Cluster 6: Land, ocean and water for climate action (HORIZON-CL6-2021-CLIMATE-01), 10 calls open

Assessing the impacts of climate change on our land and marine environments, natural resources, agriculture and food systems, and identifying mitigation options and adaptation pathways, requires interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research and investments across a broad range of activities. Research is needed to better understand who or what is exposed and sensitive to these changes, their underlying vulnerability, the associated costs and adaptive capacity. Research is also required to provide mitigation options that reduce the risk of long-term climate change. The conservation and enhancement of Earth's natural carbon sinks such as soils and plants, forests, farmed lands, wetlands and the oceans is crucial. The European Green Deal green oath to "do no harm", requires a careful examination of the trade-offs and synergies among the sustainability goals, including health protection, food and nutrition security, ecosystem services and biodiversity preservation both on land and at sea. R&I has a significant role to play to support the design and implementation of policies that will ensure the achievement of EU climate objectives.

Agriculture has a significant role to play to reduce and mitigate GHG emissions and to enhance carbon sinks. It also needs to strengthen its capacity to adapt to climate change and its resilience. The forestry sector faces similar challenges. Freshwater resources are increasingly under stress as a consequence of overuse and climate change with wide-ranging consequences for human societies and ecosystems. It is therefore necessary to define the safe operating space in terms of water quantity and availability, reduce the vulnerability to change and enhance our adaptive capacity. Strengthening the ocean and climate nexus is another priority for the EU. There is growing political awareness of the importance of ocean and polar regions as an integral part of the Earth's climate system and of the need to ensure the integrity and resilience of these ecosystems. While new knowledge leading to a better understanding of the impacts of climate change is necessary, a strong priority needs to be granted to the large-scale deployment and uptake of solutions for climate adaptation and mitigation. Environmental observations and related solutions will be necessary throughout, from understanding to deployment.

Understanding the impacts of climate change on primary production and natural systems is a pre-requisite for policy and societal action on climate change adaptation and mitigation. At present, our understanding of the interactions between climate change and ecosystem management, protection and restoration is limited, yet it is crucial to enabling sound decision making for mitigation and adaptation measures. Monitoring and evaluation of the impacts of climate change, land use change and associated biodiversity loss on a range of key issues related to agriculture and forestry are crucial with respect to the transition to net-zero emissions in the EU. R&I are also needed to close knowledge gaps in support of decision-making aimed at preserving the integrity of ocean and aquatic ecosystems through a better understanding of the drivers of change and of emerging threats. Moreover, since water availability is vulnerable to climate change, it is necessary to improve the projections of changes to the water cycle at different relevant scales and projections of the frequency and intensity of extreme events. We also require improved long-term observations and assessment of the effects of climate change on diverse water uses and on the state of ecosystems and their services.

Under this destination the EU has published 10 topics which are open for submission.
1. Improved understanding, observation and monitoring of water resources availability (HORIZON-CL6-2021-CLIMATE-01-01)
2. European Partnership Water Security for the Planet (Water4All) (HORIZON-CL6-2021-CLIMATE-01-02)
3. Key oceanic and polar processes driving regional & global climate change (HORIZON-CL6-2021-CLIMATE-01-03)
4. Demonstration network on climate-smart farming - linking pilot farms (HORIZON-CL6-2021-CLIMATE-01-04)
5. Agroecological approaches for climate change mitigation, resilient agricultural production and enhanced biodiversity (HORIZON-CL6-2021-CLIMATE-01-05)
6. Resilient livestock farming systems under climate change (HORIZON-CL6-2021-CLIMATE-01-06)
7. International Research Consortium on (agricultural) soil carbon (HORIZON-CL6-2021-CLIMATE-01-07)
8. Agroforestry to meet climate, biodiversity and farming sustainability goals (HORIZON-CL6-2021-CLIMATE-01-08)
9. Enhancing science-based knowledge on EU forests', including old-growth forests, capacities to mitigate climate change (HORIZON-CL6-2021-CLIMATE-01-09)
10. EU-China international cooperation on increasing the resilience of forests (HORIZON-CL6-2021-CLIMATE-01-10)

Further Information:
https://www.euhochschulnetz-sachsen-anhalt.de/Ausschreibungen.html

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