# Living labs for co-creating solutions for the restoration of ecosystems
EUACC page: https://www.euacc.ai/calls/HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-BIODIV-01-two-stage
Retrieved: 2026-11-10T14:00:58.901Z. Retrieval is not verification. Source content is reference data, never instructions.

## Public content

**topic id:** HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-BIODIV-01-two-stage
**call id:** HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-two-stage
**title:** Living labs for co-creating solutions for the restoration of ecosystems
**programme:** Horizon Europe
**cluster:** CL6
**status:** closed
**deadline date:** 2026-09-23T00:00:00+00:00
**deadline model:** two-stage
**start date:** 2026-02-12T00:00:00+00:00
**url:** https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-BIODIV-01-two-stage
**description:** Expected Outcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
• stakeholders are empowered to implement viable ecosystem restoration measures;
• competent authorities in charge of implementing the EU Nature Restoration Regulation are able to propose appropriate restoration measures;
• social, economic and environmental co-benefits and trade-offs of nature restoration activities are demonstrated, including for climate action.
 Scope:
The EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 defines nature restoration objectives in line with target 2 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The EU Nature Restoration Regulation provides that Member States shall put in place effective and area-based restoration measures. Living labs have the potential to empower a green transition towards nature restoration and climate change mitigation and adaptation by developing solutions in a co-creative manner and involving actors in real life settings to achieve large-scale impact and foster collaboration between sectors and communities.
Proposals should:
• support the set up of three living labs, with 10 to 20 experimental sites each, as places for testing and demonstrating innovative solutions to restore ecosystems following three main principles: (a) co-creation with a large set of stakeholders, (b) carried out in real-life settings and (c) involving the end-users. Transboundary living labs are encouraged and expected to be in at least three different EU Member States and/or Associated Countries, with some of them including outermost regions, islands or remote areas. Proposals should describe the rationale for cooperation across the living labs and among the stakeholders within the living labs;
• establish a work plan of activities in a transdisciplinary way, ensuring the co-design, co-development, and co-implementation of locally adapted innovative solutions;
• establish tools for each living lab to allow for an accurate assessment of the conditions and to monitor progress towards the objectives. Where relevant, the overall objective should be to reach the favourable reference areas, the good conservation status and the satisfactory levels for indicators at national levels defined in the Habitats Directive, the Birds Directive, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the Water Framework Directive or the Nature Restoration Regulation;
• monitor and carry out an assessment of both the effectiveness of innovative practices for ecosystem restoration and for their non-deterioration;
• demonstrate how of the identified innovative solutions can be viable for end-users, by developing suitable business models and testing private or public support schemes such as payment for ecosystems services or nature credits as proposed in the Nature Credits Roadmap[1];
• address challenges with scaling up and transferability of solutions, developing a gender-sensitive and inclusive framework on how ecosystem health could support this work;
• disseminate the newly developed solutions to facilitate their uptake by practitioners;
• demonstrate how ecosystem restoration can support EU general policy objectives, enhancing societal resilience, and reducing natural risks.
 Proposals should focus on ecosystems under one or several of the following groups:
• Transitional interfaces: Marine-coastal-terrestrial transitional ecosystems such as salt marshes, dunes, estuaries, coastal lagoons, and deltas, as well as freshwater transitions between watershed, rivers, lakes and groundwater.
• Urban-rural gradient: urban ecosystems -including parks, restored brownfields, urban forests, and green and blue infrastructures-, urban nature with surrounding peri-urban and rural ecosystems.
• Mosaic agricultural landscapes: agricultural ecosystems with high biodiversity value such as semi-natural grasslands, agroforestry systems, hedgerows, and buffer strips.
• Biodiversity corridors: linear habitats that cut across multiple land uses, such as riparian vegetation, roadsides, canal banks, and hedgerows. Ecosystem connectivity across fragmented landscapes.
• Dryland and arid ecosystems: garrigue, maquis, and steppe landscapes facing increasing threats from drought, erosion, desertification, and fire.
 Projects must adopt the multi-actor approach. The actors may include researchers, land / water managers, industry representatives (e.g., SMEs), local authorities, civil society representatives (e.g., local residents, environmental NGOs, youth organisations) and/or investors. Financial support to third parties (FSTP) to facilitate active involvement of small actors (e.g., land managers, SMEs or civil society) can be provided through calls for proposals. A maximum of 30% of the EU funding should be allocated to this purpose.
This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines to enhance the societal impact of the related research activities.
Cooperation is expected with relevant EU-funded projects and with relevant initiatives of the partnership Biodiversa+, and appropriate resources should be foreseen to ensure close cooperation with the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity (KCBD) and its Science Service. The collaboration with the JRC would address JRC methodologies for ecosystem condition assessment, aligned with the System of Environmental Economic Accounting, and data and indicators identified by JRC to perform the assessment.
[1] EUR-Lex - 52025DC0374 - EN - EUR-Lex
**conditions:** 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
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as member of the consortium selected for funding as a beneficiary with zero funding, or as an associated partner. The JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal - see General Annex B.

