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VALues and dependence of society on pollinatORs

Project description

Understanding the impacts of pollinator decline

Pollinators are vital for biodiversity and agriculture, but much less is known about how their loss would affect society and the economy. The EU-funded VALOR project aims to bridge this gap by enhancing understanding of how pollinator shifts impact ecosystems, farm businesses and local communities in seven specific European regions. Through primary research and modelling, the project will evaluate how pollinator declines could affect landscapes, farm profits, cultural values, food businesses, and human health. VALOR will empower stakeholders by co-developing tools to effectively assess and address these risks. In addition, the project will collaborate with existing networks to enhance engagement with its findings and integrate pollinator considerations into decision-making processes across all European levels.

Objective

VALOR is a multi-actor project that will develop a comprehensive systems based approach to develop a deeper understanding of the cascading impacts of pollinator shifts from flower to fork (and beyond). Our work spans seven localised “focal regions” across Europe, where we will explore the impacts of pollinator shifts on ecosystems, farm businesses and local communities through primary research and modelling. These will be supported by broader synthesis and modelling tasks to determine the impacts of pollinators on value chains, international trade and nutrition and highlight the risks to ecosystems and natural capital across Europe, under different co-developed future scenarios. VALOR aims to empower actors to better understand their relationship with pollinators and will produce a number of co-developed tools for landowners businesses and policymakers to better understand these risks and easily undertake their own studies by replicating our methods and employing our models. Throughout the project, VALOR will work through our existing networks of policy and business collaborators to maximise the engagement with our outcomes, datasets and tools, build synergies with the wider pollinator research community and effectively mainstream pollinators into decision-making at all levels throughout Europe.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions

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Call for proposal

(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL6-2024-BIODIV-01

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Coordinator

THE UNIVERSITY OF READING
Net EU contribution
€ 903 130,50
Address
WHITEKNIGHTS CAMPUS WHITEKNIGHTS HOUSE
RG6 6AH Reading
United Kingdom
Region
South East (England) Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Berkshire
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
€ 903 130,50

Participants (12)

Partners (3)