Collaborative projects funded by Horizon Europe

Christoph Bleidorn, Animal Evolution and Biodiversity

Project title:
Marine Biodiversity Assessment and Prediction across spatial, temporal and human scales

Abstract:
Marine biodiversity sustains ecosystem services for planetary and human health. Recent surveys of marine ecosystems have unveiled our ignorance of the richness and functioning of marine life, which is changing in the Anthropocene at a faster pace than terrestrial life. BIOcean5D unites major European centers in molecular/cell biology (EMBL), marine biology (EMBRC), and sequencing (Genoscope), together with 26 partners from 11 countries, to build a unique suite of technologies, protocols, and models allowing holistic re-exploration of marine biodiversity, from viruses to mammals, from genomes to holobionts, across multiple spatial and temporal scales stretching from pre-industrial to today.

A focus is to understand pan-European biodiversity land-to-sea gradients and ecosystem services, including marine exposomes, notably with an expedition (TREC, 2023/24) that will deploy mobile labs, research vessels including the Tara schooner, and innovative citizen science tools, across 21 coastal countries and 35 marine labs from the Mediterranean to Arctic seas. New data will be harmonized with existing data into an open-access data hub, leveraging international infrastructures, and generating transformative, cross-technologies/cross-scales standard marine biodiversity knowledge at the socio ecosystem level.

Knowledge will inform and constrain (i) new theories and models of marine biodiversity ecological and evolutionary dynamics and drivers, at both taxonomic and functional scales, (ii) a portfolio of novel holistic indicators of marine ecosystem health (iii) innovative methods and protocols for economic and legal valuations of marine biodiversity and services integrating the dynamical and functional complexity of marine life. BIOcean5D will create a unique opportunity to bridge molecular/subcellular biology to organismal biology, theoretical ecology and econometrics, and marine complex systems to social sciences, toward the sustainable preservation of our oceans and seas.
CORDIS project database

Holger Kreft, Biodiversity, Macroecology & Biogeography

Project title:
Biodiversity monitoring of island ecosystems

Abstract:
Oceanic islands contribute disproportionately to global biodiversity, hosting many endemic species with unique evolutionary and functional adaptations that reflect life in isolation. Simultaneously, islands are epicentres of biodiversity change, being particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances such as habitat loss, climate change, and the introduction of non-native species. The islands that are part of the European Union Member States Overseas Entities also contribute significantly to the biodiversity of the EU, making them crucial for reaching European and global biodiversity targets. At the same time, islands are severely under-represented in many global biodiversity databases and monitoring initiatives BioMonI aims at building a global long-term monitoring network specifically tailored to the pressing needs of biodiversity conservation and monitoring on islands.

BioMonI will develop and implement a novel approach that considers mobilizing existing monitoring data, identifying gaps in those data as well as in existing monitoring efforts, and developing and harmonizing monitoring schemes for island biodiversity across the oceanic islands of the European Union and beyond. Specifically, we will focus on: 1) leveraging historical archives on Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV) and Essential Ecosystem Service Variables (EESV) and providing the biodiversity informatics and IT infrastructure needed to facilitate their valuation. 2) providing optimized and standardized field sampling protocols and tested methods that combine long-term monitoring with emerging technology such as environmental DNA and remote sensing. 3) conducting targeted resurveys and establishing a network of new long-term monitoring plots. 4) scaling up the monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem structure, functioning, and services using remote sensing, macroecological modelling, and future scenarios The different work packages of BioMonI encompass different spatiotemporal scales, spanning from unlocking palaeoecological archives to scenarios of future island biodiversity. Plot-based monitoring within BioMonI-Plot focuses on monitoring plant diversity, vegetation and habitat structure using classic vegetation surveys and terrestrial laser scanning as well as genetic and genomic tools. Unmanned aerial vehicle and satellite imagery will be used for scaling up field-based data and derive Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) and Essential Ecosystem Service Variables (ESVs). These activities will be complemented by dedicated projects providing e-infrastructures and stakeholder engagement and coordination.
Biodiversa+

Anne Klosterhalfen, Büsgen-Institute, Bioclimatology Group

Project title:
CLImate Mitigation and Bioeconomy pathways for sustainable FORESTry

Abstract:
CLIMB-FOREST suggests alternative sustainable short-, mid-, and long-term pathways for the forest sector to mitigate climate change in entire Europe, considering preservation of biodiversity, ecosystem services, bioeconomy, socioeconomic factors, use of long-lived wood products, and barriers for change. It will have long-term impact by creating attitude change in the policymaking process in the EU and influence foresters to adopt to new forest management strategies.

