Database of EU research and innovation projects on nature-based solutions
Introduction to the database
As a partner in NetworkNature, Biodiversa+ has expanded the R&I and implementation projects database.
About this database
In 2021, NetworkNature and Biodiversa+ created the NbS projects database to offer insights into where major funding for NbS is allocated at the European level. This tool serves as a vital resource for policymakers, funders, and programmers, facilitating a better understanding of funding trends and enabling a more coordinated approach to NbS R&I investment.
Latest insights
The 2024 update expands the database significantly by:
Adding the latest NbS-focused projects funded by already explored programmers like LIFE, Horizon 2020, Interreg and Biodiversa+.
Incorporating NbS-related projects funded by additional programmes or initiatives, including Horizon Europe, Water4All, the Sustainable Blue Economy Partnership (SBEP), Driving Urban Transition (DUT) and EJP Soil.
To identify NbS-focused projects, an exhaustive process was undertaken, involving strategic keywords selections and detailed abstracts reviews.
To facilitate analysis and database navigation, each selected project was then categorised by:
NbS type
Ecosystems
Approaches
Societal challenges
Across 471 projects spanning from 2011 to 2024, this update highlights several trends:
Biodiversa+ projects encompass 10% of all NbS-focused collected projects.
Ecosystem coverage: Overall, urban ecosystems dominate; however, recent projects show a shift towards multi-environment solutions. Other commonly studied environments include coastal, shelf, and open ocean areas and croplands - which are the two predominantly ecosystems targeted by Biodiversa+ relevant projects.
Adopted approaches: A substantial proportion of projects adopts ecosystem-based approaches. Among these, ecosystem-based agricultural approaches are prominent. Conversely, ecosystem protection approaches are relatively less adopted in the context of NbS, and these projects mainly target marine environments. Biodiversa+ relevant projects mainly adopt ecological restoration and ecosystem-based agricultural management approaches.
Societal challenges: A significant proportion of projects tackles climate resilience, the second most addressed challenge after food security in Biodiversa+ projects
The majority of the human population lives in cities and more than 75% in Europe.The understanding of how urban ecosystems work, how they change, and what limits their performance, can add to the understanding of ecosystem change and governance in general in an ever more human-…
A-AAgora aims to develop the implementable NbS (Nature based Solutions) through innovative governance structures and technological architecture. It targets to boost resilience to climate change and mitigating its impacts in coastal areas. It identifies synergies by promoting a…
ACROPICS addresses the need for sustainable agricultural practices that use little to no harmful crop protection inputs.ACROPICS (1) reinforces 12 place-based co-innovation initiatives involving local actors implementing agroecological crop protection (ACP), (2) connects these…
Vibrio – microbes that are part of the natural bacterioplankton in temperate marine waters – have in recent years flourished in the Baltic Sea, probably stimulated by elevated surface water temperatures. Several Vibrio species are human pathogens. It is hence of great concern…
Global change may endanger agricultural landscape functioning in the future. Biodiversity has the potential to buffer agro-ecosystems against change and stabilize ecosystem functions and services. However, the suitable level of biodiversity to maximize ecosystem services in…
Woody riparian buffer strips along rivers (referred to as woody buffers in the following) offer multiple ecosystem services and increase biodiversity. Their beneficial effects potentially add up in downstream direction. Woody buffers may provide migration corridors and connect…
In the face of climate change, crop species and agricultural practices will require adaptation to produce high quality food while reducing the impact of agriculture on the environment. The study of mechanisms underlying the anticipated negative impact of climate change on food…
GREEN SURGE will identify, develop and test ways of connecting green spaces, biodiversity, people and the green economy, in order to meet the major urban challenges related to land use conflicts, climate change adaptation, demographic changes, and human health and wellbeing. It…
Coastal zones are complex social-ecological systems playing a crucial role in the economic, social and political development of many countries. However, they are amongst the areas of the world experiencing the highest rates of pressures (Jackson et al. 2001, Lotze et al. 2006).…
There is often a misfit between established governance approaches, including the institutional structures created for governance implementation, and the spatial and temporal scales that are relevant for effective ecosystem service (ES) provision and biodiversity protection in…
"The interest in traditional agriculture is a worldwide trend: as people reclaim their heritage, they increasingly turn to lessons learned by their ancestors about how to sustainability interact with their environment. The network ""Dryland agriculture and Land…
DiMoC is a proposal for the BiodivERsA Pan-European call for transnational research proposals on “Effects of biodiversity status and changes on animal, human and plant health”. The DiMoC project includes 4 institutions from 3 countries (De, Fr, Be). The project will be linking…
AGROSUS will identify appropriate tools and agroecological strategies (AS) to prevent and manage the occurrence of weeds in relevant crops, in conventional, organic and mixed farming, at the eleven biogeographic regions of the European Union and associated countries (Continental…
Increasing vulnerability due to climate change requires cross-sectoral management of the territories with bottom-up approaches based on active community participation. Climate change intensifies territorial risk and impacts severely on human migration and displacement,…
Wetlands cover 5-8% of the world’s land area and have a huge capacity to sequester carbon (C). Healthy wetlands accumulate C effectively due to water-logged conditions promoting highly stable C content. The EU aims to cut GHG emissions by at least 55% by 2030.This ambition…
Dr. FOREST - Diversity of FORESTs affecting human health
Forest ecosystems are an important reservoir for biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes within Central Europe, and deliver many ecosystem services. They are also a popular location for recreational…
Biodiversity can replace external inputs to agricultural crops by delivering ecosystem services such as pollination and pest control, even in intensively farmed landscapes. The organisms driving these services depend on the presence of non-crop habitats, or “green infrastructure…
Soil contamination is a severe hazard to humans and the environment. We propose Achieving Remediation And GOverning Restoration of contaminated soils Now (ARAGORN) through development and implementation of a complete framework. The framework starts from the identification of…
Animal communities provide important ecosystem services (ES). Nowhere is their service more important than in fruit production, where certain species are required for pollination, and others function as biocontrol agents against various pest species attacking flowers, leaves or…
It is demonstrated that Nature Based Solutions (NBS) efficiently and effectively contribute to climate adaptation. However NBS need to be adapted locally and to be coherently chosen in order to assure sustainability and “no side effects”. To achieve this, ARCADIA will mobilise 8…
Qualitative interviews with farmers ident ify context-dependent inhibiting/enabling factors for the uptake of beneficial soil management practices. Synthesized project findings will improve the basis of knowledge and evidence to provide better soil management advice for both…
The project "Urban Green" is aimed at preservation of green areas and water basins in urban areas of Zemgale region and Northern Lithuania, investing in green infrastructure thus reducing urban pressure on environment, securing green areas for future generations. The…
Creating protected area (PA) management strategies that enhance biodiversity conservation while also support the needs of residents and agriculture, tourism, energy, and water management sectors is a major global challenge. ENVISION aims to explore inclusive conservation as a…
The objective of the BalticReed Project is to recycle nutrients from eutrophicated coastal waters of the Baltic Sea to land. At the same time, the project promotes the sustainable utilisation of reed biomass as a raw material for diverse purposes, for example replacing peat.…
Agricultural landscapes occupy 40% of the available land area, and as such play an important role in conserving biodiversity. Farmland biodiversity makes an important contribution to agricultural production by providing ecosystem services such as crop pollination and biological…
Farming practices in sub-Saharan Africa are often linked with high rates of soil erosion, decreasing soil quality, and increasing use of agrochemicals that have negative impacts on humans and the environment. Concomitantly, land use change threatens regional biodiversity and…
Forests are impacted by climate change both directly and indirectly via increased natural disturbances such as wind, wildfire and insect outbreaks, with negative effects on wood production and the economy. Nature-based solutions (NbS) promise great potential to counter negative…
Blue carbon, the carbon captured and stored in natural marine and coastal habitats, represents a critical ecosystem service that can mitigate against climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions from human activity. Marine sediments represent a significant global carbon…
Biodiversity loss in hotspots of biodiversity is, among other socio-ecological factors, key to understand, prevent and react to future pandemics. However, despite this knowledge, the current COVID-19 crisis highlights the limitations of the implementation of One Health…
According to climate change scenarios Baltic Sea Region (BSR) will face more frequent and heavier rainfalls. At the same time the trend in urban planning is to densify urban areas. It leads to more serious urban flooding that causes costs, environmental degradation and risks to…
"Epidemics and pandemics - most of them caused by zoonotic and vector-borne emerging diseases - are globally threatening our health and welfare at an alarming pace. Prevention of future disease outbreaks will be pivotal to secure human welfare and demands transformative…
The LUMAT project objective is the implementation of Sustainable Land Use and pilot projects in Integrated Environmental Management in 7 Central European Functional Urban Areas. The LUMAT partnership of cities and regions, environmental agencies and research institutions develop…
Governments, businesses, academics, and practitioners increasingly consider Nature-based Solutions (NbS) central to achieving international conservation and sustainable development objectives (e.g., the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement on Climate change, and…
Preserving marine ecosystem services is a key priority for the European Union as they support the livelihood and well-being of millions of its citizens. The delivery of ecosystem services is nowadays jeopardized by alterations to species composition and functional diversity.…
Pollution is threatening the biodiversity of inland waters that are vital to society and the future of the Earth. A major source of this pollution are effluent discharges from wastewater treatment plants. The treatment processes used in these plants do not…
Living in a large city to have a park or garden right on your doorstep is such an advantage most property seekers are looking for. Such greens offer you an improved life quality. They not only provide leisure or sports facilities but make the air cleaner, reduce urban noise and…
BEGIN proposes an approach to climate resilience for cities that mimics nature’s potential to deal with flooding. Blue and Green Infrastructure (BGI) supports existing grey infrastructure to cope with extreme weather events (reducing flood risk by 30%) and improves urban…
