Promoting and implementing joint programming to reinforce transnational research at the crossroad between biodiversity and climate change

Project Information

BiodivClim

Grant agreement ID: 869237

DOI

10.3030/869237

Project closed

EC signature date 18 October 2019

Start date 1 September 2019

End date 31 August 2025

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Total cost

€ 15 151 516,00

EU contribution

€ 5 000 000,00

Coordinated by

SERVICE PUBLIC FEDERAL DE PROGRAMMATION POLITIQUE SCIENTIFIQUE
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - BiodivClim (Promoting and implementing joint programming to reinforce transnational research at the crossroad between biodiversity and climate change)

Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2025-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

It is now widely recognised that climate change and biodiversity loss are twin crises that should be tackled together. In addition to the direct impacts on the economy, societies and people’s health, rapidly advancing climate change negatively impacts many of the world’s species and ecosystems, driving biodiversity loss. At the same time, protecting and restoring biodiversity is crucial to addressing climate change. Both the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) indeed recognise that working with nature to conserve, manage and restore ecosystems – known as nature-based solutions – is one of the most cost-effective approaches to both mitigating and adapting to climate change, and therefore to reach the targets. It is therefore imperative to understand with sufficient detail and confidence the interactions between biodiversity & climate change so they can be incorporated into decision-support models and tools.

By networking 33 funding agencies from 22 countries from Europe and other continents, BiodivClim has promoted coordinated international research on biodiversity and climate change in all environments, incl. agricultural areas. It has strengthened research and research programmes coordination with the ultimate aim to provide policy makers and other stakeholders with adequate knowledge, tools and practical solutions to improve the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystems under a changing climate.

The BiodivClim has achieved its ambitions of:
- Coordinating the research agendas of major European and international research funders to agree on shared research priorities related to biodiversity and climate change
- Reinforcing collaboration with other relevant initiatives in the field to increase synergies and avoid fragmentation
- Designing & implementing one joint call for research proposals in this field
- Promoting research collaboration across national borders and disciplines in order to build capacity, exchanging best practices and having a lasting effect on the international research community and landscape
- Supporting dialogue and collaboration between academia and stakeholders, and stakeholder engagement in research projects in order to increase the impact of research on policy and practice
- Easing rapid and efficient uptake of funded research results by the IPBES & IPCC for their future assessments, and by other relevant initiatives
- Reinforcing data open access

BiodivClim has also undertaken additional ambitious communication and dissemination activities, including the creation of comics illustrating project results and the establishment of the BiodivClim Knowledge Hub to strengthen the science–policy interface and ensure that research findings effectively inform decision-making.

Through these coordinated efforts, BiodivClim has made a significant contribution to advancing integrated research and policy action on biodiversity and climate change at both European and global levels.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

BiodivClim officially started in September 2019. At the early stage the governance, procedure and administrative framework were organised: the BiodivClim Secretariat (hosted at FRB) and the General Assembly composed of representatives of every partner involved in the project were set up.

Two types of activities were carried out:

1. Activities related to the COFUND call for research projects:
- The BiodivClim COFUND call was officially launched on 2 September 2019. This call relied on a set of documents developed jointly by the partners of the call, describing its modalities, criteria and objectives, agreed upon before the launch of BiodivClim.
- As an effect of the strength of the biodiversity research community and the communication work conducted preliminarily to the launch of the call, a very large number of pre-proposals were submitted in November 2019.
- In Step 1, 281 eligible pre-proposals were evaluated and ranked.
- In Step 2, 82 eligible full proposals were assessed.
- The evaluation process was implemented by the Call Secretariat (ANR) from September 2019 to July 2020. To evaluate the proposals, an independent evaluation committee (EvC) and external reviewers were appointed. 21 projects were recommended for funding, for a total amount of 39.7 million euro, including funding from the European Commission. The projects started between December 2020 and April 2021 for a maximum duration of three years. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an amendment adopted in June 2022 extended the action from 60 to 72 months.
- Stakeholder engagement was one of the key evaluation criteria in the BiodivClim COFUND call: applicants were provided with guidelines and advice on how to maximise the stakeholder involvement and policy relevance.
- The final conference for the funded projects was held in June 2025 in Brussels, organised back-to-back with the Knowledge Hub final conference and the Foresight Workshop.

2. Additional activities:
2.1. Promoting open access of data on biodiversity and climate change
2.2. Promoting synergies and clustering of projects on biodiversity and climate change at the EU level
2.3. Promoting synergies with key institutes of the ERA at the crossroad of biodiversity and climate change
2.4. Supporting to global science-policy efforts
2.5. Foresight activities to identify gaps and priorities for R&I

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

BiodivClim aimed at aligning research agendas in the area of biodiversity and climate change, while enhancing the significance and relevance of these topics for decision-making.
The 21 projects that were selected for funding are very promising in terms of potential impact on policy, society and more widely in supporting decision-making on biodiversity and climate change. As such, it is expected that the BiodivClim funded projects support decision-making. Additional activities related to the uptake of the results of the research projects also intended to generate links with new stakeholders, notably collaborations with socio-economic sectors identified as relevant to the research. BiodivClim also aimed at supporting global science-policy efforts with IPBES, IPCC, UNFCCC and with the CBD through their Subsidiary bodies for Scientific and Technological Advice. Three issue briefs were produced, drawing on the key scientific results of the 21 BiodivClim-funded projects. By focusing on politically relevant and timely topics, these briefs aim to inform practical, science-based strategies to enhance the resilience of Europe’s soils, forests, and landscapes in the face of climate change. The dissemination of these briefs will begin under Biodiversa+ communication channels in November 2025.

Moreover, the funded projects all demonstrated a strong level of transnational collaboration. The funded consortia all involved a minimum of three partners from different countries participating in the call; and on average the consortia include partners from 5.5 different countries. BiodivClim has allowed steps toward stronger links inside the European Research Area (ERA), but also toward collaboration between the ERA and the other continents. Additional activities have notably enhanced the international vision, notably through a mapping assignment destined to assess the international research collaborations.
Ultimately, BiodivClim has resulted in a more credible and more harmonised voice in terms of research on biodiversity and climate change.

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