodiversity Partnership (HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-02-01) and other relevant Horizon Europe missions and partnerships. Proposals should outline a plan on how they intend to collaborate with other projects selected and with the initiatives mentioned, by e.g. participating in joint activities, workshops, common communication and dissemination activities, etc. Applicants should allocate the necessary budget to cover the plan. The plan’s relevant activities will be set out and carried out in close co-operation with the relevant Commission departments, ensuring coherence with related policy initiatives.
• Where relevant, create links, contributing to and using the information and data of the European Earth observation programme Copernicus, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), the European Space Agency’s Earth Observation Programme and in particular the flagship actions on biodiversity and ocean health of the EC-ESA Joint Earth system science initiative, is expected.
• Improve professional skills and competences on marine taxonomy and system thinking.
• Engage in cooperation with the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity and other relevant existing platforms and information sharing mechanisms.
• Contribute through education and training (school & ocean literacy, art and citizen science platforms) to a greater overall societal and public understanding of the link between biodiversity and the functioning of ecosystems.

To achieve the expected outcomes, international cooperation is strongly encouraged.

eligible non-EU countries:

• countries associated to Horizon Europe

• low-and middle-income countries

Legal entities which are established in countries not listed above will be eligible for funding if provided for in the specific call conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.

Specific cases:

• Affiliated entities - Affiliated entities are eligible for funding if they are established in one of the countries listed above.
• EU bodies - Legal entities created under EU law may also be eligible to receive funding, unless their basic act states otherwise.
• International organisations - International European research organisations are eligible to receive funding. Unless their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority, other international organisations are not eligible to receive funding. International organisations with headquarters in a Member State or Associated Country are eligible to receive funding for ‘Training and mobility’actions and when provided for in the specific call conditions.

Unless otherwise provided for in the specific call conditions , legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes:

• at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State;and
• at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.

Proposal page limits and layout:

The application form will have two parts:

• Part A to be filled in directly online  (administrative information, summarised budget, call-specific questions, etc.)
• Part B to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system

Page limit - Part B: 45 pages