“Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda: Horizon Europe Partnership on Biodiversity”
Published: November 2021
The Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) sets out Biodiversa+’s initial research and innovation priorities. It identifies the key knowledge needs the Partnership was designed to address and outlines a shift from biodiversity research focused primarily on documenting decline toward research that also supports solutions, monitoring, policy implementation, and transformative change. The SRIA covers freshwater, marine, and terrestrial environments, with a focus on areas where European cooperation can provide added value.
The main research and innovation priorities
The SRIA is structured around three Topical Themes and two Cross-cutting Themes:
- Topical Theme 1: Biodiversity protection and restoration. This theme focuses on the knowledge needed to protect, restore and sustainably manage biodiversity across land and sea. It covers ecosystem protection, ecosystem restoration, conservation approaches, restoration outcomes, protected areas, ecological connectivity, trade-offs and synergies between conservation and restoration actions, and the distribution of costs and benefits across stakeholders.
- Topical Theme 2: Transformative change. This theme focuses on the social, economic, behavioural and governance changes needed to address biodiversity loss. It includes work on the multiple values of nature and its benefits to people, biodiversity governance, social-ecological systems, mainstreaming biodiversity across sectors and policies, and identifying pathways towards more sustainable human-nature relationships.
- Topical Theme 3: EU’s global action. This theme focuses on Europe’s role in global biodiversity challenges. It covers teleconnections, wildlife trade, international supply chains, investments, the external impacts of European consumption and production, and the knowledge needed to support EU action beyond its borders.
- Cross-cutting Theme A: Better knowledge on biodiversity and its dynamics. This theme cuts across the whole agenda. It focuses on understanding biodiversity status, trends and drivers, and on setting up a pan-European network of harmonised biodiversity monitoring schemes.
- Cross-cutting Theme B: Better knowledge for Nature-based Solutions. This theme focuses on the knowledge needed to develop, deploy and assess Nature-based Solutions in a global change context, including their benefits, limits, trade-offs and conditions for implementation.
From themes to activities
The SRIA does not map each theme directly onto a single call or Flagship Programme. Instead, it provides a reference framework that can be combined and implemented through different Biodiversa+ activities. These include joint calls, alignment of national research programmes, biodiversity monitoring activities, science-policy support, knowledge brokerage, stakeholder engagement, open science, communication and annual implementation plans.
How the SRIA was developed
The SRIA builds on mapping and foresight activities carried out by BiodivERsA and related COFUND actions, as well as a literature review conducted in 2020. It was also informed by advice from the BiodivERsA Advisory Board, consultations with prospective Biodiversa+ members and European Commission services, and an open consultation with research organisations, policy makers and stakeholders.