This is accomplished through several work packages closely interrelated: We aim to 1) make a conclusive map of current forestry and management in Europe, 2) gather data and enhance process understanding of carbon uptake, sinks and other factors impacting on climate at intensively researched forest field site infrastructures, 3) quantify the bioeconomy, and customer and forest industry preferences for alternative wood products and management practices, 4) perform pan-European modelling of scenarios, and the environmental and climate impact of alternative pathways for European forestry, 5) ensure adaptation to new management strategies and forest preservation owing to intense field site visits in geographically representative locations in Europe, and 6) synthesize and disseminate the CLIMB-FOREST outcomes tailored for impact on the entire forest sector.

The unique strength of the CLIMB-FOREST initiative and the potential to secure future impact, lies mainly in four crucial factors; 1) the unprecedented mapping of current forestry, management and carbon sequestration, 2) the quantification of all biogeochemical and biophysical processes in the forest, which is instrumental to the understanding of climate effects in the forest, 3) the beyond the state-of-the-art modelling that involves all socioeconomic and physical factors, and agents acting in the forest sector, and 4) the multi-actor stakeholder co-creation process generating knowledge transfer and means of change in the forestry sector.
CORDIS project database
Website of the project

Xiaoming Fu, Institute of Computer Science

Project title:
Cognitive Decentralised Edge Cloud Orchestration

Abstract:
CODECO is a cognitive, cross-layer and highly adaptive Edge-Cloud management framework with a unique orchestration approach that provides support for data management and governance decentralised data workflow; dynamic offloading of computation and computation status; and adaptive networking services (TRL5). In the core of the CODECO framework are privacy preserving decentralised learning mechanisms to i) reduce latency and power consumption from the far Edge to Cloud; ii) adjust the computation in real-time to available Edge-Cloud constraints; iii) adjust running services into the needs of the application, the data sources, the surrounding context; iv) benefit from a flexible networking infrastructure that adapts to the needs of active services; and v) democratize the technology to a faster market adoption of the toolkit, as well as products and services derived from it.

CODECO proposes the following assets: i) A1: Open, cognitive toolkits and smart Apps, integrating the elastic and advanced concepts to manage, in a smart and flexible way, containerized applications across Edge and Cloud (dynamic cluster and multi-cluster environment; ii) A2: A developer-oriented open-source software repository, to be available in an early stage of the project, thus allowing for early exploitation of initial, advanced results and a better adaptation throughout the project lifetime; iii) A3: Training tools, to support the development of services based on the CODECO framework; iv) A4: Use-cases across 4 domains (Smart Cities, Energy, Manufacturing, Smart Buildings), as the basis for experimentation and demonstrations; v) A5: Open Calls and multiple community events, based on the different use-cases and including the different CODECO stakeholders; vi) A6: CODECO integration into the large-scale EdgeNet, experimental infrastructure, to assist in the building of experimentation and novel concepts by the research community.
CORDIS project database

Stefan Scholten, Division of Crop Plant Genetics

Project title:
Evidence-based support for transition to agroecological weed management in diverse farming systems and European regions

Abstract:
There is an urgent need to move towards sustainable weed management strategies. Agroecology offers a unique approach & seeks to transform food & agriculture systems, providing long-term solutions. Challenge #1: Agroecological practices are already applied to different degrees. However, wide adoption of agroecological weed management has lagged behind our understanding of its benefits and way to optimally apply it in different cases. Ch. #2: Even with simple agroecological practices, uptake by farmers has been limited. Impediments to employing such practices include inadequate policy instruments, a lack of market mechanisms, and a paucity of social infrastructure with which to influence learning & decision-making by farmers. Ch. #3: Weeds are expected to become more difficult to reliably control with herbicides under increasing CO2 and climate change (CC). Nevertheless, practical implications of climate change for the many non-chemical tactics integral to agroecological weeding have not been thoroughly addressed yet.

