CFPs: European Blue Parks – Offshore Marine Protected Areas

Deadline: 18-Sep-24

The European Commission (EC) is accepting proposals for European Blue Parks – Offshore Marine Protected Areas under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON).

The proposed activities should cover all following objectives:

• mapping the distribution and condition of marine (benthic and pelagic) habitats in offshore areas (beyond 12 nautical miles from the coast);
• providing the scientific basis for establishing new marine protected areas (or enlarging existing ones) in offshore areas, including strictly protected ones;
• assessing pressures (including cumulative ones) in offshore areas and establishing the necessary conservation measures for MPAs, including through elaboration of their management plans and monitoring schemes.

Scope

• Only 8% of offshore marine waters in the EU are covered by marine protected areas (MPAs), compared to 48% of nearshore (0-1 nautical mile) and 27% of territorial (1-12 miles) zone (EEA, 2020). This means that large areas of important habitats offshore remain unprotected (such as soft sediment bottoms or habitats of highly mobile species such as marine mammals), which hinders the achievement of EU and global marine conservation targets to achieve a coherent MPA network. One of the main challenges for the establishment of offshore MPAs is the lack of knowledge about the distribution and condition of marine habitats, as well as pressures affecting them, due to high cost and effort needed for their surveillance and research. This has also been raised by Member States as one of the main issues with the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and of the future Nature Restoration Law.
• Proposals under this topic are expected to show how their activities and results will contribute to achieving the Mission objective 1 – Protect and restore marine and freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity.
• Proposals are expected to contribute to the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, including the Marine Action Plan, the Birds, Habitats and Marine Strategy Framework directives and the future Nature Restoration Law as well as relevant international agreements (e.g.: the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction – BBNJ).
• Projects are encouraged to actively involve Member States/Associated Countries’ authorities and concerned stakeholders.
• Proposals should be site-specific, and the number of sites, their size, objectives and management measures of the protected area(s) for demonstration activities have to be ecologically relevant and impactful and contribute to enhance ecosystem services.
• Projects should build and capitalise on the knowledge base developed and lessons learnt from other projects, initiatives and programmes linked to the field of biodiversity, marine environment and conservation, as well as on the work carried out in relation to Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems, as required under the Regulation (EU) 2016/2336 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2016 establishing specific conditions for fishing for deep-sea stocks in the north-east Atlantic and provisions for fishing in international waters of the north-east Atlantic and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 2347/2002.
• Projects funded under this topic are expected to show a significant replication potential by identifying areas and locations where the proposed measures could be replicable. An action plan and roadmap needed for the replication and scale up of the proposed measures for offshore marine protected areas are expected to be drawn up by the end of the project, taking into account Marine Spatial Planning plans.
• For improved coordination and networking, the applicants should set aside resources for activities to engage with other relevant actions funded under Horizon Europe, in particular projects funded under Horizon Europe Cluster 6 topics, Mission Ocean and Waters topics, EMFAF/EMFF and LIFE activities. Additionally, projects should collaborate with projects funded under the topic Horizon-Infra-2022-EOSC-01-03 to adopt best practices regarding FAIR and open data sharing as well as with other relevant activities under the Research Infrastructures programme.
• Proposals addressing the EU Outermost Regions are encouraged, given these regions’ natural assets.

Funding Information

• The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:
  • public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
  • cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (low-value grant).

Expected Outcomes

• Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:
  • Definition of clear science-based conservation objectives and conservation measures that contribute to the restoration and protection of marine ecosystems and to effective management of protected areas;
  • Evidence for effective decision-making process at Member States and Associated Countries level to ensure sustainable management of offshore marine protected areas;
  • Contribution to policy development and implementation linked to protecting and restoring marine biodiversity and ecosystems;
  • New offshore marine protected areas proposed and/or established;
  • Improved knowledge about offshore marine ecosystems (including deep sea ecosystems) and biodiversity in view of protection and conservation demo activities;
  • Enhancement of the provision of ecosystem services compatible with the protection and restoration of the offshore ecosystems, leading to sustainable and scalable business models;
  • Active support to the Mission’s Digital Ocean and Water Knowledge system through advances in biological, ecosystem and socio-economic knowledge applied to restoration and conservation;
  • Active support to the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework;
  • Reinforced EU leadership in international efforts for marine protection, in line with the EU key priorities and international commitments.

