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Call Updates
Oct 12, 2021 12:16:57 PM
Call HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01 has closed on the 06 October 2021. 71 proposals have been submitted.
The breakdown per topic is: HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-12: 5
Evaluation results are expected to be communicated in March 2022
Jun 22, 2021 4:59:06 PM
The submission session is now available for: HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-12(HORIZON-RIA)
Improved science based maritime spatial planning and identification of marine protected areas
TOPIC ID: HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-12
Programme: Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)
Call: Biodiversity and ecosystem services (HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01)
Type of action: HORIZON-RIA HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
Type of MGA: HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG]
Deadline model: single-stage
Opening date: 22 June 2021
Deadline date: 06 October 2021 17:00:00 Brussels time
Topic description
ExpectedOutcome:
In support of the implementation of the Green Deal and the biodiversity strategy, a successful proposal will improve the knowledge to restore ecosystems and halt biodiversity loss, supporting notably the following impact in this destination: ‘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 increasing protected areas, and sustainably managing ecosystems’.
Projects results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:
Scope:
Restored and properly protected coastal and marine ecosystems bring substantial health, social and economic benefits to coastal communities and the EU and Associated Countries as a whole. The need for stronger action is all the more acute as marine and coastal ecosystem biodiversity loss is severely exacerbated by global warming.
Achieving a good environmental status of marine ecosystems, will be accomplished not only through protected areas and the restoration of important ecosystems but also by the ways we use the sea so that we no longer endanger food security, fishers’ livelihoods, and the fisheries and seafood sectors. The EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 underlines the application of an ecosystem-based management approach to reduce the adverse impacts of fishing, extraction, mining and other human maritime activities, taking into account pressures from land-based activities, especially on sensitive species and seabed habitats. To support this, national maritime spatial plans should aim to cover all blue economy sectors and take into account the natural ecological features and the link between them.
Experience and lessons learnt from existing marine protected areas (MPAs) show that our capacity to identify ideal locations for MPAs, their sizes, borders, management practices and their connectivity fails to consider the different aspects of biodiversity attributes, to recognise climate change impacts and lacks a sound scientific base in relation to certain aspects. The optimal locations, connectivity and restrictions in MPAs required to achieve the protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services remain uncertain and are likely to become even more dynamic as the marine environmental conditions are changing fast.
So far, there has been a predominance of MPAs and projects concerned with genes and species and less with individual traits and inter-specific processes, and very few addressing large-scale habitats and ecosystem level processes. Knowledge and scientific approaches are still lacking to address all biodiversity attributes using a coherent and systemic approach. Links and feedbacks between and within biodiversity attributes, ecosystem services and policy implications are lacking.
By building on and integrating existing knowledge and results from multiple origins, including other EU and national projects, research and innovation could pave the way to fill present gaps on marine biodiversity and its management by better linking spatially ecological features with socio-economic elements. It can also have potential links with activities funded by the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF), in particular calls and projects on Maritime Spatial Planning.