CONSERWA will address the aforementioned challenges by: a) compiling a portfolio of agroecological farming practices, studying their optimal combinations & transferability, including suitability under CC scenarios, b) supporting the implementation of these combinations and the measurement of their performance & impacts using novel tools, c) supporting knowledge management & communication between stakeholders with the ultimate goal of practical decision-making and impact assessment through an open DSS, d) studying factors influencing farmers’ decision-making in applying agroecological farming, working together with the value chain, such as the food processors & consultancy services. The study will be facilitated by case studies covering all European biogeographical/pedo-climatic regions and involving a wide range of crops & farming systems. CONSERWA focuses also on training of farmers, as well as on policy making (through policy recommendations).
CORDIS project database

Margo Bargheer, Göttingen State and University Library

Project title:
Creating a Robust Accessible Federated Technology for Open Access

Abstract:
After several decades of evolving, Open Access (OA) publishing is now at the centre of scientific communication, providing access to scientific publications without barriers. In Diamond Open Access, authors can publish free of charge as the institutional sector with universities, research institutions or libraries provide the necessary technological infrastructure. While the commercial model of Open Access dominates in anglophone journals from the Global North, the Diamond OA model shows a much higher level of diversity and origin. However, the Diamond OA landscape continues to be fragmented, is often underfunded, and is not always technically proficient enough to develop its full potential for science and society.

The CRAFT-OA project aims to consolidate the Diamond OA publishing landscape. The project focuses on four threads of activities to improve the technical and organisational infrastructure of Diamond OA: (1) Provide technical improvements for journal platforms and journal software (2) Build communities of practice to foster overall infrastructure improvement (3) Increase visibility, discoverability and recognition for Diamond OA publishing (4) Integrate Diamond OA publishing with EOSC and other large-scale data aggregators. CRAFT-OA’s 23 consortium partners from 17 European countries are all engaged in institutional publishing and its infrastructures, and committed to sustaining and developing capacities in the field. Many CRAFT-OA partners are leading organisations at national and European levels in terms of open publishing, and represent internationally visible centres of expertise in Open Science and FAIR implementation with strong connections to EOSC.

Within 36 months, CRAFT-OA will deliver technical and community tools, training events, training materials, information, and services for the Diamond OA institutional publishing environment. It will foster communities of practice with the capacity to sustain the project improvements over time.
CORDIS project database

Margo Bargheer, Göttingen State and University Library

Project title:
Developing Institutional open Access publishing Models to Advance Scholarly communication

Abstract:
In the transition towards Open Access (OA), institutional publishing is challenged by fragmentation and varying service quality, visibility, and sustainability. To address this issue, DIAMAS gathers 23 organisations from 12 European countries, well-versed in OA academic publishing and scholarly communication.

The project will: 1. Map the current landscape of Institutional Publishing Service Providers (IPSPs) in 25 countries of the ERA with special attention for IPSPs that do not charge fees for publishing or reading. This will yield a taxonomy of IPSPs and an IPSP landscape report, a basis for the rest of the project. 2. Coordinate and improve the efficiency and quality of IPSPs by developing a European Quality Standard for Institutional Publishing (EQSIP). This quality seal will professionalise, strengthen and reduce the fragmentation of institutional publishing in Europe. EQSIP will serve as a benchmark for a gap analysis of the data in (1). Buy-in and capacity-building is ensured by co-creation with the relevant IPSP communities of practice, creating a Common Access Point for IPSPs, an IPSP registry with 80% of IPSPs in the ERA, publishing guidelines, training materials, self-assessment tools, financial models, and shared cost frameworks. DIAMAS embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion by addressing gender equity in OA publishing and multilingualism in 15 European languages. Special attention is paid to building and enabling the financial sustainability of IPSPs. 3. Formulate community-led, actionable recommendations and strategies for institutional leaders, funders/sponsors/donors, and policymakers in the European Research Area (ERA). Workshops and targeted networking actions will reach and engage institutional decision-makers.

