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Call key data
EU-African Union cooperation on agroforestry management for climate change adaptation and mitigation
Call number
HORIZON-CL6-2024-FARM2FORK-01-10
deadlines
Opening
17.10.2023
Deadline
22.02.2024 17:00
Funding rate
100%
Call budget
€ 18,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
€ 6,000,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
short description
In line with the European Green Deal priorities and the farm to fork strategy for a fair, healthy and environment‑friendly food system, and in support of the climate objectives of the African Union (AU) and the EU, the successful proposal will contribute to the AU-EU High Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD) on Science, Technology and Innovation, and its priority on Green Transition (and the respective R&I partnerships on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change and Sustainable Energy), as well as to the implementation of the short-term actions outlined in the working document of the AU-EU Innovation Agenda, aiming to translate R&I efforts into tangible business, development and employment opportunities in Africa and Europe.
Call objectives
Achieving sustainable agricultural production that fosters both climate change mitigation and adaptation and biodiversity preservation and enhancement is a policy objective that implies finding a balance with farm productivity, socio-economic viability and wider sustainability goals. Agroforestry systems include both traditional and modern land-use systems where trees are managed together with crops and/or animal production systems in agricultural settings. These systems have the potential to increase ecosystem services – including soil carbon sequestration, water retention, erosion control, soil nutrients, pollination, pest- and disease-control – and biodiversity, while improving farming productivity, profitability and sustainability of farmers’ incomes. Implementation of agroforestry in the EU and the AU needs to be boosted in order to maximise this potential. The management of agroforestry systems is critical for their positive impact on climate and the environment as well as to ensure a balance with productivity and profitability for farmers. This is essential to promote the uptake and long-term sustainability of agroforestry.
Proposals should address the following:
- Identification of the most suitable plant and animal species and breeds to be used in agroforestry for different geographic regions in Africa, generating sustainable ecosystems with positive impact on local communities, and on women, looking for models where this impact is greater. In vegetation management systems preference should be given to local species, to avoid potential unintended consequences linked to the introduction of alien species;
- Assessment of local multi-purpose agroforestry species and breeds with benefits for food, pharmaceutical uses as well as ecosystem functions for the soil, biodiversity and their functions in a vegetation mosaic;
- Assessment of specific agroforestry management measures aiming at preserving/enhancing biodiversity;
- Assessment of the potential of carbon farming as a possible future business for farmers and foresters, and analysis of its potential to contribute to reaching climate-neutrality in a few decades;
- Identification of the structural needs of agroforestry crops and animals in different geographical regions in Africa, including the analysis of production burdens, suggesting solutions and addressing traceability of all steps in the production chain to measure the effectiveness of solutions;
- Supporting this new value chain with knowledge and capacity building to be efficient, fair, and easily adopted, or not abandoned, by landowners and farmers;
- Establishing local agroforestry pilot plots.
Proposals must implement the “multi-actor approach” including a wide range of actors to ensure that knowledge and needs from various sectors, such as research, farmers/foresters, advisory services, are brought together.
This topic should involve the effective contribution of SSH disciplines.
Proposals should include a dedicated task, appropriate resources and a plan on how they will collaborate with other projects funded under this topic, as well under topic HORIZON-CL6-2021-CLIMATE-01-08: ‘Agroforestry to meet climate, biodiversity and farming sustainability goals’.
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Expected results
Projects results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Improved availability of qualitative and quantitative data pertaining to the contribution of agroforestry to climate change adaptation and mitigation, biodiversity preservation, and to sustainable agriculture;
- Improved management of agroforestry systems (conventional, agroecological and/or organic), including agro-pastoral systems, in Africa;
- Enhanced capacities to evaluate the socioeconomic and environmental performance of agroforestry for climate change resilience;
- A strengthened agroforestry innovation ecosystem for better user acceptance and implementation of agroforestry in the African Union (AU).
Eligibility Criteria
Regions / countries for funding
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
Activities should reach TRL 3-5 by the end of the project.
Due to the scope of this topic, legal entities established in all African Union member states are exceptionally eligible for Union funding. "African Union member states” includes countries whose membership has been temporarily suspended.
International organisations with headquarters in a Member State or associated country are exceptionally eligible for funding.
The places of establishment of at least two of these legal entities must be in the same geographical region of Africa (as defined by the African Union: https://au.int/en/member_states/countryprofiles2).
Due to the specific challenge of this topic, in addition to the minimum number of participants set out in the General Annexes, consortia must include at least three independent legal entities established in Africa.
The proposals must apply the multi-actor approach. See definition of the multi-actor approach in the introduction to the work programme.
Additional information
Topics
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
HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 6, Destination 2HE-Work Programme 2023-2024, Cluster 6, Destination 2(959kB)
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