Network for nature: multi-stakeholder dialogue platform to promote nature-based solutions

Closed

Programme Category

EU Competitive Programmes

Programme Name

Horizon Europe (2021-2027)

Programme Description

Horizon Europe is the European Union (EU) funding programme for the period 2021 – 2027, which targets the sectors of research and innovation. The programme’s budget is around € 95.5 billion, of which € 5.4 billion is from NextGenerationEU to stimulate recovery and strengthen the EU’s resilience in the future, and € 4.5 billion is additional aid.

Programme Details

Identifier Code

HORIZON-CL6-2022-BIODIV-01-03

Call

Network for nature: multi-stakeholder dialogue platform to promote nature-based solutions

Summary

Nature-based solutions (NBS) deliver multiple ecosystem services to address diverse societal challenges with a systemic and innovative approach. This topic aims to maintain and build upon the achievements of NetworkNature and Oppla. The successful proposal should further develop and consolidate an engaged, broad and effective European community of innovators, practitioners and developers to promote the design, deployment, out- and up-scaling of NBS at the European and global scale, while recognising regional and national specificities, contexts and needs.

Detailed Call Description

Αn effective multi-stakeholder platform is needed to support and consolidate the understanding of NBS and to promote their use and speed up market up-take and wider implementation.
Such a platform enables: a) dialogue, interactions, knowledge and information sharing; b) integration of EU project results and platforms; and c) collaboration and think-and-do-tanks among relevant stakeholders (science, public administration, professional organizations, businesses and investors, civil society).

The successful proposal should undertake continuous and strategically driven stakeholder dialogue and facilitate sharing of practice, experience and expertise related to all NBS-relevant aspects, across multiple scales and sectors. Actions should cover social, economic, financial, environmental, educational, institutional, regulatory and cultural aspects; in particular:

  • Improve engagement, strengthened ties and new partnerships with public authorities, the private and financing sector and society at large to implement and invest in NBS, based on a high level of awareness about their advantages in order to widen the uptake of these solutions;
  • Maintain and further develop an online open source stakeholder platform that facilitates the interactions within and between NBS knowledge holders and implementers;
  • Identify, evaluate, standardise and gather tools, mechanisms and advisory services that support different actors in NBS in a one-stop-shop, aiming at supplying offers to match the needs which are brought forward;
  • Build on NetworkNature’s business plan, to make such a platform financially self-sustainable by the end of the project, and emphasise payback models and payable advisory services;
  • Maintain and support established NBS hubs and establish new ones; support and advise on communication and outreach campaigns and regular events in all Member States, involving international networks and environmental communicators and targeting all relevant stakeholders involved in the NBS value chain, including the scientific community;
  • Develop a ready-to-use communication toolbox in all EU official languages for regional and local authorities to better communicate about NBS and their benefits, namely in terms of economic growth and job creation;
  • Facilitate the clustering of current and upcoming EU-funded NBS relevant research and innovation projects and promote the uptake of their results in further EU or national initiatives (e.g. in projects resulting from the LIFE programme or cohesion policy);
  • Assist the Commission in organising science-policy workshops and assessing the contribution of NBS to global and EU policies, notably related to the EU Green Deal. These include biodiversity, pollution, climate adaptation and mitigation, water, agriculture and forestry, as well as urban and regional development, health, transformative change and just transitions;
  • Facilitate the development of guidelines for practitioners with state-of-the-art NBS design practices and protocols; Collaborate with CEN/CENELEC to develop European standards, making sure these guidelines are accessible to all users;
  • Help to the develop and mainstream NBS-related professional training and include it in primary, secondary and higher-education curricula;
  • Develop mechanisms for capacity building and knowledge sharing across disciplines, the involving EU and MS/AC-wide professional organisations. Include partner organisations across EU Member States to ease dissemination of NBS knowledge at local and Europe-wide level ;
  • Promote international cooperation with key strategic partners and sharing best practice, in particular with – but not limited to –Latin American and Caribbean countries, the USA and Africa;
  • Support a dialogue between cities implementing NBS (e.g. through twinning, peer exchanges, etc.) to encourage NBS knowledge sharing, experience exchange and access to best practices in the Member States; and establish links with other networking initiatives such as ICLEI, or the Covenant of Mayors;
  • Further develop and maintain existing databases of facts and figures on NBS cost-effectiveness, including in monetised form, and according to NBS typology and challenges addressed by NBS, for improved communication and outreach.

Call Total Budget

€ 6,00 million

Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan

100%

EU contribution per project: €6,00 million

Thematic Categories

  • Environment and Climate Change

Eligibility for Participation

  • Central Government
  • Large Enterprises
  • NGOs
  • Non Profit Organisations
  • State-owned Enterprises

Eligibility For Participation Notes

  • Legal entities established in non-associated third countries may exceptionally participate in this Coordination and support action.
  • Legal entities established in all member states of the African Union are exceptionally eligible for Union funding.

Call Opening Date

28/10/2021

Call Closing Date

15/02/2022

National Contact Point(s)

Research and Innovation Foundation
29a Andrea Michalakopoulou Street, 1075 Nicosia
T.Th. 23422, 1683 Nicosia
+357 22205000
Email: support@research.org.cy

George Christou
Contact Phone: 22 205 030
E-mail: gchristou@research.org.cy
Website: https://www.research.org.cy/

Charalambos Papatryfonos
Contact Phone: 22 205 016
E-mail: cpapatryfonos@research.org.cy
Website: https://www.research.org.cy/

(Publish Date: 11/11/2021-for internal use only)

EU Contact Point

European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation

https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/research-and-innovation_en#contact