Biodiversity and ecosystem services (Horizon Europe)

Under destination “Biodiversity and ecosystem services”, R&I in 2025 provides scientific support to the development and implementation of EU environmental legislation and of European Green Deal initiatives, in line with the new Commission priority “Sustaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature”.

This destination is based on the vision developed in the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 and supports its implementation, pursuing the orientations of the Work Programmes 2021-2022 and 2023-2024, and notably focuses on the EU Nature Restoration Regulation and other new European Green Deal initiatives such as the proposal for an EU soil monitoring and resilience law, the proposal for an EU forest monitoring law and the EU Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities (specifically the Environmental Delegated Act) and the EU action plan: protecting and restoring marine ecosystems for sustainable and resilient fisheries. R&I activities continue to support the environmental objectives of the common agricultural policy and reflect the strong interconnections between the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 and the European Green Deal objectives for a competitive, resilient and sustainable agri-food system, including the pollinators initiative.

Calls for 2025, one stage:

Submission: 17.09.2025; Budget: 147 Mio. €

HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-01: Additional activities for the European Biodiversity Partnership: Biodiversa+
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-02: Strengthening the capacity of citizen science in biodiversity observation
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-03: Strengthening taxonomic approaches for biodiversity
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-04: Large-scale in situ biodiversity observations for better understanding of biodiversity state, drivers of its decline and impacts of policies
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-05: Assessing and modelling ecosystems’ dynamic processes to guide restoration activities and to improve models used for climate
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-06: Assessing and modelling socio-economic impacts of nature restoration
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-07: Integrated and coordinated approaches for coral reefs and associated ecosystems (mangroves and seagrass beds) conservation, restoration, and climate mitigation and adaptation
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-08: Strengthening pathways to alternative socioeconomic models for continuous improvement of biodiversity
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-09: Understanding the perceptions of and improving communication on the biodiversity crisis and nature restoration benefits to sustain citizen engagement and democratic governance
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-10: Supporting the implementation of nature restoration measures for sustainable farming systems

Calls for 2025/2026, two-stage:

Submission: 04 Sep 2025 (First Stage), 18 Feb 2026 (Second Stage) Budget: 28 Mio. €

HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-01-two-stage: Living labs co-creating innovative solutions for forests and freshwater ecosystems restoration
HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-02-two-stage: Breeding for resilience: enhancing multistress tolerance in crops