2019 – 2020 BiodivClim

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Joint COFUND Call on
Biodiversity and Climate Change

In the context of its BiodivClim COFUND Action, BiodivERsA launched in September 2019 a joint call to support research on “Biodiversity and climate change”. The call was co-funded by the European Commission and covered four non-exclusive themes:

Consequences of climate change on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people
Climate-biodiversity feedback processes
Potential of nature-based solutions for mitigating and adapting to climate change
Synergies and trade-offs between policies on biodiversity, climate and other relevant sectors, and the role of agents of change.

Original call text

In total, 231 pre-proposals and 82 eligible full proposals were received and evaluated by an independent Evaluation Committee who ranked the projects.

Strictly following the ranking established by the Evaluation Committee, 21 research projects have been shortlisted and recommended for funding by the BiodivClim Call Steering Committee – composed of all the funding organisations participating to the call – representing a total funding amount of over 25Mio€ (including funding from European Commission).

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BiodivClim comics

Biodiversa+, in collaboration with The Nature of Cities, has created three comics based on findings from the BiodivClim research projects. By combining scientific insights with storytelling, the comics offer a creative way to engage with complex environmental issues and reflect on our changing world.

Each story presents a different perspective on the challenges explored by BiodivClim. While fictional, the narratives remain closely tied to the science. QR codes within the comics link to the research projects that inspired them, allowing readers to dig deeper into the work behind the stories.

Clara wants to feed the world using modern farming techniques after a drought ruined a lot of her previous crops. But her sister Esperanza has another view on this.

The Wheat Code

“We don’t fish from the ocean, we fish from the mountains” young Sofia claims when a scientist tries to figure out the declining fish population in Costa Rica.

Tides of Change

Amidst the global efforts of forest restoration, Leo, a wandering musician, sets out to walk from the Amazon to Sweden entirely under the shade of trees.

Forest of Forgotten Futures

21 funded projects

ACORN – Identifying seed sources for highly adaptable oak forests in a changing climate. (AT, CH, DE, GR, TR).
ASICS– ASsessing and mitigating the effects of climate change and biological Invasions on the spatial redistribution of biodiversity in Cold environmentS. (FR, AT, BE, CZ, ES, DK, NO, SA).
BaltVib– Pathogenic Vibrio bacteria in the current and future Baltic Sea waters: mitigating the problem. (DE, EE, DK, FI, LT, PL, SE).
BIOFAIR– BIOdiversity of soils and FArming Innovations for improved Resilience in European wheat agrosystems. (BE, CH, DE, ES, FR).
CLAMBIO– Assessing the effects of past and future climate change on Amazonian biodiversity. (FI, BR, DE, UK).
EASMO– EAStern Tropical Pacific reef fish on the MOve: biodiversity reorganisation and societal consequences. (DE, AU, CO, CR, NO, PT, SE, UK, US).
EPICC– Environmental Policy Instruments across Commodity Chains: Comparing multi-level governance for Biodiversity Protection and Climate Action in Brazil, Colombia, and Indonesia. (BE, DE, BR, ID, NO, SE).
FeedBaCks – Feedbacks between Biodiversity and Climate. (CH, CZ, DE, FR, SE).
FUNPOTENTIAL– Potential of functional diversity for increasing the disturbance resiliency of forests and forest-based socio-ecological systems. (FI, DE, FR).
FutureArcticLives– Future Arctic livelihoods and biodiversity in a changing climate. (DK, NO, SE).
GenClim– Biodiversity on the run: evolutionary and socio-economic consequences of shifting distribution ranges in commercially exploited marine fishes. (DK, DE, PT, SA).

GRADCATCH– Using natural environmental GRADients to decipher the adaptation of soil microbial Communities to climATe CHange. (DK, CH, ES, US, SA).
MICROSERVICES– Predicting climate change impacts on the crop microbiome and cascading effects on ecosystem services delivery in agroecosystems. (CH, BE, ES, FR, DE, GR).
MixForChange– Mixed Forest plantations for climate Change mitigation and adaptation. (FR, AT, BE, BR, CA, DE, IT, SE).
NAPERDIV – Nature-based perennial grain cropping as a model to safeguard functional biodiversity towards future-proof agriculture. (DE, AT, BE, FR, PL, RO, SE).
NordSalt– Climate Change Impacts and Biodiversity Interactions in Nordic Salt Marshes. (DK, DE, FI, SE, NO).
PlantCline– Adapting Plant Genetic Diversity to climate change along a continental latitudinal gradient. (SE, BE, ES, FI).
PRINCESS– Peatland Rewetting In Nitrogen-Contaminated Environments: Synergies and trade-offs between biodiversity, climate, water quality and Society. (DE, AT, BE, FI, PL, NO).
RangeX– Mechanisms underlying the success and impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of range-expanding species under climate change. (CH, CL, DE, DK, FR, NO, SA, SE).
RESTORE – Innovative biotechnological strategies to improve tree drought tolerance and microbial diversity for forest restoration purposes: the application of plant associative microorganisms and nature-based materials. (BR, DE, FR).
SUSTAIN-COCOA– Sustainable sourcing policies for biodiversity protection, climate mitigation, and improved livelihoods in the cocoa sector. (CH, AU, BE, CO, SE).

