Deadline: 06-Oct-21
The European Commission (EC) is pleased to announce a mechanism for science to inform implementation, monitoring, review and ratcheting up of the new EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 (‘Science Service’) Grants.
The EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 announced a science policy mechanism for research-based options to ratchet up the implementation of commitments made on biodiversity
. This topic is to provide a Science Service as a dedicated tool to regularly integrate science into EU biodiversity policy-making in terms of what is needed to implement the strategy.
It should bridge the continued and critical gap on knowledge sharing and should complement other EU-funded initiatives.
It should feed into the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity.
Objectives
The objective is to reformat and connect research results to the needs of environmental policy in a targeted dialogue between science and policy makers.
This should include science resulting from the latest EU R&I activities and infrastructures, shape future R&I and be embedded in the long-term strategic research agenda on biodiversity.
Proposals should develop a Science Service mechanism that covers all of the following aspects:
- Inspired by IPBES functions, it should provide relevant policy tools (e.g. indicators), generate knowledge to fill gaps, build capacity within and beyond the EU, and contribute to science-based assessments for the EU decision-making process.
- All work carried out by the Science Service should be defined under strong and clear governance arrangements, including how to prioritise requests, and designed to support implementing, monitoring, reporting and reviewing the EU biodiversity strategy. The governance should be led by DG RTD, in cooperation with DG ENV, DG JRC and the EEA, and ideally involve the Environmental Knowledge Community (EKC) and factor in its needs and requests.
- The Science Service should feed into the EC Knowledge Centre on Biodiversity and support it to direct knowledge gaps and policy questions to science, synthesize knowledge, and communicate emerging issues identified by science to decision-makers in policy, business, NGOs, land users or site managers.
- Member States, and where appropriate associated countries, civil society and the Mission Boards under Horizon Europe, may also ask the Science Service to cover specific topics.
- The Science Service should use the tools and results funded by the EU research framework programmes, by other sources of European funding, and additional relevant sources, which it should help integrate into the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity. It should cooperate with the European partnership on biodiversity.
- The Science Service should take up requests from biodiversity policy-making to the Biodiversity Partnership, and to the biodiversity-relevant missions in Horizon Europe. This would be orchestrated in collaboration with the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity; such as via its user forum function.
- The work of the Science Service should be presented and discussed at expert or working groups according to the governance framework of the EU biodiversity strategy, and should support European research policy related to biodiversity.
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 (lowvalue grant).
Expected Outcomes
The project is expected to connect up biodiversity research across Europe, supporting and enhancing the ambition of national, European and international environmental policies and conventions.
Contributing to the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, the aim of this topic is to give support for developing and implementing this and other EU policies by generating knowledge generation, guiding biodiversity governance and ecosystem monitoring, and implementing the EU Green Deal.
It supports the development of a long-term strategic research agenda for biodiversity.
The project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- a single entry point linking European research and biodiversity policymaking that will be embedded in the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity (KCBD) as ‘scientific pillar’, which will collect and organise knowledge resulting from science that is relevant for implementing the EU biodiversity strategy and other relevant EU policies, in particular knowledge generated from EU-funded R&I projects, relevant infrastructures and platforms.
- feeding input into the monitoring, reporting and review mechanism of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 with relevant research-based assessments and options that can feed into any short- and medium-term corrective action necessary (“ratcheting up”).
- full integration into, and support to the governance framework of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 to steer implementation of the commitments on biodiversity agreed at national, European or international level.
- setting up a functional, early delivering Science Service at EU level, also involving associated countries where appropriate, to bolster at global level the EU’s ambitions for research into biodiversity-relevant areas.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
- 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.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3h67d0n