Designing a Resilient and Coherent Trans-European Network for Nature and People (NaturaConnect)

At a glance

Project duration
07/2022  – 06/2026
DFG classification of subject areas

Geography

Funded by

Horizon Europe: Innovation Action (IA)

Project description

NaturaConnect aims to support the development of the TEN-N, through an integration of stakeholder engagement across scales and interdisciplinary research, to develop spatial planning policy supporting tools. Stakeholder engagement both at the European scale, and in a set of six case studies at transborder, national and sub-national scales, will elicit preferences from decision-makers about conservation targets, harness best protected area management practices and funding mechanisms, and test the TEN-N spatial prioritization analysis and tools produced by NaturaConnect. This will address three of the major obstacles identified by the Fitness Check of the EU Nature Legislation: (1) lack of stakeholder awareness and cooperation; (2) insufficient knowledge and access to existing funding mechanisms; and (3) limited availability of knowledge on biodiversity distribution, drivers of change and solutions. To address this, NaturaConnect has a comprehensive set of interdisciplinary research tasks aimed at producing, sharing and mobilizing knowledge for implementation. This includes applying state-of-the-art models on the distribution of biodiversity and ecosystem services across Europe and how it may change under future climate and land-use scenarios, in order to close gaps in distribution data and identify gaps in the current protected area coverage and to conserve ecological corridors and restore connectivity.

Open project website

Cooperation partners

  • Cooperation partner
    Non-university research institutionPortugal

    CENTRO DE INVESTIGA??O EM BIODIVERSIDADE E RECURSOS GEN?TICOS

  • Cooperation partner
    Germany

    EUROPARC Federation

  • Cooperation partner
    Non-university research institutionFinland

    Finnish Environment Institute

  • Cooperation partner
    France

    French National Center for Scientific Research

  • Cooperation partner
    Belgium

    Institute for European Environmental Policy

  • Cooperation partner
    Non-university research institutionAustria

    International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

  • Cooperation partner
    UniversityGermany

    Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg

  • Cooperation partner
    Non-university research institutionNetherlands

    PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency

  • Cooperation partner
    Netherlands

    Rewilding Europe

  • Cooperation partner
    UniversityItaly

    Sapienza University orf Rome

  • Cooperation partner
    Non-university research institutionSpain

    Spanish National Research Council

  • Cooperation partner
    Netherlands

    Stichting BirdLife Europe

  • Cooperation partner
    UniversityFinland

    University of Helsinki

  • Cooperation partner
    UniversityAustria

    University of Natural Resources an Life Science Vienna

  • Cooperation partner
    UniversityPoland

    University of Warsaw

  • Cooperation partner
    UniversityPortugal

    University of ?vora

  • Cooperation partner
    UniversityNetherlands

    Vrije University Amsterdam

  • Cooperation partner
    FoundationGermany

    World Wide Fund For Nature