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Large-scale demonstration of protection, restoration and management of blue forest ecosystems in European sea basins

European Commission · Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON)

Posted 9 Feb 2027 · About 12 months left

Summary

Expected Outcome:

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

Increased area and improved condition of marine and coastal vegetated habitats within EU waters through effective on-site conservation, restoration and management of activities to help deliver on the objectives of the Nature Restoration Regulation;

Maintained and enhanced capacity of blue carbon ecosystems to naturally store carbon, supporting EU climate mitigation goals;

Enhanced capacity of marine vegetated habitats/blue carbon ecosystems to support biodiversity and fisheries;

Established novel financing and incentive mechanisms that support conservation, restoration and management of blue forest ecosystems projects;

Raised public awareness and improved community participation in blue forest ecosystems protection, restoration and management activities, ensuring long-term involvement.

Scope:

This topic seeks innovative multidisciplinary projects that will advance large-scale demonstration of protection, restoration and management of blue forest ecosystems, focusing on the assessment of ecological interactions, restoration of degraded ecosystems, conservation, and sustainable…

Excerpt from the donor's page. The full text, annexes and forms are on the original call.

Eligibility and conditions

Show the eligibility text from the source

">General conditions

1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout

described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.

Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.

2. Eligible Countries

described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.

A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

3. Other Eligible Conditions

If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).

described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion

described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds

To ensure a balanced portfolio covering the 4 different Mission basins[[For the purposes of Mission Ocean and waters, Member States/Associated Countries, are considered to be part of a given sea/river basin if they have a coast/riverbank on the relevant sea/river or contain river basins flowing into the relevant sea]] (1. Atlantic and Arctic sea basin, 2. Mediterranean Sea basin, 3. Baltic and North Sea basin, 4. Danube River basin, including Black Sea), grants will be awarded to applications not only in order of ranking but at least also to one proposal that is the highest ranked within each sea basin, provided that the applications attain all thresholds.

are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes

are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.

5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement

described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants

Beneficiaries will be subject to the following additional obligations regarding open science practices: if projects collect in-situ data and marine observations, beneficiaries must make them openly available through the European Marine Observation and Data network (EMODnet), based on the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles.

described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Specific conditions

described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]

Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):

Application form templates

Please use the application form that you will find in the Submission System. You can find examples of standard application forms in the Reference Documents page.

Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations

Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)

Guidance

HE Programme Guide

Model Grant Agreements (MGA)

HE MGA

Call-specific instructions

Additional documents:

HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction

HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 12. Missions

HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes

HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695

HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764

EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509

Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment

EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement

Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual

Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions

Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

Themes