Horizon 2020 – 4 Mediterranean calls related to Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters | Deadline 18 September 2024

With a 2030 target, the EU Mission “Restore our Ocean and Waters” aims to protect and restore the health of our ocean and waters through research and innovation, citizen engagement and blue investments. The Mission’s new approach will address the ocean and waters as one and play a key role in achieving climate neutrality and restoring nature.

Cross-cutting enabling actions will support this objective, in particular broad public mobilisation and engagement and a digital ocean and water knowledge system, known as Digital Twin Ocean

The Mission supports regional engagement and cooperation through area-based “lighthouses” in major sea/river basins: Atlantic-Arctic, Mediterranean Sea, Baltic-North Sea, and Danube-Black Sea. Mission lighthouses are sites to pilot, demonstrate, develop  and deploy the Mission activities across EU seas and river basins.

Funding opportunities
On 17 April 2024, the Commission adopted an amendment to the 2023-24 Work Programme of Horizon Europe to mobilise previously unallocated Horizon Europe funding to increase the 2024 budget by nearly €1.4 billion to a total of €7.3 billion. This amendment includes an investment of nearly €650 million in the EU Missions to enable the implementation of the Communication “EU Missions two years on: assessment of progress and way forward”, adopted on 19 July 2023.

Under the Mission Restore our Ocean and waters, there are new 4 Mediterranean related opportunities to support your work and that are now published on the Funding and Tenders Portal, under the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2024.

They all have a closing date date of 18 September 2024.

  1. HORIZON-MISS-2024-OCEAN-01-01: European Blue Parks – Offshore marine protected areas
  2. HORIZON-MISS-2024-OCEAN-02-01: Community-led actions to restore our ocean, seas and waters
  3. HORIZON-MISS-2024-OCEAN-01-03​ Reducing the environmental impacts of fisheries on marine species and habitats Atlantic and Arctic, Mediterranean, Baltic and North Sea basin lighthouses
  4. HORIZON-MISS-2024-OCEAN-01-04: Science for Community – Building the marine Citizen Science data network of the future to valorise data coming from the ocean and increase engagement