Marginal lands and climate-resilient and biodiversity-friendly crops for sustainable industrial feedstocks and related value chains

Sustainable biomass provision by primary land sectors (agriculture and forestry), supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation. This will require finding a balance between productivity and ecosystem services, notably biodiversity and social sustainability goals.

The topic explores two main aspects. First, enhancing ecosystem services to prepare for increased water stress and water scarcity due to climate change (including the increasing desertification of large parts of the EU, especially of the Mediterranean and Central European Member States). Secondly, serving multi-purpose and optimised[[including by the modern biotechnology approaches, as appropriate]] biomass production, with a specific focus on improving biodiversity-related benefits, with opportunities for European rural development and improved industrial competitiveness.

The scope includes identifying and developing environmentally and economically viable sources of pol