Exploring options to resolve land and sea use competition

Opened

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-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE-05

Call

Exploring options to resolve land and sea use competition

Summary

A sustainable and circular bioeconomy is based on management that guarantees the conservation and restoration of biodiversity and healthy ecosystems, while providing sufficient biomass to produce the food, materials and energy needed for human well-being.

On the one hand, we see a decline in biodiversity, a gap in carbon storage by ecosystems or a lack of capacity of the biosphere to absorb pollutants.

On the other hand, increasing competition for biomass use between food, materials and energy suggests a possible sustainable biomass gap in Europe.

Detailed Call Description

  • develop tools (including methodologies and processes) for national and regional policy- and decision-makers to carry out integrated bioeconomy land and sea assessments, with the objective to minimize the ‘land/sea footprint’ and provide different land and sea biomass uses solutions, considering their feasibility, viability, and societal desirability (e.g. region specific). The assessment shall consider natural, semi-natural, and managed (agricultural and forestry, fisheries and aquaculture) ecosystems and the impacts of land/sea use on ecosystem conditions, biodiversity and supply of ecosystem services and interlinkages, considering the System of Environmental Economic Accounting set of indicators and the JRC’s EU-wide ecosystem condition assessment;
  • assess and develop integrated and coherent policy objectives to improve land and sea biomass use in national and regional contexts, considering the inclusive approaches to developing a wide range of policy narratives (e.g. objectives) pursued by the JRC in the EU-level assessment (i.e. IBLUA). The different narratives described qualitatively will be quantitatively represented (e.g. reporting relevant social, economic and environmental indicators) in the deliberation tool, which should be able to capture different configurations of land and sea and biomass use, including dietary needs, energy uses, bio-based products expansion, and carbon farming; considering the challenges to land/sea ownership (e.g. private vs public) and the options stem from the tool to resolve them;
  • demonstrate how the deliberation tool could be implemented in a network of regions covering different socio-economic situations and climate/ecological zones in the EU and associated countries to improve just and sustainable land/sea management, food security and circular biomass uses.

The participation of the JRC in the project is encouraged to ensure that the approach proposed is compatible with the bioeconomy working streams of the Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy and with the various JRC’s tools and methodologies developed for the EU bioeconomy assessment.

Proposals should include a dedicated task, appropriate resources and a plan on how they will collaborate with other projects funded under this topic and ensure complementarities with relevant activities carried out under other initiatives in Horizon Europe, including the Horizon Europe Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe”, and seek synergies with other EU programmes and funding instruments.

Call Total Budget

€9.00 million

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

100%

Expected EU contribution per project: €4.50 million.

Thematic Categories

  • Agriculture - Farming - Forestry
  • Environment and Climate Change
  • Health
  • Natural and Cultural Heritage
  • Research, Technological Development and Innovation

Eligibility for Participation

  • Central Government
  • Educational Institutions
  • Farmers, Agriculturalists
  • Legal Entities
  • NGOs
  • Other Beneficiaries
  • Private Bodies
  • Producer Associations
  • Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
  • Semi-governmental organisations
  • Services Providers
  • Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
  • State-owned Enterprises

Eligibility For Participation Notes

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as member of the consortium selected for funding.

A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects.

Call Opening Date

06/05/2025

Call Closing Date

24/09/2025

National Contact Point(s)

Research and Innovation Foundation

29a Andrea Michalakopoulou, 1075 Nicosia,
P.B. 23422, 1683 Nicosia
Telephone: +357 22205000
Fax: +357 22205001
Emailsupport@research.org.cy
Website: https://www.research.org.cy/en/

Contact Persons:
Marcia Trillidou
Scientific Officer A’
Email: trillidou@research.org.cy

Dr. Mary Economou
Scientific Officer
Emailmeconomou@research.org.cy