- The extraordinary reception of the call has resulted in the presentation of 116 applications requesting almost 27M
- The eight selected projects, which are in addition to the nine that are already being implemented in the 2021 call, address areas of knowledge such as energy transition, marine biodiversity, green infrastructure and desertification
The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has resolved the call for grants to promote research on biodiversity corresponding to 2022 with the selection of eight projects, from among the 116 applications submitted, which requested grants worth €27M. The selected initiatives will have up to €300,000 in funding per project (up to 95% of the total budget), thanks to the €2M endowment of the call.
The selected projects have a high scientific interest applied to biodiversity management, in areas such as energy transition and terrestrial and marine biodiversity (1), marine biodiversity and marine protected areas (1), biological corridors and green infrastructure (3), desertification, land degradation and restoration (3). Four of them will act at the state level and another four in nine autonomous communities: Andalusia, Cantabria, Catalonia, the Autonomous Community of Navarre, the Valencian Community, Extremadura, the Balearic Islands, the Basque Country and the Region of Murcia.
RTRP’S PROMOTION OF BIODIVERSITY
RESEARCHThis call is part of the aid that the Bidoiversity Foundation is managing through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RTRP) financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU. Thanks to it, projects such as PASTOREO-FV, led by the Center for Scientific and Technological Research of Extremadura (CICYTEX), in conjunction with the Foundation for Participatory Sustainability (FUNPASOS), the Entretanto Foundation and the COOPRADO Foundation, which with a grant of €147,934, seeks to advance in the sustainable management of photovoltaic plants through grazing and the development of monitoring plans that contribute to the increase of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
INGENI-CARETTA, promoted by the Balmes University Foundation, in conjunction with the University of Barcelona, the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the Doñana Biological Station – Higher Centre for Scientific Research (EBD-CSIC), will receive a grant of €284,997 to promote a study of the nesting of the black-faced turtle (Caretta caretta) in the western Mediterranean, to provide a scientific information base on this colonisation process that improves its management and conservation.
For its part, ATLAS, led by the University of Alicante and with a grant of €282,163, will prepare an Atlas of Desertification in Spain, as a basis for the actions to be carried out in the National Strategy to Combat Desertification and the implementation of Land Degradation Neutrality in Spain.
DESFUTUR, from the University of Córdoba and with a grant of € 284,871.03, will characterize the dynamics of three key drivers of desertification in an aridity gradient: forest decay, forest fires and biological invasions. ARIDESP, promoted by the Aula Dei Experimental Station – Spanish National Research Council (EEAD-CSIC) and with a grant of €254,857, will serve to improve current knowledge about climate aridity in Spain, its recent evolution and its future projection in a context of climate change, as well as to develop information tools that allow its evolution to be monitored in real time.
The National Institute of Agricultural and Food Research and Technology – Spanish National Research Council (INIA-CSIC) will launch WHAT IF, which, with a grant of €196,647, will allow the evolution of the forest and its response to global change to be projected in different silvicultural management alternatives to address processes of decline or expansion of species, structural changes with effects on biodiversity or increased risk of fires.
FORESTECCO, promoted by the Foundation for Climate Research, proposes research on the impact of climate change on the main forest species of the Iberian Peninsula, in addition to the development of a digital tool to support decision-making in the planning and management of green infrastructure and ecosystem restoration. It will have a grant of €249,618,
The University of Navarra will lead the CONNECTFISH project, which with the participation of the Environmental Hydraulics Institute of Cantabria Foundation and with a grant of €298,911, will allow the optimization of decision-making in the management and conservation of Spanish fish farming communities, based on the development of efficient and easy-to-apply tools, at different geographical scales.
These eight projects are in addition to the nine that are already underway corresponding to the 2021 call, which had an endowment of €2.5M. Thus, the Biodiversity Foundation, thanks to the RTRP funds, has already allocated €4.5M to the challenge of contributing to biodiversity management based on the best available science. The 17 projects selected between the two calls will be developed until 31 December 2025 at the latest.