Eligible Activities

• Projects must focus exclusively on civil applications and must not:
  • aim at human cloning for reproductive purposes;
  • intend to modify the genetic heritage of human beings which could make such changes heritable (except for research relating to cancer treatment of the gonads, which may be financed);
  • intend to create human embryos solely for the purpose of research, or for the purpose of stem cell procurement, including by means of somatic cell nuclear transfer.
• Projects must, moreover, comply with EU policy interests and priorities (environment, social, security, industrial policy, etc.).
• The following activities are generally eligible for grants under Horizon Europe:
  • Research and innovation actions (RIA) — Activities that aim primarily to establish new knowledge or to explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution. This may include basic and applied research, technology development and integration, testing, demonstration and validation of a small-scale prototype in a laboratory or simulated environment.
  • Innovation actions (IA) — Activities that aim directly to produce plans and arrangements or designs for new, altered or improved products, processes or services. These activities may include prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation and market replication.
  • Coordination and support actions (CSA) — Activities that contribute to the objectives of Horizon Europe. This excludes research and innovation (R&I) activities, except those carried out under the ‘Widening participation and spreading excellence’ component of the programme (part of ‘Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area’). Also eligible are bottom-up coordination actions which promote cooperation between legal entities from Member States and Associated Countries to strengthen the European Research Area, and which receive no EU co-funding for research activities.
  • Programme co-fund actions (CoFund) — A programme of activities established or implemented by legal entities managing or funding R&I programmes, other than EU funding bodies. Such a programme of activities may support: networking and coordination; research; innovation; pilot actions; innovation and market deployment; training and mobility; awareness raising and communication; and dissemination and exploitation. It may also provide any relevant financial support, such as grants, prizes and procurement, as well as Horizon Europe blended finance30 or a combination thereof. The actions may be implemented by the beneficiaries directly or by providing financial support to third parties.
  • Innovation and market deployment actions (IMDA) — Activities that embed an innovation action and other activities necessary to deploy an innovation on the market. This includes the scaling-up of companies and Horizon Europe blended finance.
  • Training and mobility actions (TMA) — Activities that aim to improve the skills, knowledge and career prospects of researchers, based on mobility between countries and, if relevant, between sectors or disciplines.
  • Pre-commercial procurement actions (PCP) — Activities that aim to help a transnational buyers’ group to strengthen the public procurement of research, development, validation and, possibly, the first deployment of new solutions that can significantly improve quality and efficiency in areas of public interest, while opening market opportunities for industry and researchers active in Europe. Eligible activities include the preparation, management and follow-up, under the coordination of a lead procurer, of one joint PCP and additional activities to embed the PCP into a wider set of demand-side activities.
  • Public procurement of innovative solutions actions (PPI) — Activities that aim to strengthen the ability of a transnational buyers’ group to deploy innovative solutions early by overcoming the fragmentation of demand for such solutions and sharing the risks and costs of acting as early adopters, while opening market opportunities for industry. Eligible activities include preparing and implementing, under the coordination of a lead procurer, one joint or several coordinated PPI by the buyers’ group and additional activities to embed the PPI into a wider set of demand-side activities.

Eligibility Criteria

• To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
  • the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
  • the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States: Aruba (NL), Bonaire (NL), Curação (NL), French Polynesia (FR), French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FR), Greenland (DK), New Caledonia (FR), Saba (NL), Saint Barthélemy (FR), Sint Eustatius (NL), Sint Maarten (NL), St. Pierre and Miquelon (FR), Wallis and Futuna Islands (FR).
  • countries associated to Horizon Europe: Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom.
• Specific cases
  • Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities are eligible for funding if they are established in one of the countries listed above, or in a country identified in the specific call/topic conditions.
  • Associated partners — Entities not eligible for funding (and therefore not able to participate as beneficiaries) may participate as associated partners, unless specified otherwise in the specific call/topic conditions.
  • Coordination and Support Actions – To be eligible to participate as beneficiaries (or affiliated entities) in ‘Coordination and support’ actions, legal entities must be established in a Member State or Associated Country, unless the specific call/topic conditions provide otherwise (in which case the general rules for eligibility for funding apply). Legal entities established in a non-associated third country may, however, participate in ‘Coordination and support’ actions as associated partners, unless this is explicitly excluded by the specific call/topic conditions.
  • 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. International organisations with headquarters in a Member State or Associated Country are eligible to receive funding for ‘Training and mobility’ actions or when provided for in the specific call/topic conditions. Other international organisations are not eligible to receive funding, unless provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.

For more information, visit EC.