Danube river basin lighthouse – restoration of fresh and transitional water ecosystems

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-MISS-2021-OCEAN-02-02

Call

Danube river basin lighthouse – restoration of fresh and transitional water ecosystems

Summary

Proposals will show an effective and economically profitable way to freshwater ecosystem restoration and their sustainable use in the Danube river basin (including the transitional waters of Danube river delta), focusing on the reduction of the impact of artificial river flow barriers on wildlife movement, restoration and protection of biodiversity and valuable ecosystems (biodiversity hotspots), protection of inhabited areas against floods, measures to reduce impact of drought on freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity as well as sustainable management of river sediments.

Detailed Call Description

Successful projects will at the same time show the way to profitable and sustainable use of the restored freshwater and Danube delta ecosystems and demonstrate how sustainable local activities can be built on and connected with these restored ecosystems and biodiversity to ensure socio-economic benefits to the local communities whilst adhering to the ‘do not harm principle’ for all activities including pollution.

The proposals will focus on demonstration of active and passive restoration of freshwater ecosystems, including in the transitional waters of the Danube river delta at a large scale. The demonstration activities will combine measures to increase ecosystem connectivity and ecological flow of the Danube river and/or its main tributaries and delta, improvement of protection of communities against floods using nature based solutions on the Danube river and/or its main tributaries, mitigation of the impact of droughts on freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity using nature based solutions.

Proposals must:

  • Carry out demonstration activities in 3 different countries of the Danube river basin, involving and including in the consortium partners from these three countries;
  • Identify areas and locations where the solutions are replicable and draw up an action plan and roadmap to replicate and scale up the ecosystem and biodiversity restoration solutions and actions.

An “associated region” must benefit from the Financial Support to Third Parties provided under this topic only once.  The projects should continuously share their outcomes and knowledge with those ‘associated regions’ and provide them with technical assistance (see page 77 of the work programme)
The maximum amount of Financial Support to Third Parties is €100,000 per ’associated region’ for the entire duration of the action.

Call Total Budget

€17,00 million

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

70%

EU contribution per project: €8,50 million

Thematic Categories

  • Environment and Climate Change
  • Fisheries/ Aquaculture and Maritime Policy
  • Research, Technological Development and Innovation

Eligibility for Participation

  • Central Government
  • Private Bodies
  • Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
  • State-owned Enterprises

Eligibility For Participation Notes

  • The consortium must involve and include partners from at least three countries of the Danube river basin in which demonstration activities will be taking place.
  • If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).
  • Support the social and economic transitions towards sustainable, inclusive and long term management of the restored ecosystems, including natural, social, economic and cultural elements and business models for generating revenue from the restored ecosystems and involve for that purpose local business communities, in particular SMEs, investors and other business stakeholders.

Call Opening Date

22/12/2021

Call Closing Date

12/04/2022

National Contact Point(s)

Research and Innovation Foundation
29a Andrea Michalakopoulou, 1075 Nicosia
P.O.Box 23422, 1683 Nicosia
Phone Number: +357 22205000
Email Address: support@research.org.cy
Website: https://www.research.org.cy/en/

Contact Persons:

Mr Christakis Theocharous
Scientific Officer A’
Contact Phone: +357 22 205 029
Contact Email: ctheocharous@research.org.cy

Mr George Christou
Scientific Officer
Contact Phone: +357 22 205 030
Contact Email: gchristou@research.org.cy

Dr Angelos Ntantos
Scientific Officer
Telephone: 35722205033
Email: antantos@research.org.cy

Dr Ioannis Theodorou
Scientific Officer
Telephone: 35722205038
Email: itheodorou@research.org.cy

(Publish Date: 04/01/2022-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