Project description
Transformative approaches to bridge biodiversity gaps
As supranational policies fall short in addressing critical aspects of biodiversity conservation, there is an urgent need for transformative approaches to reverse decline and unlock the benefits that nature can provide to society. Bottom-up initiatives, often overlooked, must complement national strategies to drive meaningful change. The EU-funded UGPplus project will address the need for coordinated top-down and bottom-up initiatives, engaging city- and community-driven efforts to complement national sustainability plans. Specifically, 12 academic partners and 5 European cities will explore innovations and barriers related to urban greening plans. UGPplus will use the acquired knowledge to bridge gaps, foster collaboration and propel a next-generation strategy for urban ecosystem transformation, aligning with the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and the Nature Restoration Law.
Objective
It is now widely acknowledged that to make adequate and timely progress in the direction of biodiversity mainstreaming, three critical aspects – previously overlooked or insufficiently handled by supranational policies – need to be emphasised and further explored in their transformative potential:
1) The establishment and operation of bottom-up and especially City- and Community- driven initiatives, which may adequately complement the Country level National Sustainable Development Plans and Green Growth Strategies;
2) The introduction and refinement of appropriate methodologies, and capacity-building activities, to enable the engagement of all key societal stakeholders (notably including market players, citizens and local government actors) in concerted actions to restore the most compromised elements of the natural environments;
3) Continuous work on enabling nature-based solutions by identifying the connections, and addressing the disconnects, between biodiversity conservation and social, economic, and technological challenges.
To meet the requirements of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and of the recent Commission proposal for a Nature Restoration Regulation, the UGP+ consortium proposes a 3-year long action research plan, engaging 11 academic partners and 5 European Cities as “Lighthouse” and “Greening” testbeds, ready to share knowledge and scale up from their ongoing experiences in UGP design and NBS implementation & scaling, to a next-generation strategy for urban and periurban ecosystem transformation, mainstreaming biodiversity, ecosystem services, and natural capital in urban policies and economies through adopting a whole of society approach.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
20133 Milano
Italy
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Participants (15)
79098 Freiburg Im Breisgau
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
00014 Helsingin Yliopisto
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20009 DONOSTIA-SAN SEBASTIAN (GIPUZKOA)
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22100 Lund
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80100 Joensuu
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04318 Leipzig
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D16P277 Dublin
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
D02 CX56 DUBLIN 2
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11000 Belgrade
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75004 Paris
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11000 Beograd
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68159 Mannheim
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8000 Burgas
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08040 Barcelona
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750 07 Uppsala
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Partners (1)
Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.
E16 2RD London
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