Deadline: 06-Oct-21
The European Commission (EC) is offering grants for improving science based maritime spatial planning and identification of marine protected areas.
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.
- Design of ad hoc innovative flexible socio-ecological management to cope with a rapidly changing environment for coastal, offshore and deep-sea marine ecosystems, taking into account their connectivity, including through deep-sea migratory species, and the need to preserve their inherent natural dynamics.
- Where relevant, creating links 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) is expected
- Proposals should outline a plan on how they intend to collaborate with other projects selected under any other relevant topic/call, by e.g. participating in joint activities, workshops, common communication and dissemination activities. Furthermore, the plan should embrace cooperation with the Biodiversity Partnership[1] (HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-02-01) and other relevant Horizon Europe missions and partnerships.
- Applicants should allocate the necessary budget to cover the plan. Relevant activities of the plan will be set out and carried out in close co-operation with relevant Commission services, ensuring coherence with related policy initiatives.
- Provide approaches for greater policy coherence between the Water Framework Directive, Marine Strategy Framework Directive, Maritime Spatial Planning and the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 and how these policies can better assist in the preservation of inherently and spatially dynamic systems.
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
Projects results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:
- Prioritization of future protected areas, restoration areas, and science-based maritime spatial planning (including in larger scale hot spots identified in maritime national plans in order to develop ad hoc plans addressing specific scenarios so as to ameliorate the high impact of human activities over the ecosystem services).
- Implementation of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 (legally protect a minimum of 30% of the EU’s sea area of which 10% is strictly protected, and integrate ecological corridors, as part of a true Trans-European Nature Network, maritime spatial planning and ecosystem-based management covering all sectors and activities at sea, as well as area-based conservation-management measures) and the Convention on Biological Diversity post-2020 framework.
- Improved science based for the description of Ecologically or Biologically Significant marine Areas (EBSA).
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.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3hAqx4L