Assessing direct and indirect drivers of biodiversity decline of invertebrates

Expected Outcome:

Proposals are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:

• stakeholders involved in biodiversity conservation and restoration activities have an improved understanding of how direct and indirect drivers [1] of biodiversity decline work, considering spatial and temporal scales and dynamics, and their interactions;
• the implementation at different spatial and temporal scales of the EU biodiversity policies and legislation, notably the Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR) is improved, enabling the prioritisation of actions and the identification of systemic solutions;
• stakeholders, including primary producers, whose business models rely on ecosystem services are better equipped to take strategic decisions that support biodiversity, thereby increasing opportunities while reducing their exposure to risks linked to the decline of these services.

Scope:

Biodiversity decline has rippling effects on climate, economy, and human well-being. Focusing on representative groups of invertebrates (including insects, molluscs and crustaceans and, in particular, understudied taxonomic groups) across representative European terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems, is crucial for developing effective biodiversity conservation strategies since they are the foundation for healthy ecosystems and their decline has cascading impacts on ecosystem health and services. Understanding the relative impact of the aforementioned drivers at different spatial (from local to global) and temporal (from immediate to long-term) scales and dynamics, is needed to develop effective and coherent biodiversity protection and restoration strategies to implement the EU Nature Restoration Regulation [2] while building a resilient competitive economy.

Proposals should:

• assess and rank the direct and indirect drivers of biodiversity decline based on invertebrates´ cases studies across representative European terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems, considering their cumulative impacts, different spatial and temporal scales and dynamics, and their interactions;
• better understand the drivers of invertebrates decline and how they vary spatially and temporally, aiming to advance in the attribution of causality. This could involve the use of spatial analysis techniques, temporal trend analysis, and modelling approaches as well as other modern technological approaches to anticipate future changes; develop methods and recommendations to replicate this exercise in other spatial settings;
• involving relevant stakeholders, develop and provide decision-support tools to competent authorities and stakeholders for effective protection and restoration strategies, enabling them to prioritise and address the most critical drivers of invertebrates´ decline, with the aim of enhancing ecosystem resilience and services;
• building on relevant existing ecosystem modelling frameworks, include/add an anticipatory and predictive dimension, integrating early-warning systems and stress-testing approaches able to assess future trajectories under different land-uses scenarios;
• ensure that results feed into decision support tools [3] developed for primary producers to make informed choices that enhance the resilience and competitiveness of their business by restoring and protecting the ecosystems that provide the services they depend on;

Proposal should focus on invertebrates´ species, in particular, understudied taxonomic groups, across representative European terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems, addressing Area A : Focus on insects or Area B : Focus on molluscs and crustaceans. The area (A or B) should be clearly indicated on the application. Concrete efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of the funded projects is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable), particularly in the context of real-time data feeds, exploring workflows that can provide “FAIR-by-design” data, i.e., data that is FAIR from its generation. Possibilities offered by the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) to store and give access to research data should be considered. This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities. International cooperation is encouraged. In order to increase synergies and the impact of the projects, all proposals selected for funding should form a cluster and are expected to participate in common networking and joint activities, including with projects from other calls where deemed appropriate. These activities should be included in a dedicated work package, having sufficient budget allocated to it. These activities may include:

• a common dissemination and communication strategy;
• common Data Management Strategy and Common Policy Strategy (including joint policy briefs);
• thematic workshops/trainings/working groups on issues of common interest (e.g. data management and exchange);
• close cooperation with the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity (KCBD) [4] and its Science Service, including participating in answering science to policy requests.

[1] Direct and indirect drivers of biodiversity decline | IPBES secretariat [2] Regulation (EU) 2024/1991 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2024 on nature restoration and amending Regulation (EU) 2022/869 (Text with EEA relevance) [3] Notably AKIS, and projects, missions and partnerships (agroecology).

[4] https: //knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/biodiversity-knowledge-centre_en

Submissions open on 13 October 2026.

Part of call HORIZON-NATURE-2027-02

Type of action: HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions

Programme period: 2021 - 2027

Priorities: DigitalAgenda, EoscAndFairData, SSH, INCO, AI

"> General conditions

1. Admissibility conditions: Proposal page limit and layout

described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.

Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.

2. Eligible countries

described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide .

3. Other Eligibility Conditions

described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion

described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds

To ensure a balanced portfolio, grants will be awarded to applications not only in order of ranking but at least also to the highest ranked proposal within the research field A, and the highest ranked proposal within the research field B, provided that the applications attain all thresholds.

described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes

described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual .

5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement