Research
Welcome to the Research section of the Biodiversity Information System for Europe
With environmental issues high on the international agenda, there are many questions that remain to be answered, e.g., how can we better understand and limit our impact on biodiversity and the marine environment? How can we make land use more sustainable? The EU is working to give citizens answers to these questions by supporting research activities. This website therefore explains how the European Commission's environmental research programme is tackling this vast research challenge.
to DG Research area Biodiversity
Research carried out within the BIOTA cluster is the European scientific response to the Convention on Biological Diversity, WEHAB and the European Biodiversity Strategy, and aims to determine and promote strategic approaches to biodiversity conservation and management in Europe.
The Joint Research Centre is a research based policy support organisation and an integral part of the European Commission. The JRC is providing the scientific advice and technical know-how to support a wide range of EU policies.
Programmes of specific relevance to biodiversity are:
- Integration of Environment Concerns into Agriculture
- Biodiversity, Water and Ecosystem Services
- Soil Data and Information Systems
- Protection and Conservation of European Seas
- Monitoring Natural Resources for Development
The European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy (EPBRS) is a forum at which natural and social scientists, policy-makers and other stakeholders identify structure and focus the strategically important research that is essential to:
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use the components of biodiversity in a sustainable way
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maintain ecosystem functions that provide goods and services
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conserve, protect and restore the natural world
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halt biodiversity loss
The objective of the ERA-NET scheme is to develop and strengthen the coordination of national and regional research programmes through two specific actions:
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'ERA-NET actions' - providing a framework for actors implementing public research programmes to coordinate their activities e.g. by developing joint activities or by mutually supporting joint calls for trans-national proposals.
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'ERA-NET Plus actions' - providing, in a limited number of cases with high European added value, additional EU financial support to facilitate joint calls for proposals between national and/or regional programmes.
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BiodivERsA is an ERA-net project made up of 19 major research funding agencies from 15 countries in Europe. The aim of BiodivERsA is to achieve an efficient research co-operation in the field of biodiversity research funding within Europe. See BiodivERsA Maps for interactive view.
COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in Science and Technology, allowing the coordination of nationally-funded research on a European level.
As a precursor of advanced multidisciplinary research, COST plays a very important role in building a European Research Area (ERA). It anticipates and complements the activities of the EU Framework Programmes, constituting a “bridge” towards the scientific communities of emerging countries. It also increases the mobility of researchers across Europe and fosters the establishment of scientific excellence in nine key domains, inter alia
