GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

Proposals are expected to focus on marine biodiversity hot spots and enable ecological corridors leading to a truly coherent and resilient blue Trans-European Nature Network, and promoting and supporting investments in infrastructure that “builds with nature”. Projects will test and demonstrate novel methods, business models with revenue streams, social innovation to enable flexible socio-ecological management of protected areas to cope with a rapidly changing environment for coastal, offshore and deep-sea marine ecosystems, taking into account their connectivity and the need to preserve their inherent natural dynamics. Management and governance will ensure the sustainability of aquatic ecosystem protection initiatives. The proposals will duly consider national, local and regional protection and restoration initiatives, including relevant activities carried out under Regional Sea Conventions, to ensure effective management and governance of such initiatives and facilitate dialogue with all relevant stakeholders and show options to link such initiatives in a mutually supportive network.

The action should not be limited to specific areas, but rather be a large-scale activity that supports, inter alia, also the implementation of marine protected areas (MPAs). The proposed innovation actions for the Blue Parks will focus on the best-suited and most effective protection that will enable conservation and restauration, as per the biogeographical area or marine region. Identification of the best suited areas for marine protected areas under strict protection would be welcomed. Priority should be given not only to the protection of coastal biogenic habitat based carbon-rich ecosystems, but also of pelagic and benthic ecosystems, which have a more extensive coverage and therefore can provide a significant contribution restore ecosystem processes and functions including to mitigate climate change. Such ecosystems have inherent capacity to store carbon, but may also need to be protected to avoid the release to the atmosphere of the carbon that they currently store.