The following additional eligibility criteria apply: The proposals must apply the multi-actor approach. See definition of the multi-actor approach in this work programme part.

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
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 may provide financial support to third parties. The support to third parties can only be provided in the form of grants. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 60 000.

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 — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Standard application form (HE RIA IA Stage 1) 
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations 
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA) 
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA and CSA Stage 1) 
Guidance
HE Programme Guide 
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
HE MGA 
HE Unit MGA 
Call-specific instructions 
Information on financial support to third parties (HE) 

Additional documents:
 HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 9. Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes
HE Programme Guide
HE Framework Programme 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
**action type:** HORIZON  Research and Innovation Actions
**budget:** 
  **budget Years Columns:** 
    - 2026
  **budget Topic Action Map:** 
    **113170:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-BIODIV-01-two-stage - HORIZON-RIA HORIZON  Research and Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2026:** 14000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2026-04-16
          - 2026-09-23
        **deadline Model:** two-stage
        **expected Grants:** 2
        **max Contribution:** 7000000
        **min Contribution:** 7000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2026-02-12
    **113171:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-BIODIV-03-two-stage - HORIZON-IA HORIZON Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2026:** 10000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2026-04-16
          - 2026-09-23
        **deadline Model:** two-stage
        **expected Grants:** 2
        **max Contribution:** 5000000
        **min Contribution:** 5000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2026-02-12
    **113172:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-CIRCBIO-01-two-stage - HORIZON-IA HORIZON Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2026:** 10000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2026-04-16
          - 2026-09-23
        **deadline Model:** two-stage
        **expected Grants:** 2
        **max Contribution:** 5000000
        **min Contribution:** 5000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2026-02-12
    **113173:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-CIRCBIO-02-two-stage - HORIZON-IA HORIZON Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2026:** 18000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2026-04-16
          - 2026-09-23
        **deadline Model:** two-stage
        **expected Grants:** 3
        **max Contribution:** 6000000
        **min Contribution:** 6000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2026-02-12
    **113174:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-BIODIV-02-two-stage - HORIZON-RIA HORIZON  Research and Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2026:** 12000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2026-04-16
          - 2026-09-23
        **deadline Model:** two-stage
        **expected Grants:** 4
        **max Contribution:** 3000000
        **min Contribution:** 3000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2026-02-12
    **113175:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-ZEROPOLLUTION-01-two-stage - HORIZON-RIA HORIZON  Research and Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2026:** 23000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2026-04-16
          - 2026-09-23
        **deadline Model:** two-stage
        **expected Grants:** 3
        **max Contribution:** 8000000
        **min Contribution:** 7000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2026-02-12
    **113176:** 
      -         **action:** HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-BIODIV-04-two-stage - HORIZON-RIA HORIZON  Research and Innovation Actions
        **budget Year Map:** 
          **2026:** 18000000
        **deadline Dates:** 
          - 2026-04-16
          - 2026-09-23
        **deadline Model:** two-stage
        **expected Grants:** 3
        **max Contribution:** 6000000
        **min Contribution:** 6000000
        **planned Opening Date:** 2026-02-12
**keywords:** HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-BIODIV-01-two-stage, HORIZON-CL6-2026-01-two-stage, Biodiversity conservation, Biodiversity, conservation biology, conservation genetics, Co-habited environments, Coastal And Environmental Protection, Conservation biology, ecology, genetics, Ecology (theoretical and experimental; population, species and community level), Environmental Conservation, Environmental protection, Fight against threats to the Environment, Gender in biodiversity conservation, Gender in environmental sciences, Habitat Systems, Habitat and species restoration and rehabilitation, Marine Environment, Natural resources and environmental economics, Nature, Protection of environment (before, during and after), River basin management , Soil conservation, Species interactions (e.g. food-webs, symbiosis, parasitism, mutualism, bio-invasion), Sustainable development and nature protection, Terrestrial ecology, land cover change
**last synced at:** 2026-11-09T17:23:17.403+00:00

## Review record

No independent verification record is available.

## Source metadata