In the future, there is good reason to expect more proposals for nature-based solutions – an international call for research project applications recently saw record-high Danish participation.
The European partnership Biodiversa+, with 83 partners from 41 countries, annually funds international biodiversity projects aimed at finding solutions to the biodiversity crisis. Recently, another call for applications was concluded with nature-based solutions as the theme, and with record-high Danish participation among the 34 winning projects.
Among the 183 international applications, 25 percent had Danish participants, and a third of the projects that ended up being recommended for funding had Danish representation. This is an unprecedentedly high success rate, which, in addition to the quality of the project proposals, was also due to the Innovation Fund Denmark doubling the Danish grant for this call for applications.
Nature-based solutions are particularly relevant right now, in light of 130 countries recently having gathered for negotiations in Windhoek, Namibia, on the acceptance of two groundbreaking global reports from IPBES – one on how we create transformative changes to halt biodiversity loss, and the other on how we balance crucial considerations for our needs for food, health, and water supply.
Here, the 34 new innovative research projects on nature-based solutions can become important contributions to the more concrete research-based implementation of the results of the upcoming IPBES assessments.
The research projects on nature-based solutions will run for three years and will investigate the potential to address the biodiversity crisis and other environmental and social challenges, thus having the potential to contribute to demonstrating transformative changes.
34 projects on nature-based solutions
The projects, as mentioned, are funded by the Innovation Fund and co-financed by the EU Commission, focusing on three critical themes:
- Synergies and Trade-offs: Investigation of the benefits and costs of nature-based solutions related to human health.
- Loss of Biodiversity: Examination of how nature-based solutions can address the human causes of biodiversity loss.
- Transformative change: Exploration of the role of nature-based solutions in contributing to equity and other societal changes.
The selected projects must demonstrate a high level of professional competence and address global challenges – meaning that the project results must be scalable. Furthermore, they should represent interdisciplinary collaboration involving many different stakeholders.
The Danish projects
The Danish participants in the selected projects have been awarded a total of DKK 27.5 million. The projects are the result of a careful evaluation process and selection conducted by an independent committee, which led to the selection of the 34 projects, including no fewer than 11 with Danish partners.
The Danish participation is anchored at several Danish universities and other research institutions and at private partners.
In Denmark, the Innovation Fund Denmark is responsible for nominating the Danish projects for Biodiversa’s calls for applications:
It’s impressive that there is such high Danish participation and that the quality was so high. This resulted in grants of DKK 27.5 million for Danish partners’ participation in biodiversity projects focusing on nature-based solutions.
– Aila Lonka, Head of International Collaborations at the Innovation Fund Denmark.
Investments worth millions
IPBES in Denmark has played a crucial role in getting Denmark on board with the European research collaboration in 2019, and Lars Dinesen, the coordinator of the Danish IPBES secretariat, has since represented the Innovation Fund Denmark and the Ministry of Environment in the collaboration through targeted efforts to engage Danish research institutions and other stakeholders, while also seeking to promote European research collaboration and the impact of the results:
It will be interesting to see the results of all these research projects from the European partnership and how the results can be applied in practice, including, for example, in the work to implement the Nature Restoration Law. And of course, I am pleased that the Innovation Fund Denmark supports the many highest-ranked projects involving Danish stakeholders
– Lars Dinesen, coordinator at IPBES in Denmark
The projects on nature-based solutions will start between December 2024 and March 2025, and will all be launched at a kick-off meeting in Montpelier, France, on 9 April 2025, with the option for physical or online participation. Altogether, the 34 projects on nature-based solutions represent an investment of more than €40 million, including co-financing from the EU Commission.
This is the third research call under the auspices of Biodiversa+. Two completed calls include research projects that address both the protection and monitoring of biodiversity. Biodiversa+ will open again for applications in November 2025, focusing on the topic “Restoration of ecosystem function, integrity, and connectivity” (BiodivFunc).
Read more about the next Biodiversa+ application round and get an overview of important dates here:
See the full overview of the projects here:
BiodivNBS: €40 million investment in 34 innovative research projects
