Novel ecosystems: biodiversity, socio-ecological consequences and future trajectories

Identifier: HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-02-01 Status: Open Submission procedure: multiple cut-off Opening date: 2026-09-09 Deadline: 2026-11-10 Budget: €40,000,000 SCOPE OF THE CALL BiodivFuture focuses on supporting future-looking research and innovation that will address biodiversity and novel ecosystems, as well as their socio-ecological dynamics and consequences relating to the sustainability goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and associated future pathways and trajectories of change. The call covers investigating the causes (drivers), effects (biological responses), and outcomes (including opportunities, risks and trade-offs) of current and future trajectories of change in all relevant realms (terrestrial, freshwater, marine and coastal areas), in all regions of the world. It aims at funding novel, high-quality transnational research with potential for societal and political impact that will significantly improve our understanding of novel ecosystems with holistic, systemic, and integrated approaches. In the face of inevitable and potentially irreversible change, knowledge generated under this call should ultimately lead to actions to achieve impacts that sustain resilient, interconnected, diverse and ecologically functioning ecosystems. This could include critical reflection on what constitutes ecosystem states that best preserve or restore natural resources by taking multiple costs and benefits (trade-offs) into account and the diversity of contexts, scales, perspectives and world views. Well-functioning ecosystems should benefit people and protect nature at scales from local to global and emphasise biodiversity, trophic complexity, economic vitality, and societal well-being. THEMES Research priorities covered by BiodivFuture are structured into three non-mutually exclusive themes. Projects are welcome to address one or several of these themes. • THEME A – NOVEL ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING: Understanding the functioning of novel ecosystems and their links to socio-cultural and socio-economic dynamics, identifying mechanisms and developing approaches that can facilitate biodiversity gains. • THEME B – PATHWAYS TO NOVEL ECOSYSTEMS: Studying robust, plausible, and concrete pathways to novel ecosystems and associated socio-ecological dynamics to prosper under temporal asynchronies and uncertainties. • THEME C – BIODIVERSITY BENEFITS AND EQUITY IN THE CONTEXT OF NOVEL ECOSYSTEM: Studying fair and equitable sharing of biodiversity benefits in the context of novel ecosystems, supported by inclusive, collaborative, and investment-oriented pathways for nature-positive socio-ecological transformation. NOVEL ECOSYSTEMS - A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK TO SET THE SCEN Novel ecosystems have been defined by Hobbs et al. in 2013 as “a system of abiotic, biotic and social components (and their interactions) that, by virtue of human influence, differ from those that prevailed historically, having a tendency to self-organise, and manifest novel qualities without intensive human management”. Since the publication of this paper, the limits of this definition have been challenged by different disciplines and other definitions have emerged. Overall, the conceptual framework of novel ecosystems usually comprises of (1) new ecological communities (including species living outside their historical native ranges), (2) which present a suite of interactions and processes consistent with a self-organised, functioning ecosystem, and (3) are unlikely to revert to conditions preceding their emergence, with or without human intervention, due to significant biotic and abiotic changes. Building on this framework and acknowledging the plurality of views and definitions, proposals submitted to this call must demonstrate how they are addressing novel ecosystems. Applicants must carefully read the announcement of opportunity (Call Document 1) that further details the scope of the call. PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES The full up-to-date list of funding organisations participating in this call, their reserved budget and their national / regional eligibility rules are available on the Biodiversa+ website: https://www.biodiversa.eu/biodivfuture-funding-organisations/