In 36 months, DIAMAS will deliver an aligned, high-quality, and sustainable institutional OA scholarly publication ecosystem for the ERA, setting a new standard for OA publishing, shared and co-designed with all stakeholders.
CORDIS project database
Website of the project

Julian Kunkel, Institute of Computer Science

Project title:
Device-Edge-Cloud Intelligent Collaboration framEwork

Abstract:
The cloud computing industry has grown massively over the last decade and with that new areas of application have arisen. Some areas require specialized hardware, which needs to be placed in locations close to the user. User requirements such as ultra-low latency, security and location awareness are becoming more and more common, for example, in Smart Cities, industrial automation and data analytics. Modern cloud applications have also become more complex as they usually run on a distributed computer systemsplit up into components that must run with high availability.

Unifying such diverse systems into centrally controlled compute clusters and providing sophisticated scheduling decisions across them are two major challenges in this field. Scheduling decisions for a cluster consisting of cloud and edge nodes must consider unique characteristics such as variability in node and network capacity. The common solution for orchestrating large clusters is Kubernetes, however, it is designed for reliable homogeneous clusters. Many applications and extensions are available for Kubernetes. Unfortunately, none of them accounts for optimization of both performance and energy or addresses data and job locality.

In DECICE, we develop an open and portable cloud management framework for automatic and adaptive optimization of applications by mapping jobs to the most suitable resources in a heterogeneous system landscape. By utilizing holistic monitoring, we construct adigital twin of the system that reflects on the original system. An AI-scheduler makes decisions on placement of job and data as well as conducting job rescheduling to adjust to system changes. A virtual training environment is provided that generates test data for training of ML-models and the exploration of what-if scenarios. The portable framework is integrated into the Kubernetes ecosystem and validated using relevant use cases on real-world heterogeneous systems.
CORDIS project database
Press release

Johannes Isselstein, Institute of Grassland Science

Project title:
European Network to promote grazing and to support grazing-based farms on their economic and ecologic performances as well as on animal welfare

Abstract:
Grazing-based production systems have the proven potential to produce high quality food, to be beneficial to the competitiveness of farmers and animal welfare, as well as for other ecosystem services and are widely apreciated by the society. However, for many reasons grazing is generally declining in Europe, which is a threat for many ecosystem services.

In Grazing4AgroEcology (G4AE), grazing farmers are for the first time at the centre of a thematic network, complementing other thematic networks such as Inno4Grass, EuroDairy, SheepNet, BovINE, HNVLink, etc. in providing solutions for sustainable, integrated grazing-based animal production systems. G4AE has 18 partners including farmers organisations, extension services, education, and research in eight countries (France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, & Sweden). The Partner Farm Network of G4AE of 120 Partner farms (15 per country) will enable the capture and implementation of best-practices and innovations to promote grazing for agroecology. Our 3-tier multi-actor approach based on co-creation and knowledge sharing will actively involve all relevant actors of the grazing AKIS including farmers, industry, education, researchers, advisors, society, etc. This will improve the uptake of the innovation capital and significantly contribute to the improvement of the transferability of best practices and innovations and will also enable cross linkage of OGs.

G4AE will innovate the grazing sector by strengthening the capacity of farmers to understand more objectively their own agroecological performance through an integrated self-assessment. This will trigger farmers to strive for innovation. G4AE will boost digitalization through webinars, digital interactions, videos and media training. G4AE will provide a rich set of practical hands-on knowledge and training material for a vast community of current and future grazing farmers, available in a Knowledge & Information Management System.
CORDIS project database
Website of the project

Max Krott, Forest and Nature Conservation Policy and Forest History

Project title:
Science-based INtegrated FORest Mitigation mAnagement made operational for Europe

Abstract:
Forests represent the largest terrestrial carbon sink that can be economically managed to combat climate change. In this context, sustainable forest management will become a major tool of the EU Green Deal on the road to an economic growth decoupled from resource use. But essential forest functions are increasingly threatened by climate change and related natural disturbances, while the knowledge regarding the effects of forest management on biophysical and biogeochemical fluxes exchanged between land and atmosphere are too limited.

Accordingly, the overall objective of the INFORMA project is to increase the science-based knowledge on multi-purpose sustainable forest management under climate change. More particularly, it will analyse the trade-offs and synergies between different objectives considering the environmental integrity and climate feedbacks, social acceptability and economic feasibility of future European forest practices, including zero management options. It will identify options for maintaining carbon sinks, in addition to fostering productivity, supporting genetic diversity, biodiversity conservation, and maintaining soil and water resources in the different European ecoregions.

Applying a multi-actor approach, INFORMA will 1) Quantify differences in major ecosystem functions affecting climate processes between managed and unmanaged forests across Europe; 2) Analyse socio-institutional patterns of innovative forest-based mitigation and adaptation strategies; 3) Search for management alternatives (including no-management) and simulate their effect on a variety of ecosystem functions; and 4) Improve forest carbon certification for a cost-effective operationalisation and integration of climate smart practices in forestry.

INFORMA main outputs will be best regional management practices, implementation pathways for the European forestry sector, recommendations for forest carbon certification improvements and for economic-institutional policy action.
CORDIS project database

Sabine Hess, Institute for Cultural Anthropology/European Ethnology

Project title:
Motivations, experiences and consequences of returns and readmissions policy: revealing and developing effective alternatives

Abstract:
The returns and readmissions (RR) policy is the preferred EU and Member State response to migrant irregularity. Attempts to enhance the "effectiveness" of this policy have created a shrinking pathway to guarantee migrants' rights, with restrictive readings of the Returns Directive and increased efforts to upturn returns and deportations. Yet, evidence shows that such measures have failed to improve the "effectiveness" of RR policy and furthered violations of fundamental rights. MORE problematises this "effectivity" approach by adopting a mixed-methods approach focused on ethnographic fieldwork with migrants and stakeholders to explore perceptions and consequences of the RR policy response. Furthermore, it identifies alternative solutions to the challenge of irregular migration in Europe and explores why these have not become a preferred response.
CORDIS project database
Website of the project

Heiko Liesegang, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics

Project title:
From next generation sequencing microorganisms towards ecofriendly biotech based products

Abstract:
Biotechnology develops and applies microorganisms for the production of bioproducts with industrial interest. Next-generation-sequencing (NGS) plays an increasingly important role in improving and accelerating microbial strain development for existing and novel bioproducts via screening, gene and pathway discovery, metabolic engineering and additional optimization and understanding of large-scale manufacturing. NGS technologies have become main stream due to an important reduction in costs and an increase in sequence quality. However, data analysis still requires substantial bioinformatics expertise and adaptation to specific purposes due to the large datasets, data management and infrastructure supporting an NGS research facility. These challenges are particularly relevant in the research centers of the widening countries such as the case of the Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax (CBS) in Tunisia.

In line with EU orientations and twinning requirements, NGS-4-ECOPROD aims to: (i) improve creativity, excellence capacity, and resources, (ii) raise the reputation, research profile, and attractiveness, and (iii) strength research management capacities and administrative skills in the CBS, through addressing the existing gaps in the field of NGS. NGS-4-ECOPROD project will allow CBS to exploit its NGS platform to develop original biotechnology products (extremozymes, sporeless biopesticides, antioxidant-ergothioneine, and bioplastics) useful as eco-friendly alternative to chemicals ones. This will be achieved thanks to the tight collaboration and networking activities (staff exchanges, workshops, conferences, training young researchers, and summer school activities) between the CBS and two leading well renowned research EU Partners in the field of NGS namely the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 in France and the Georg August University of Göttingen in Germany. The NGS-4-ECOPROD will ultimately adopt an integrated communication and dissemination strategy with openness on the socio-economic sectors.
CORDIS project database

Christoph Kleinn, Forest Inventory and Remote Sensing

Project title:
Towards an Integrated Consistent European LULUCF Monitoring and Policy Pathway Assessment Framework

Abstract:
Precise information on the current status of forests is required to forecast forest management effects which allows informed policy decisions. To inform and support the implementation of these policy objectives, PathFinder will develop and demonstrate an innovative integrated forest monitoring and pathway assessment system.

This system, for the first time, will allow a consistent EU greenhouse gas reporting of the LULUCF sector, but, at the same time combine such monitoring capability with advanced pathway assessment to help plan the essential policy and implementation steps towards achieving the policy targets. The continuous monitoring of forests facilitates controlling of target achievement and possibly adjustment of pathways. PathFinder goes beyond the state-of-art by the most efficient, combined use of field and remotely sensed data for high-resolution mapping and precisely estimating forest attributes. The cooperation of the largest forest monitoring organizations operating in the EU, i.e., national forest inventories (NFIs) and the network installed under ICP Forests, provides a rich data base of harmonized ground truth information which will be complemented by an innovative field survey of consistently assessed field monitoring sites. Advanced measurement devices will provide an audio-visual digital twin including genetic properties of the consistently monitored forest for maximum transparency and interoperability of new data.

The analysis of combined databases will improve our understanding of fluxes among C pools. The precise forest information of the monitoring system will feed into a new scenario framework that forecasts future forest scenarios and outcomes of forest management alternatives. The scenarios facilitate trade-off analysis of forest ES and are potential alleys in the pathway assessment. The pathway assessment is a co-creation activity in which novel monitoring and scenario studies are integrated with EU-level stakeholder visions and knowledge.
CORDIS project database

Margo Bargheer, Göttingen State and University Library

Project title:
Policy Alignment of Open access Monographs in the European Research Area

Abstract:
Academic books continue to play an important role in scholarly production and research communication, particularly in the social sciences and humanities. As an important output of scholarly production, academic books must be included in open science/open access policies and strategies developed by research funders and institutions, to ensure that open science becomes the modus operandi of modern science across all disciplines. However, contrary to article publishing in journals (especially in the areas of Science, Technology, and Medicine) academic books have not been a focus point for open access (OA) policymakers. Consequently books are only rarely mandated to be published OA by research funders and institutions.

PALOMERA will investigate the reasons for this situation across geographies, languages, economies, and disciplines within the European Research Area (ERA). Through desk studies, surveys, in-depth interviews, and use cases, PALOMERA will collect, structure, analyse, and make available knowledge that can explain the challenges and bottlenecks that prevent OA to academic books. Based on this evidence PALOMERA will provide actionable recommendations and concrete resources to support and coordinate aligned funder and institutional policies for OA books, with the overall objective of speeding up the transition to open access for books to further promote open science. The recommendations will address all relevant stakeholders (research funders and institutions, researchers, publishers, infrastructure providers, libraries, and national policymakers).

The PALOMERA consortium broadly represents all relevant stakeholders for OA academic books, but will facilitate co-creation and validation events throughout the project to ensure that the views and voices of all relevant stakeholders are represented, promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.This will assure maximal consensus and take-up of the recommendations.
CORDIS project database

Tobias Plieninger, Agricultural Economics and Rural Development

Project title:
Reconciling fragmented and contested landscapes

Abstract:
RECONNECT is a three-year project funded through the European Biodiversity Partnership “BiodivERsA+”. It aims to develop, test, and validate a social-ecological approach for conserving biodiversity in multi-functional landscapes. The challenge we focus on is fragmentation and disconnection, viewed as a series of multi-dimensional, social-ecological challenges. These discontinuities manifest in interrupted ecological flows through habitat networks, siloed sectoral planning, as well as plural lifestyles and values, often leading to tensions between conservation, equity, and production goals, and to clashing governance priorities and land-use practices.

To help reconnect our landscapes we will 1) develop a coherent set of tools and processes for systematically identifying and assessing the interconnections between ecosystems, community values, and diverse institutional interests; and 2) develop governance models and practices for surfacing and managing tensions and for (re-)connecting both people and ecosystems. RECONNECT will generate comprehensive knowledge about ways to protect and enhance connectivity in landscapes across urban to rural gradients in four case sites. It will engage with stakeholders in activities from co-creation and collaboration to information sharing. We will ensure the actionability of our findings by translating and connecting them to local-to-national levels and across different decision-making contexts.

WP1 will investigate national-regional differences in how biodiversity protection measures are framed and used. WP2 will combine biodiversity modelling approaches to assess functional landscape connectivity. The identified ecological connections will be integrated with social values analyses in WP3, informing the social acceptability of nature-based solutions and how to manage their synergies and trade-offs. New dialogues in WP4 will show how different power relations and forms of consensus and contestation can be harnessed for cooperation among industry, government, and citizens in support of local and national biodiversity strategies. Drawing on findings from all WPs, WP5 will iterate and further develop the ‘reconnect’ approach. WP6 will communicate and disseminate findings, and connect all work to current debates on biodiversity and protected area governance policy internationally.

