Large-scale in situ biodiversity observations for better understanding of biodiversity state, drivers of its decline and impacts of policies

Expected Outcome:

In supporting the implementation of the European Green Deal, and in particular the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, successful proposals will contribute to the impacts of this destination, notably to a better understanding of the ongoing biodiversity crisis and its consequences, the benefits of ecosystem services and the need to protect and restore them. Successful proposals are expected to support the implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation and of the European Climate Law which requires Member States to promote nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based adaptation.

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• competent authorities in charge of the design and implementation of biodiversity policies at all levels have more high-quality data and information from in situ biodiversity observations to understand the biodiversity state and trends in the EU and in Associated Countries;
• more high-quality data and information from in situ biodiversity observations is available to evaluate the effectiveness (in terms of biodiversity related objectives) of policies and business activities and for applied research and innovation.

Scope:

The EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 sets the following targets for 2030: significant areas of degraded and carbon-rich ecosystems are restored; habitats and species show no deterioration in conservation trend and status, and at least 30% reach favourable conservation status or at least show a positive trend. The EU Nature Restoration Regulation establishes a framework within which Member States shall put in place effective and area-based restoration measures with the aim to jointly cover, as a Union target, throughout the areas and ecosystems within the scope of this Regulation, at least 20 % of land areas and at least 20 % of sea areas by 2030, and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. At global level, the EU has taken commitments reflecting the EU targets with the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework. The European Climate Law requires Member States to promote nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based adaptation when preparing their adaptation strategies and plans, and therefore it is crucial to improve the knowledge of biodiversity status and trend to select the most appropriate adaptation measures at local level.

However, knowledge of the state and trends of biodiversity and ecosystems in the EU is insufficient to enable a robust measurement of progress towards the EU and global commitments and targets. To fill these knowledge gaps, robust data and information on species and habitats have to be generated in different climate zones. Large-scale in situ observations are essential to deliver such data and information with adequate quantity and quality. Besides improved understanding of the state of biodiversity and ecosystems, better in-situ data on species and habitats, coupled with other data sources, will also enable better identification and quantification of the effects of drivers of biodiversity decline, impacts of policy actions to mitigate those effects and overall progress made under the green transition. High-quality in situ data is also essential for building and updating reliable indicators and models, their validation and improvement, as well as the validation of newly developed observation techniques.

R&I activities should:

• prepare harmonised or standardised frameworks for the execution of biodiversity observations and apply state-of-the-art protocols of the utilised sampling techniques, in order to ensure the quality and interoperability and public access of the collected data. Particular attention should be paid to comprehensive and robust metadata. In particular a comprehensive coverage of the territory of EU Member States should be sought;
• undertake systematic large-scale in situ observations of biodiversity in order to a) record occupancy, richness and abundance of species and populations, b) map species, populations and habitats, and c) survey habitat composition and structure. In this regard, the activities should generate data of adequate spatial and temporal granularity spanning multiple geographical scales to capture the variability in biodiversity across different contexts. The activities should cover species and habitats in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems, including lesser-known taxa, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of biodiversity across diverse ecological and geographical settings;
• define the methodology for applying specific data quality checks;
• ensure that the collected data which is relevant for future projections are properly defined and fit for modelling (in particular in the context of the activities under HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-05);
• based on the undertaken observations:
  • assess the state, geographical distribution, phenology and trends of observed species populations;
  • assess the quality, structure, functions and geographical distribution of observed habitats;
  • fill species and habitat data gaps in terms of geographical coverage in the EU and in Associated Countries, as well as the data gaps in terms of taxonomic coverage.

The use of AI could be considered for the analyses needed under this topic. Concrete efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of the funded project is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable), exploring workflows that can provide “FAIR-by-design” data, i.e., data that is FAIR from its generation. Possibilities offered by the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and by relevant European research infrastructures including the Catalogue of Life (COL), DiSSCo, LifeWatch ERIC, EMBRC, eLTER and MIRRI-ERIC^[1] to store and give access to research data could be considered where relevant.

Proposals may provide financial support to third parties (FSTP) to, for instance, undertake in-situ observation on specific habitats and species. A maximum of 30% of the EU funding should be allocated to this purpose. Consortia need to define the selection process of organisations, for which financial support may be granted.

Proposals should foresee cooperation with the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity and the Science Service project BioAgora. Proposals should also show how the planned activities could provide timely information for consideration by the Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

Projects will be asked to cooperate with projects that will be selected under the following topic under this call: HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-05: Assessing and modelling ecosystems’ dynamic processes to guide restoration activities and to improve models used for climate.

[1] And any other relevant research infrastructure prioritised by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). The catalogue of European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) research infrastructures portfolio can be browsed from ESFRI website https://ri-portfolio.esfri.eu/