Evaluation Committee

Chair and Vice Chair of the Committee

Chair: Sir Robert Watson
Vice-Chair: Simon Gardner

Other members of the committee

STEP 1

Scientific experts (21)

Christian Ammer
Kate Brauman
Iain Brown
Scott Collins
Simon Ferrier
Lauchlan Fraser
Jasmin Godbold
Hefin Jones
Rik Leemans
Carolyn Lundquist
Nathalie Pettorelli
Jake Rice
Carlo Rondinini
Peter Verburg
Jan D van Elsas
Stephen Williams
Melinda Smith
Esther Turnhout
Harriet Bulkeley
Alex Bush
Lijbert Brussaard

Policy/management experts (15)

Jos Brils
Peter Cochrane
Simon Duffield
Colin Hindmarch
Katia Hueso Kortekaas
James Lloyd
Vinod Mathur
Yulia Stange
Sunandan Tiwari
Wouter Vanneuville
Esther Wolfs
Bernal Herrera-Fernández
Marcel Kok
Cristina Romanelli
Eugenie Regan

STEP 2

Scientific experts (17)

Christian Ammer
Kate Brauman
Iain Brown
Scott Collins
Simon Ferrier
Lauchlan Fraser
Jasmin Godbold
Hefin Jones
Rik Leemans
Carolyn Lundquist
Nathalie Pettorelli
Jake Rice
Carlo Rondinini
Peter Verburg
Jan D van Elsas
Frits Mohren
Niki Frantzeskaki

Policy/management experts (11)

Jos Brils
Peter Cochrane
Simon Duffield
Colin Hindmarch
Katia Hueso Kortekaas
James Lloyd
Vinod Mathur
Yulia Stange
Sunandan Tiwari
Wouter Vanneuville
Esther Wolfs

Funding Organisations

23 organisations from 19 countries funded one or several research teams in this Joint Call.

Contact Point follow-up of the projects: Patricia Vera Bravo: era-medioambiente@aei.gob.es

Countries	Funding organisations	Names	E-mail	Phone
Austria	FWF	Iris Fortmann	iris.fortmann@fwf.ac.at	+43/1-505 67 40-8211
Belgium	BELSPO	Aline van der Werf	aline.vanderwerf@belspo.be	+32 2 23 83 671
Belgium	F.R.S.-FNRS	Joël Groeneveld	joel.groeneveld@frs-fnrs.be	+32 2 504 9270
Belgium	FWO	Toon Monbaliu Alain Deleener/td>	eranet@fwo.be	+32 (0)2 550 15 70 +32 (0)2 550 15 95
Brazil	CONFAP	Elisa Natola	elisa.confap@gmail.com	n/a
Brazil (Sao Paolo)	FAPESP	Marie Anne Van Sluys	chamada-biodiversa@fapesp.br	n/a
Czech Republic	TACR	Matěj Štěpánek	matej.stepanek@tacr.cz	n/a
Denmark	IFD	Martin Kyvsgaard	martin.kyvsgaard@innofond.dk	n/a
Estonia	ETAg	Aare Ignat	aare.Ignat@etag.ee	n/a
Finland	AKA	Harri Hautala	harri.hautala@aka.fi	+358 295 33 5019
France	ANR	Céline Billiere	celine.billiere@agencerecherche.fr	+33 1 73 54 82 60
Germany	DFG	Gaby Rerig	gaby.rerig@dfg.de	+49 228 885-2406
Germany	VDI/VDE-IT	Cristina Krahl Perez	cristina.krahlperez@vdivde-it.de	+49 (0)228 39175-24
Greece	GSRT	Anna Rosenberg	a.rosenberg@gsrt.gr	+30 213 13 00 095
Lithuania	RCL	Viktoras Mongirdas	viktoras.mongirdas@lmt.lt	+37 067 619 613
Norway	RCN	Mari Soleroed	mso@rcn.no	+47 952 13 880
Poland	NCN	Anna Wiktor Joanna Komperda	anna.wiktor@ncn.gov.pl joanna.komperda@ncn.gov.pl	+48 12 3419166 +48 12 3419138
Portugal	FCT	Joana Pinheiro Marta Abrantes	joana.pinheiro@fct.pt marta.abrantes@fct.pt	[+351] 213 911 567 [+351] 213 911 596
South Africa	DST	Toto Matshediso Vinny Pillay	Toto.matshediso@dst.gov.za Vinny.pillay@dst.gov.za	n/a n/a
Spain	AEI	Patricia Vera Margarita Ruiz-Ramos	BiodivRestore.cs@aei.gob.es	+34 916 037 752
Sweden	FORMAS	Conny Rolén	conny.rolen@formas.se	+46 (0)8 775 40 30
Switzerland	SNSF	Stéphanie Wyss Claudia Ellenrieder Madlen Korneli	stephanie.wyss@snf.ch Claudia.ellenrieder@snf.ch madlen.korneli@snf.ch	+41 31 308 22 68 +41 31 308 22 73 +41 31 308 24 47
Turkey	TAGEM	Turgut Orman Esin Dilbirliği	turgut.orman@tarimorman.gov.tr esin.dilbirligi@tarimorman.gov.tr	+90 312 307 60 37 +90 312 307 60 69