At the end of 2022, the European Biodiversity Partnership, Biodiversa+, a consortium in which the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge participates, published a call for funding for research proposals that improve the monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem changes at a transnational level, BiodivMon. At the end of the deadline for the submission of proposals, a total of 266 applications have been received, with an overall budget of close to 300 million euros. A total of 177 Spanish entities participate in almost 50% of the proposals received (129), including 161 research organizations and non-profit entities, which request funding from the Biodiversity Foundation and the State Research Agency (AEI), seven from companies that request funding from the Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI) and another nine that are self-financing. 30 % of the Spanish proposals (41) contribute to the improvement of the marine environment. The BiodivMon call has been structured around three themes: innovation and harmonisation of methods and tools for the capture and management of biodiversity monitoring data (45% of the proposals received); address knowledge gaps in status, dynamics and trends to reverse biodiversity loss (35% of proposals received); make use of biodiversity monitoring data that already exists and is not currently being used (19% of the proposals received). All the projects presented have a duration of three years and have partners from at least three countries (with a minimum of two member states of the European Union or associated countries), since one of the main focuses of Biodiversa+ is the transnational approach of all its actions. This call is endowed with 45 million euros, of which the Biodiversity Foundation contributes one million euros, to which will be added the 30% contributed by the European Commission. The State Research Agency (AEI) for non-profit organisations and the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology for companies (CDTI) are also funding agencies for Spanish groups. The proposals present different types of research projects that vary in the target species (from cetaceans and seabirds to seagrass meadows, algae and microorganisms), and also in the proposed methods and tools (acoustic detection systems, satellite imagery, drones, artificial intelligence, etc.). Following the first scientific-technical evaluation of the proposals by an independent international committee, a total of 111 applications will be invited to submit their full proposal. The call will be resolved in its international phase in September 2023 and the selected projects will start in the first quarter of 2024, once the funding has been approved by the national agencies. The European Biodiversity Partnership, Biodiversa+
The European Biodiversity Partnership (Biodiversa+) is one of the key actions of the European Union’s Biodiversity Strategy 2030 under the framework programme for research and innovation (I+I) for the period 2021 -2027, Horizon Europe.

Biodiversa+, action 81 of the European Biodiversity Strategy, aims to return European biodiversity to the path of recovery by 2030, through the implementation of an ambitious programme of actions including: financing research projects of excellent quality and great impact on society; establishing a harmonised European network of biodiversity observatories; supporting the implementation of Nature-based Solutions by the private sector; better connect R+I with governance; and promoting the EU’s role in R+I on biodiversity at global level. It started on 1 October 2021 and is made up of 74 entities from 36 countries and aims to foster cooperation and coordination of research activities and policies developed in Member States and Associated States through their respective national and regional research programmes. The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge is one of the Spanish funding bodies in the joint international research calls that Biodiversa+ will launch each year, together with the State Research Agency (AEI) and the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI).