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Deadline expired

The deadline for this call has expired.

Call key data

Soil health, pollinators and key ecosystem functions

Funding Program

Horizon Europe: Missions

Call number

HORIZON-MISS-2024-SOIL-01-05

deadlines

Opening
08.05.2024

Deadline
08.10.2024 17:00

Funding rate

100%

Call budget

€ 7,500,000.00

Estimated EU contribution per project

€ 7,500,000.00

Link to the call

ec.europa.eu

Link to the submission

ec.europa.eu

Call content

short description

Activities under this topic will help to progress towards the objectives of the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’, in particular its specific objectives 4 “Reduce soil pollution and enhance restoration”, 6 “Improve soil structure to enhance habitat quality for soil biota and crops” and 8 "Improve soil literacy in society”. Activities will also contribute to the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, to the revised EU Pollinators Initiative “A new deal for pollinators”, to the future EU Nature Restoration Law and the proposed Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive, to the EU Farm to Fork Strategy, including the EU Action Plan on the Development of Organic Production, and to the goals of the UN CBD COP-15. It also directly contributes to the achievement of several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in particular SDG 15 by halting biodiversity loss and halting and reversing land degradation and SDG2 on food security as activities are expected to improve pollination ecosystem services, which are key for food production.

Call objectives

Soil-dependent insects are under threat because of non-adapted soil management practices such as tillage and issues like contamination, compacting or sealing. A better understanding of the causes of their decline and effective measures to tackle them are needed.

Pollination is a key ecosystem service for crops and food production. Therefore, a specific focus on pollinating insects is required. Many solitary wasps and 70% of wild bees nest below ground and require protection during this crucial period of their lifecycle. Other ground-nesting pollinators also contribute to soil quality and other ecosystem functions, but little is known about their below ground lives.

The “New Deal for Pollinators” calls for more research to better understand the taxonomic and functional diversity of pollinator communities and their distribution, as well as the threats to pollinators and their interactions.

Proposed activities should:

  • Improve the knowledge on the biology, ecology and population dynamics of insects spending part of their life cycle on or in the soil, with specific focus on ground-nesting pollinators, as well as on the interactions between life below and above ground. Focus should be put on lesser-known species, regions and major threats and causes of their decline. The potential buffer and protective role of soil against threats in different soil and land uses, including applied agricultural practices, such as ploughing (e.g., agricultural, forestry, urban and natural areas) should be explored.
  • Contribute to the development of monitoring methods including on threats and pressures that can be of relevance for the pollinator monitoring framework, under the revised EU Pollinators Initiative : “A New deal for Pollinators”.
  • Identify soil conditions associated with a high diversity of pollinators and map regions of particular importance for the protection of soil-dependent pollinators.
  • Analyse the effects of different soil management practices, including different plant protection and/or soil management methods, across different farming systems, such as organic farming or conventional approaches, and compare intensively managed areas with protected areas.
  • Develop and demonstrate soil remediation and mitigation practices to address the causes of insect (and in particular pollinator) decline.
  • Provide recommendations for best soil management practices to integrate pollinator conservation and restoration across the wider landscape and enhance habitat connectivity and pollination services.

Projects should seek potential synergies and capitalise on the results of past or ongoing projects (e.g., Horizon projects Safeguard, PollinERA and WILDPOSH). Furthermore, specific tasks and resources should be envisaged to collaborate and capitalise on activities and results from projects financed under other Work Programme topics of the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’, in particular BIOservicES and SOB4ES and under the topic HORIZON-MISS-2024-SOIL-01-06: Harnessing the multifunctional potential of soil biodiversity for healthy cropping systems.

Proposals should demonstrate a route towards open access, longevity, sustainability and interoperability of knowledge and outputs through close collaboration with the Joint Research Centre’s EU Soil Observatory and the SoilWISE project and the EU Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity.

International cooperation and links to global conservation actions are encouraged. Potentially, the projects funded under this topic could also cooperate with living labs and lighthouses that will be created in this and future calls of the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’.

Proposals must implement the multi-actor approach and should involve at least researchers, landowners and/or land managers, and representatives of civil society notably environmental NGOs.

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Expected results

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

  • Improved knowledge and understanding of the biology and ecology of insect species spending part of their life cycle on or in the soil, with specific focus on ground-nesting pollinators.
  • Better understanding of the major causes of the decline of these insects and the synergistic effects of various threats, including the quantitative and qualitative aspects related to the magnitude of their decline.
  • More effective measures to tackle the loss of soil-dependent insects.

Eligibility Criteria

Regions / countries for funding

EU Member States, Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT)
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Azerbaijan (Azərbaycan), Belarus (Беларусь), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Georgia (საქართველო), Iceland (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Montenegro (Црна Гора), Morocco (المغرب), New Zealand (Aotearoa), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна), United Kingdom

eligible entities

Education and training institution, International organization, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)

Mandatory partnership

Yes

Project Partnership

To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:

  • the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions
  • the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States
  • third countries associated to Horizon Europe - see list of particpating countries

Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:

  • at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
  • at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.

Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.

A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.

Specific cases:

  • Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
  • Associated partners — Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any conditions regarding associated partners set out in the specific call conditions.
  • Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
  • EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
  • Joint Research Centre (‘JRC’)— Where provided for in the specific call conditions, applicants may include in their proposals the possible contribution of the JRC but the JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal. Applicants will indicate the contribution that the JRC could bring to the project based on the scope of the topic text. After the evaluation process, the JRC and the consortium selected for funding may come to an agreement on the specific terms of the participation of the JRC. If an agreement is found, the JRC may accede to the grant agreement as beneficiary requesting zero funding or participate as an associated partner, and would accede to the consortium as a member.
  • Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members (e.g. European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. However, if the action is in practice implemented by the individual members, those members should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible.

other eligibility criteria

Proposals must apply the multi-actor approach. See definition of the multi-actor approach in the introduction to this Mission.

Additional information

Topics

Agriculture & Forestry, Fishery, Food, Soil quality, 
Air Quality, Biodiversity & Environment, Climate & Climate Change, Water quality & management

Relevance for EU Macro-Region

EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region

UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)

Additional Information

All proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funders & Tenders Portal electronic submission system (accessible via the topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section). Paper submissions are NOT possible.

Proposals must be complete and contain all parts and mandatory annexes and supporting documents, e.g. plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the results including communication activities, etc.

The application form will have two parts:

  • Part A (to be filled in directly online) contains administrative information about the applicant organisations (future coordinator and beneficiaries and affiliated entities), the summarised budget for the proposal and call-specific questions;
  • Part B (to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system) contains the technical description of the project.

Annexes and supporting documents will be directly available in the submission system and must be uploaded as PDF files (or other formats allowed by the system).

The limit for a full application (Part B) is 45 pages.

Call documents

Horizon Missions 2023-2024Horizon Missions 2023-2024(2860kB)

Contact

EU Missions in Horizon Europe
RTD-HORIZON-EUROPE-MISSIONS@ec.europa.eu
Website

National Contact Points for Horizon Europe
Website

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