Living Labs for the eradication and/or management of invasive alien species

This destination will mostly support the EU Commission priority ‘Sustaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature’.

The implementation of the EU Green Deal^[1] will continue to guide R&I in this destination. R&I will develop knowledge and tools to support the implementation of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030^[2] and notably the EU Nature Restoration Regulation^[3], including with the development of nature credits as proposed in the Nature Credits Roadmap^[4]. This destination will also address the EU proposal for a Directive on soil monitoring and resilience^[5], the EU proposal for a Regulation on a forest monitoring framework^[6] and will inform deliberations on EU biodiversity policy after 2030, thus protecting our natural world. Nature-based Solutions are deep-rooted in this destination, which will support the EU climate adaptation strategy^[7] and the EU climate mitigation targets by maintaining or improving natural carbon sinks, since natural ecosystems store large amounts of carbon globally and ecosystems’ carbon sequestration potential is tightly linked to their biological diversity. R&I should particularly assess the ecosystems ongoing ability to sequester carbon and, if necessary, focus more on ecosystems that reliably do so while also providing benefits to biodiversity.

Actions will contribute to the European Ocean Pact^[8], to the European Water Resilience Strategy^[9] and to the EU legislative proposal on pollutants in EU waters^[10] (update of chemical substances listed for control).

R&I activities for sustainable farming, fishing and aquaculture will be supported in alignment with the Vision for Agriculture and Food^[11], the Vision for Fisheries and Aquaculture towards 2040^[12], as well as with the environmental objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy^[13] and the EU Action Plan for the Development of Organic Production^[14]. These efforts will enhance biodiversity and climate-resilient farming practices, ensuring the long-term competitiveness of these sectors within ecological boundaries, and foster innovation to drive sustainable food production.

R&I actions under this destination will encourage international cooperation in line with the global approach on R&I, contributing to EU international biodiversity commitments, notably those taken under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)^[15], which defines targets for the medium term (2030) and goals for the long term (2050). This destination will also support the Paris Agreement^[16], the Sustainable Development Goals^[17] and the United Nations agreement on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement)^[18]. Support to processes of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)^[19] will be continued.

Complementarities and synergies will be ensured with the activities supported by the co-funded partnerships Biodiversa+^[20], Water4All^[21] and the co-funded partnership on Agroecology^[22], and LIFE^[23] projects, particularly on nature restoration and protection.

The destination supports unlocking the unique assets for research and innovation of the EU outermost regions, in line with the EU strategy for outermost regions^[24].

Expected impact: Proposals for topics under this destination should set out a credible pathway contributing to “putting biodiversity on a path to recovery, and protecting and restoring ecosystems and their services”, and more specifically to one or more of the following expected impacts:

• Knowledge on biodiversity status and trends and drivers of biodiversity loss is improved;
• Innovations, methods, pathways, models and tools are available and used to protect healthy and resilient ecosystems and to restore degraded ones, ensuring the continuous provision of ecosystem services, including for adaptation and/or mitigation to climate change;
• The ongoing biodiversity crisis and its consequences, notably on ecosystem functioning and their services, and the need to monitor, protect, restore and sustainably use biodiversity are better understood to better benefit the whole society in an inclusive way;
• Policymakers and stakeholders, all relevant economic sectors and society are aware and well informed of relevant challenges and opportunities of biodiversity protection, restoration and sustainable use, leading to better implementation of the biodiversity legislation and better valuation of ecosystem services, leading to transformative change towards a nature positive economy;
• Farmers, foresters, land and sea managers, fishers and aquaculture producers have access to key information, and test and implement biodiversity-friendly management practices, while safeguarding food and water security and fostering competitiveness, demonstrating the long-term sustainability of these sectors;
• Progress towards international commitments worldwide on biodiversity is made.

[1] The European Green Deal - European Commission

[2] Biodiversity strategy for 2030 - European Commission

[3] Regulation - EU - 2024/1991 - EN - EUR-Lex

[4] EUR-Lex - 52025DC0374 - EN - EUR-Lex

[5] EUR-Lex - 52023PC0416 - EN - EUR-Lex

[6] Proposal for a Regulation on a Forest Monitoring Framework - European Commission

[7] EU Adaptation Strategy - European Commission

[8] The European Ocean Pact - European Commission

[9] Water resilience strategy - European Commission

[10] EUR-Lex - 52022PC0540 - EN - EUR-Lex

[11] Vision for Agriculture and Food - European Commission

[12] EUR-Lex - 52025DC0075 - EN - EUR-Lex

[13] Key policy objectives of the CAP 2023-27 - European Commission

[14] Organic action plan - European Commission

[15] Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

[16] The Paris Agreement | UNFCCC

[17] THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development

[18] BBNJ Agreement | Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction

[19] IPBES Home page | IPBES secretariat

[20] Biodiversa +

[21] Water Security for the Planet

[22] Agroecology Partnership

[23] LIFE - European Commission

[24] COM(2022) Putting people first, securing sustainable and inclusive growth, unlocking the potential of the EU’s outermost regions

Expected Outcome:

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

• the capacities and integrated governance of researchers, decision-makers, practitioners, local communities and other stakeholders to effectively collaborate to prevent, eradicate or manage invasive alien species (IAS) are enhanced;
• native ecosystems are better protected, leading to improved resilience and continuous provision of ecosystem services including for climate mitigation and adaptation.