Together, the WPs will feed cross-industry and cross-boundary government and citizen involvement in the implementation of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Thus, we add value by providing novel methods and cross-site comparative evidence for conservation measures and mosaic governance arrangements that can help combine or accommodate multiple values in parallel, in support of biodiversity conservation, wellbeing, and equity outcomes. Employing a strongly transdisciplinary approach, RECONNECT builds upon social-ecological systems analyses developed in previous collaborative initiatives (e.g. ENABLE, ENVISION, IPBES Values Assessment).
European Biodiversity Partnership website: Further information on the project
People - Nature - Landscapes blog: Further information on the project

Carola Paul, Department of Forest Economics and Sustainable Land-use Planning

Project title:
Sustainable multifunctional management by small forest owners in support of bioeconomy, biodiversity and climate

Abstract:
The strategic objective of Small4Good is to enable and activate small-forest owners to safeguard biodiversity and enhance the provision of ecosystem services from Europe's forests through multifunctional and locally adapted management models that are financially supported by PES and implemented with support by of digital- and AI-based solutions.

Small4Good will develop multifunctional management and business models for owners of small forest financially enabled by schemes for PES with focus on biodiversity and carbon farming. The management models are supported by digital and AI solutions to improve the capacity and engagement of small-forests owners. To ensure the long-term impact the models must be aligned with the motivations of the individual owners and the local ecosystem and socioeconomic conditions. Hence, Small4Good focuses on understanding the motivations of small-forest owners and pursues the development of business and management models through a multi-actor living lab approach in four regions across Europe. This follows a co-creation approach that promotes rapid acceptability, prototyping, and implementation to outline realistic locally adapted pathways towards multifunctionality that are aligned with the ambitions outlined in the EU Forest Strategy. The lessons learned will be used to enable small-forest owners across Europe to enter the pathway towards sustainable and multifunctional management as a basis for a fair and inclusive transition towards the bioeconomy.

Small4Good is aligned with the work programme by providing outcomes contributing to the policy goals of the European Green Deal including increasing the multifunctional role and resilience needs under climate change and contribution to halting and reversing biodiversity loss. This is achieved through better understanding of the motivations of small-forest owners, local small-scale management models based on implementation of carbon farming and PES.
CORDIS project database

Martin Potthoff, Centre of Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use

Project title:
Raising awareness for soil biodiversity and multiplying monitoring by student-based Citizen Science

Abstract:
SoilRise aims to extent expertise and knowledge on soil biota in academic and public networks as a basis of utilisation of citizen science in monitoring duties below ground. Biodiversity monitoring is mostly limited by missing expertise, money and time. Belowground biota is even harder to describe, count, or characterize due to its cryptic mode of life. However, soil biota is crucial for the functioning of all terrestrial ecosystems including land use systems. Sustainable land use releys on ecosystem service provisioning of soil biota. Hence, monitoring is of great importance. SoilRise will create a mentor-based research network of Citizen Scientists to multiply knowledge and expertise among gardeners and farmers and the general public. Mointoring of soil biota will be enabled to a certain level of taxonomy, activity, or functional diversity. SoilRise will start and exemplify this for earthworm communities in farmland (arable or grassland) and urban gardens and greens. Finally addressing networks of urban gardeners and farmer associations, SoilRise will develop a multiplication of expertise by implementing earthworm monitoring practises into teaching at universities and even farm schools. Students than go as mentors to certain rural communities (farmer associations) or stage citizen science events in urban gardens related to gardener networks. In the long run, well educated layman can provide earthworm monitoring data of high value complementing biodiversity monitoring in the cultural landscape of Europe. SoilRise is combining a set of partners providing both expertise on earthworm ecology and Citizen Science. It can be taken as a follow up of the succsessfull SoilMan Project (17 peer reviewed papers published by now), now expanding the view from soil management to larger areas and landscapes.
Biodiversa+