Forest landscape restoration and afforestation have recently received much international attention as a crucial opportunity for mitigating climate change (CC). Therefore, it features prominently in many political initiatives such as the EU Green Deal and the Bonn Challenge. Yet…
If biodiversity is to be placed back on a path to recovery, new tools and knowledge are required to redirect financial resources from destructive economic activity towards nature-positive investment. The financial system consists of interacting and dynamic actors who value…
The Amazon River Basin is the largest and most diverse drainage basin on the planet. The deforestation of Amazonian tropical forests to make way for crops and pastures has increased dramatically over the last decades, along with changes in climate…
ContextFreshwater ecosystems are under tremendous anthropogenic stress both at global (e.g. from climate change) and at catchment scales (e.g. from land and water use). A direct result is that freshwater ecosystems in general hold alarmingly many threatened species. This is not…
The main objective of BIOservicES is to understand the interconnection between soil organisms (virus, bacteria, archaea, fungi, protists, nematodes, microarthropods, earthworms, isopods, millipedes, insects and spiders) and the delivery of multiple soil ecosystem functions and…
The impact of intense annual crop production on natural resources under the threat of climate change has resulted in a global magnification of environmental degradation and biodiversity loss. A concept for mitigating such consequences is the development of perennial grain…
The NordSalt project will assess the extent of and plant community biodiversity in Nordic Salt and coastal marshes and evaluate how these ecosystems provide climate and coastal protection related benefits to society (ecosystem services, ES or Nature’s Contributions to People,…
"Oceans are a life-support system for human societies. They supply fundamental goods such as fish food, materials, energy and provide benefits associated with our well-being, they form cultural values and contribute to jobs creation and trade. The development of national…
BLUE4ALL will align top-down regulatory demands about European (networks of) MPAs with bottom-up societal expectations as a guarantee for achieving effective, efficient and resilient MPAs and networks of MPAs which meet EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 objectives. By mobilizing…
BlueMissionAA will be the coordination hub that will support the implementation of the EU Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030 in the Atlantic and Arctic basins. It will focus on restoration of marine and coastal ecosystems and increased climate resilience. BlueMission…
NARROW will examine effective nature conservation and climate change mitigation led by local communities. This will be done by looking at restoration, rewilding, biodiversity, greenhouse gas flux (GHG) and carbon storage of Swedish and Finnish inland waters…
Wet and healthy peatlands have a strong natural potential to save carbon and, due to their water buffering capacity, play an important role in managing periods of excessive rains or droughts. Yet, in NWE regions large areas of peatlands are drained for peat mining, agriculture…
Rivers rank among some of the most threatened ecosystems in the world, and are the focus of costly restoration programmes that cost billions to taxpayers. Much of Europe depends on water from rivers for drinking, food production, and the generation of hydropower, which is…
PRINCESS will investigate the potential of alternative land uses on rewetted peatlands to tackle the major environmental challenges of Europe: greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen pollution and biodiversity loss. All relevant EU policy objectives include rewetting drained…
With the use of inorganic fertilizers, plant breeding and pesticides, global food production more than tripled in the last 60 years, reducing hunger and poverty by fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals from the UN 2030 Agenda. However, this progress came at a cost because…
New approaches are needed to secure food production while creating sustainable agricultural systems requiring as few external inputs as possible. The interaction between biodiversity and ecosystem services (ESS) is recognized to play a key role in this context although large…
The humid tropics of Central and Eastern Africa hold much promise for enhancing food and nutritional security within and beyond Africa. With a rich variety of agroecological zones and diverse farming systems, they are home for a great part of the rural population and a large…
(Research question) Belowground biodiversity is formed by fungi, bacteria, archaea, animals and plants that altogether affect soil functioning, particularly by controlling rates of production and decomposition of organic matter. Peat soils, being the most concentrated stores of…
Marine fisheries constitute a major source of provisioning services (proteins), and it is estimated that about 45% of the world’s fisheries and 90% of fishing employment are linked to small-scale artisanal fisheries. Nevertheless, artisanal fisheries are declining globally due…
Grasslands and pastures cover about 40% of the Earth’s ice-free land surface and its soils store about 20% of the global carbon (C) stocks. However, overuse of grasslands due to inadequate management and the pressure to fulfill the growing demand of food has resulted in their…
Climate projections indicate higher precipitation variability along this century with more frequent drought extremes, which would have strong influence on forest biodiversity due to impacts on ecosystem functioning, tree ecophysiology and microbial communities. Forest…
CARDIMED will introduce a framework to build Climate Resilience in the Mediterranean biogeographical region, efficiently unifying individual efforts of regions and communities across different countries and continents. This will be achieved by deploying the digital…
European agricultural landscapes are undergoing profound changes, but no schemes exist to identify landscape specific ecological infrastructures which are needed to safeguard biodiversity and ESS, and the respective adaptability to changes. The aim of the project is to develop a…