Scope:

Invasive alien species are one of the five main direct drivers of biodiversity loss. Besides inflicting major damage to nature and the economy, many invasive alien species also facilitate the outbreak and spread of infectious diseases, posing a threat to humans and native wildlife. The rate of new introductions of invasive alien species has increased in recent years. Without effective control measures, risks to our nature and health will continue to rise. Climate change and land-use changes facilitate the spread and establishment of many alien species.

Proposals are expected to support the prevention, eradication and/or management of invasive alien species by stakeholders, including adaptive management approaches. This topic is related to target 12 the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 (50% reduction in the number of Red List species threatened by invasive alien species) and to target 6 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework: reduce the introduction of Invasive Alien Species by 50% by 2030 and minimize their impact. Proposals should support the implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation, the EU regulation on invasive alien species and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Proposals should seek to address some knowledge gaps identified by the IPBES assessment on invasive alien species (2023)^[1]. All ecosystem types (terrestrial, fresh and/or marine waters) may be addressed.

Living labs can empower the green transition by co-creating solutions and involving actors in real life settings at territorial level to achieve large-scale impact.

Successful proposals should:

• set up at least three living labs, composed each of 10 to 20 experimental sites, following the three main principles: (a) co-creation with a large set of stakeholders, (b) carried out in real-life settings and (c) involving the end-users. Transboundary living labs are encouraged and living labs are expected to be located in at least three different EU Member States and/or Associated Countries;
• establish a detailed work plan of the activities to be undertaken in a transdisciplinary way, ensuring the co-design, co-development, and co-implementation of locally adapted innovative solutions. Where appropriate, activities should advance knowledge on invasive alien species to support the development of solutions;
• conduct participatory and transdisciplinary research and innovation in living labs with the objectives of:
  • building on existing methods (including ensuring the integration of existing solutions) or developing new ones for detecting and monitoring invasive alien species, such as the use of citizen science, eDNA, remote sensing and machine learning algorithms, and test them at scale. Proposals could build on pilots developed by the European partnership Biodiversa+;
  • designing and testing innovative eradication and management strategies and methods which may include, for instance, physical removal and the use of biological control or chemical control. Innovative tools such as bio-engineering might be explored in conjunction with more traditional methods. Range shifts induced by climate change should be considered;
• monitor and carry out an assessment of the innovative strategies, methods and tools and their effectiveness. Measures to ensure the prevention of re-invasion should be considered as well, to secure the continued effectiveness of the proposed solutions;
• disseminate the newly developed solutions, to facilitate their uptake by practitioners;
• provide data and experience usable for decision-makers, to assess socio-economic impacts of invasive alien species, side-effects of the management, the cost of inaction and the benefits of eradication or effective management, with effective contribution from social sciences and humanities;
• address challenges with scaling up and transferability of solutions. A gender-sensitive and inclusive approach should be integrated, examining how invasive alien species affect individuals’ livelihoods and well-being differently.

This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH discipline to enhance the societal impact of the research activities.

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 for 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. A citizen science approach could be appropriate for this action to produce, collect and analyse data.

Financial support to third parties (FSTP) to facilitate active involvement of small actors (e.g. land managers, SMEs or civil society) in one or more of the living labs of a project, can be provided through calls. A maximum of 30% of the EU funding should be allocated to this purpose.

Proposals should cooperate with the Joint Research Centre to use the resources of and make results available to, when relevant, the European Alien Species Information Network (EASIN).

Proposals should ensure cooperation with relevant initiatives of the European partnership Biodiversa+ and foresee appropriate resources to ensure close cooperation with the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity (KCBD) and its Science Service.

Proposals are encouraged to consider, where relevant, the data, expertise and services offered by European research infrastructures^[2] as well as related projects in the environment domain. International cooperation is encouraged.

[1] IPBES (2023). Summary for Policymakers of the Thematic Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7430692; Thematic Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7430682

[2] The catalogue of European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) research infrastructures portfolio can be browsed from ESFRI website https://ri-portfolio.esfri.eu/