Find the latest REA update bellow!
----------------------------
Dear all,
We hope you got off to a great start this year!
Opportunities
A reminder of: Horizon Europe NBS and biodiversity project funding. Deadline for proposal submission February 15th, 2022. Cluster 6 (Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment) includes many R&I funding opportunities in the area of Biodiversity and Nature-based Solutions (NBS). In particular, Destination “Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services”, includes over 10 topics covering research on biodiversity, monitoring marine biodiversity, on taxonomy, nature-based solutions and transformative change for biodiversity, measuring the biodiversity footprint of products and organisations, agrobiodiversity, pollinators, and integrating research into biodiversity policy making and implementation. The possible budget of these topics is worth more than EUR 158 mio. The overall value for biodiversity across Horizon Europe is significantly higher. Note that in 2021: not all topics received a sufficient number of applications in the 2021 round, so please promote this call as much as possible.
Call 1 of the Interreg North Sea programme is open! Nature Based Solutions and biodiversity-related activities can be targeted by project partnerships under Priority 3 of the programme (learn more). If your organisation is located in the North Sea Region and you would like to work with other relevant organisations in the region on a project application, please check out how you can apply for funds here. Expressions of interest for regular projects: 16 December 2021 - 7 March 2022 (23:59 CET) Full applications for regular projects: 16 December 2021 - 22 April 2022 (23:59 CET)
For EU-funded projects that end before 8 March 2022: The European Commission is launching the Horizon Impact Award 2022 – a prize dedicated to EU-funded projects whose results have created societal impact across Europe and beyond – searching for six champions that will each receive €25 000. The contest is open for applications until 8 March 2022 17:00 CET (Brussels). The winners will be announced at a dedicated award ceremony in Brussels in 2022. For more information: web page.
Join the H2020 CLEARING HOUSE project in the #HugATree campaign! At the occasion of the International Day of Forests of 21 March 2022, the CLEARING HOUSE team is organising a social media campaign to raise awareness on the importance of trees as nature-based solutions. From the 1rst of March on, facts about trees and pictures of nature will be posted daily, with the #HugATree. Engage with CLEARING HOUSE in this campaign by retweeting and posting your own facts with the #HugATree. Any question? Reach out to hello@clearinghouseproject.eu
How can you best utilise nature-based solutions to treat urban wastewater? Help the H2020 NICE project design software to meet your needs to help achieve urban circular water loops, by answering this survey.
UrbanByNature, ICLEI's capacity-building programme in Nature-based Solutions born out of the H2020 Connecting Nature and H2020 CLEVER Cities projects, has launched a new, standalone website where participants can access course materials free of charge and discover learning opportunities from across Europe, Latin America and Asia. The website can be accessed here. Interested cities, researchers, SMEs and other organisations can register to become part of the UrbanByNature community here.
Events & webinars
H2020 URBAN GreenUP project is organising a series of webinars: Re-naturing urbanization: March 2 at 12.30 CET ; Singular green infrastructure: March 16 at 12.30 CET; Water interventions: April 6 at 12.30 CEST
CITIES TALK NATURE, part of H2020 INTERLACE project, is a community of practice dedicated to restoring degraded ecosystems in municipalities in Latin America, Europe and other parts of the world. CITIES TALK NATURE is based on two pillars: A webinar series and engagement events to take place in various cities on the two continents. The free English – Spanish webinar series takes place every two months and is a virtual space to exchange on practical examples, tools and methods and gathers support for collective action connecting people, places and nature.
H2020 URBiNAT project will be hosting an international conference in Milan on16 and 17 June 2022. The event will be held at the Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Foundation and IULM university in Milan. It will be a high profile public event, open to all, especially to our sister H2020 funded NBS projects. https://urbinat.eu/conference-2022/
Publications & tools
Horizon2020 UNaLab project has developed a Handbook on implementation and adoption barriers of Urban Living Labs developing nature-based solutions.
“Soluções baseadas na natureza e os desafios da água” A book on NBS and the water challenges, resulting from the third EU-Brazil sector dialogue on NBS, has just been published (PT version). The EN should be published by March.
Natural England has begun launching its Green Infrastructure (GI) Framework, which will consist of a set of tools and documents designed to help local planning authorities and developers meet requirements in the National Planning Policy Framework to consider GI in local plans and in new development. It can support planning for high-quality GI and help target the creation or improvement of GI, particularly where existing provision is poorest. The GI mapping tool is now available to use, which can be found here. An introduction to the Green Infrastructure Framework can be found here.
Realising the Potential of Nature-based Solutions for a Transformative Societal Change.
BiodiverCities by 2030: Transforming cities’ relationship with nature
2 recent publications from ended H2020 MERCES project:
a) paper on the use of economic valuation and appraisal in marine ecosystem conservation and restoration Prospects for valuation in marine decision making in Europe
b) Oyster reef case study in Galway Bay on the costs and benefits of nature-based solutions: Estimating the costs and benefits of protecting a coastal amenity from climate change-related hazards: Nature based solutions via oyster reef restoration versus grey infrastructure.
Take care J
Sofie
Sofie Vandewoestijne
Project Adviser