Research the complex interplay between the climate and biodiversity crises towards more systemic approaches and solutions

Climate change and biodiversity loss are two interdependent crises that are complex, cascading, and compounding. Tackling them in an effective way must rely on a much more systemic approach than what has been achieved so far, which requires a better understanding of their interdependencies and feedback loops.

This topic aims at:

1. Better understanding how the climate and biodiversity crises interact, how they reinforce each other and how they are best addressed together.
2. Building tools and designing solutions to break siloes and address multiple risks stemming from the climate and biodiversity crises in a systemic way, maximising the synergies and minimising the trade-offs between both crises.

To achieve those goals, proposals should address all of the following aspects:

• Investigate case studies on cascading, compound climate risks triggered by extreme weather and climate events, as well as slow onset event in relation to changes in biodiversity, ecosystem services, food security, natural resources and water systems.
• Investigate case studies on how biodiversity loss accelerates climate change or reduces resilience to climate change (by increasing vulnerability and exposure).
• identify co-benefits of the implementation of nature-based solution for adaptation to climate change and for biodiversity conservation and restoration.
• Identify and evaluate maladaptation actions or negative impacts of climate adaptation options on other aspects or sectors, particularly on biodiversity and, conversely, identify and evaluate how biodiversity restoration actions might negatively impact climate adaptation capacity.
• Look into how the combination of climate adaptation and biodiversity actions reinforce or weaken each other and how the combined effect of adaptation and biodiversity actions differs from the sum of individual actions.
• All of the above should lead to the identification of actions that simultaneously halt the loss of and restore biodiversity and enhance the resilience of societies and ecosystems in a changing climate. In other words, proposals should provide concrete policy recommendations (e.g. the field of land use, spatial and urban planning, etc.) that address the biodiversity and climate crises in a more systemic way and that minimise trade-offs between different risks.

To ensure that the knowledge produced by the projects useful to policymakers, proposals should present a credible plan to engage with public administrations at various levels, including regional/local authorities and to pass on the information to them.

Proposals should include a mechanism and the resources to establish operational links and collaboration with Mission Implementation Platform[[Currently managed by MIP4Adapt under the contract CINEA/2022/OP/0013/SI2.884597 funded by the European Union. About MIP4Adapt (europa.eu)

]]; the Climate-ADAPT platform[[The European Climate Adaptation Platform Climate-ADAPT is a partnership between the DG Climate Action and the European Environment Agency.https://climate-adapt.eea.europa.eu/ /]]; and the Joint Research Centre’s Risk Data Hub[[https://drmkc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/risk-data-hub#/]].

Linking the project to the second European Climate Risk Assessment, if confirmed, or any relevant project from Horizon Europe is encouraged.

Additionally, proposals should build on and connect to other relevant projects funded by Horizon Europe, in particular projects CLIMAAX[[https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101093864]] MYRIAD-EU[[https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101003276]] ACCREU[[https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101081358]], SPARCCLE[[https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101081369]] as well as the projects funded by the “HORIZON-CL4-2023-SPACE-01-31: Copernicus for Atmosphere and Climate Change, including CO2”, and Horizon Europe Cluster 6 projects on biodiversity, including the European Partnership for Biodiversity (Biodiversa+), and on nature-based solutions.

Finally, proposals should explore synergies with the projects funded under the topic “HORIZON-MISS-2024-CLIMA-01-09: Systemic and cross-sectoral solutions for climate resilience, tailored to the specific needs of regions and local authorities” of this call.