User-oriented solutions building on environmental observation to monitor critical ecosystems and biodiversity loss and vulnerability in the European Union

The projects are expected to further the harmonisation, mobilisation, and uptake of monitoring and environmental data to better characterise and understand the natural and anthropogenic pressures on biodiversity, the extent of the destruction of natural biological resources and its connection with ecosystem conditions within safe planetary boundaries. There is a need for knowledge of both better quantified and more precisely characterised changes in biodiversity and related ecosystem services (in coastal, marine, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems), and of ecosystem status and quantified impacts of the main direct drivers of changes (i.e. land and sea use changes, pollutions, climate change, invasive alien species and exploitation of natural resources) on European natural capital.

The projects should deliver new Earth observation (EO) data services building on the potential of EO capabilities in order to address end-user needs facing the deterioration and destruction of their living environment and ecosystems. The projects under this topic should tackle issues raised within the European Green Deal calls[[https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/news/european-green-deal-call]] and provide solutions to halt biodiversity loss and protect vulnerable ecosystems, and ensuring ecosystem capacity to continue to provide services to society and the environment. The projects should make mapping tools and information solutions available, which are needed by a wide variety of end users in order to meet targets for conservation and restoration of diverse terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems. Hence, the development of tools to support decision-making and participatory management are crucial in this context. Solutions related to improving ecosystem health and resilience should be integrated into best practice monitoring activities within respective monitoring governance schemes. This should enable stakeholders and policy makers to take the right conservation and restoration measures, in particular with the use of a holistic ecosystem-based management in response to the urgent need for halting biodiversity loss and, consequently, alterations to ecosystem functions and sustain the delivery of precious ecosystem services.

Building on existing services and frameworks provided through GEO, EuroGEO[[https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/knowledge-publications-tools-and-data/knowledge-centres-and-data-portals/eurogeo_en ]], European research infrastructures, European Ocean Observing Systems, EMODnet, Copernicus, ESA[[https://www.esa.int/]] Earth Observation programmes and EGNSS, this topic should address the downstream part of the value chain to support mitigation and adaptation to climate change impact on biodiversity and ecosystems. The consortia should engage with end users and stakeholders, contribute to customising of data and exploitation platforms, deliver scaling-up and replication of existing service models, and brokerage of knowledge and dissemination to the public. The successful proposals should build on outcomes of EU funded projects such as Horizon 2020 projects like ECOPOTENTIAL[[ http://www.ecopotential-project.eu/ps://www.esa.int/]], initiatives like EuropaBON[[ https://europabon.org/]] and programmes like LIFE[[ https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/life ]], and should feed into the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity, and deliver usable results to the monitoring framework of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030.