Funding programme

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation.

Horizon Europe Missions are a coordinated effort by the Commission to pool the necessary resources in terms of policies and regulations, as well as other activities. They also aim to mobilise and activate public and private actors, such as EU Member States, regional and local authorities, research institutes, farmers and land managers, entrepreneurs and investors to create real and lasting impact. Missions engage with citizens to boost societal uptake of new solutions and approaches.

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Call overview

Activities under this topic contribute to the implementation of the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’, in particular to its specific objective 8 “improve soil literacy in society”, and to strengthening the capacities of local and regional authorities in line with the proposal for a Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience.

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Expected Outcome

Activities under this topic contribute to the implementation of the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’, in particular to its specific objective 8 “improve soil literacy in society”, and to strengthening the capacities of local and regional authorities in line with the proposal for a Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience.

Activities should also contribute to meeting the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15 on Life on land and SDG 11 on Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Substantially increased awareness and understanding among citizens and local and regional policy makers of the value of soils, soil health challenges and drivers (both bio-physical and socio-economic dimensions) across Europe.
• An increased number of regions and municipalities across Europe have adopted Territorial Management Agreements co-designed with citizens and stakeholders to foster sustainable land management practices. ​​​​
• Local and regional authorities have improved access to capacity building activities on how to implement solutions for the protection and restoration of soil health and enhance citizen engagement in sustainable land management.

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Scope

Citizen engagement is one of the building blocks of the Mission Soil but despite the advances in recognising the importance of soil health and the momentum for soil in the political agenda, active participation in soil protection and restoration and understanding of soil health importance often remain limited among non-experts. Activities under this topic should involve local and regional authorities in the protection and restoration of soil health and establish participatory processes that take into account citizens’ priorities. Local and regional participatory processes should result in Territorial Management Agreements^[3] aimed at the protection and restoration of soil health for the provision of ecosystem services, including biodiversity, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Proposed activities should:

• Provide training and technical support to public authorities to design and run inclusive and effective participatory processes at local and regional level that lead to the adoption of Territorial Management Agreements to foster sustainable land management and contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation.
• Launch the implementation of at least 40 Territorial Management Agreements, one per local or regional authority involved, and provide guidelines and resources to sustain and monitor their implementation in the long term.
• Organise capacity-building activities for representatives of local and regional authorities including training, peer-to-peer learning and knowledge-sharing activities to promote the adoption of solutions for the restoration of soil health at their level of governance.

Proposals should actively involve local and regional authorities as beneficiaries or through the use of financial support to third parties.

The local and regional authorities involved in the project are expected to engage citizens and stakeholders at the local and regional level for the protection and restoration of soil health.

Proposals should bring together expertise on environmental and soil sciences, as well as transdisciplinary expertise on spatial planning and social sciences and humanities (SSH), including gender studies, to design and organise training and successful capacity building activities for local and regional authorities and support them in the implementation of effective participatory processes. The engagement of citizen and stakeholders in the design of Territorial Management Agreements should be representative of the local community and stakeholders and be inclusive. Thus, proposals must incorporate gender perspectives and give attention to the inclusion of people in vulnerable situations.

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‍Eligibility

To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:

• the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
• the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
• countries associated to Horizon Europe;
• low- and middle-income countries.

See specifics in the General Annexes document.

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Consortium composition

Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:

• at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
• at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.

If eligible for funding, legal entities established in non-associated third countries may exceptionally participate in this Coordination and support action as a beneficiary or affiliated entity.

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Project Duration

The project starting date and duration will be fixed in the grant agreement.

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Budget

The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 5 000 000.

The Commission estimates that an EU contribution of around EUR 5.00 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of a proposal requesting different amounts.

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