Between 2020 and 2022, the BNP Paribas Foundation will invest €6 million in its Climate & Biodiversity Initiative programme to fund and promote 9 international research projects. These projects will address a variety of issues relating to the interaction between climate and biodiversity, such as the impact of melting glaciers on global biodiversity, the resilience of coastal ecosystems to extreme weather events and the reforestation of disturbed ecosystems.
The 9 winners of the 2019 call for projects
The winning projects in the Climate & Biodiversity Initiative programme have a major international dimension in common, involving collaboration between research bodies from different backgrounds, as well as interdisciplinarity and a scientific challenge.
While most of the projects focus on the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and the adaptation of biodiversity, others are more concerned with developing new solutions and modelling tools to improve the resilience of ecosystems to climate change.
BIOCLIMATE - Carrying out an exhaustive assessment of biodiversity responses to climate change and land use in tropical forest ecosystems. Project led by Lancaster University (UK).
NOTION - Predicting the responses of marine diazotrophs (planktonic cells) to future climate change, in terms of diversity and activity, and the impact on the overall productivity of the oceans. Project led by the Institut Méditerranéen d'Océanologie (France).
SABARES - Establishing a management framework to preserve the biodiversity and fisheries of the Amazon River floodplain in the face of climate change and rising sea levels. Project supported by the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD, France).
LIFE WITHOUT ICE - Studying the consequences of glacier extinction for biodiversity and populations worldwide, particularly in temperate (France) and tropical (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Peru, Uganda and Venezuela) regions. Project supported by the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD, France).
CAMBIO - Identifying the species mixes likely to optimise adaptation and resilience to climate change and extreme events, to make reforestation an effective solution in the face of climate change. Project led by the University of Ghent (Belgium).
MOMMY KNOWS BEST - Evaluating the extent to which environmental changes can affect the ability of birds to express an adaptive response to rising spring temperatures, in order to assess how plasticity can contribute to population persistence. Project supported by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS, France).
CORESCAM - Studying the vulnerability and resilience of coastal ecosystems to the increased frequency and intensity of hurricanes and droughts in Central America. Project supported by the Spanish National Museum of Natural Sciences (Spain).
TREE BODYGUARDS - Studying the effect of the current climate on the resistance of trees to herbivores and on biological control in order to predict the potential consequences of climate change on the health of trees and forests. Project led by the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA, France).
HUM-ANI - Assessing the extent to which climate change modifies interactions between wildlife, livestock and humans in order to parameterise epidemiological models and understand the circulation of pathogens in multi-host systems in southern Africa. Project supported by the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD, France).