Technical innovation to protect ecosystems and to scale up their restoration

Expected outcome

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• activities of protection and restoration of ecosystems by stakeholders become easier and more effective;
• conditions to scale up the implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation by stakeholders are improved, thus improving ecosystem services including for climate mitigation and adaptation.

Scope

Ecosystem restoration strategies for nature restoration and climate change mitigation require a coordinated and coherent set of human interventions and management practices (e.g. temporal protection of plants or removing invasive species, including their seeds) for which there is usually no dedicated mean like specific machinery, equipment or other technical innovations (like for example specific lures for invasive alien species). The most common practice is the use of agricultural machinery or equipment, but this is not always effective.

With target 4 of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, the EU took the following commitments: significant areas of degraded and carbon-rich ecosystems are restored; habitats and species show no deterioration in conservation trend and status, and at least 30% reach favourable conservation status or at least show a positive trend. According to the EU Nature Restoration Regulation, Member States shall put in place effective and area-based restoration measures with the aim to jointly cover, as a Union target, at least 20 % of land areas and at least 20 % of sea areas by 2030, and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. This is reflected in target 2 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The European Climate Law requires Member States to adopt and implement national adaptation strategies and plans in which they should promote Nature-based Solutions and ecosystem-based adaptation. These policies and legislations have reached the implementation stage in the EU and worldwide.

Successful proposals are expected to:

• design, develop and test technical innovations corresponding to identified needs for specific ecosystems protection and/or restoration activities. A wide range of possible innovations can be proposed, including new or adapted machines, low techs, digital innovations or combinations of them to be used in a wide range of ecosystem types, including terrestrial, freshwater and marine;
• pay attention to effectiveness, simplicity of use, durability and environmental sustainability and responsibility (including alertness to potential risks, trade-offs and the unintended consequences as a result of the use of technological innovations).

This topic is particularly relevant for SMEs.

Proposals should foresee appropriate resources to ensure close cooperation with the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity (KCBD) and its Science Service.