Strategic Research Plan
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Strategic Plan
The strategic plan for 2015/2020 is aligned with the Horizon 2020 priority societal challenge "Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials", particularly with the line of activity "Protecting the environment, sustainably managing natural resources, water, biodiversity and ecosystems". Coastal vegetated ecosystems are global hotspots for "blue carbon" storage and protected under the Habitats Directive for their ecological services, which emphasizes the relevance of our research. We will prioritize H2020 funding applications developing from the EU network established in the ambit of the recent Cost Action chaired by the group PI, extending it to economists, social scientists and managers. The research will focus on 1) drivers of change (including local and global change) of biodiversity and ecosystem services in vegetated marine ecosystems, 2) impacts on ecosystem state and their consequences on the value of ecosystem services and management decisions, 3) restoration of vegetated marine ecosystems, including cost-effectiveness and benefits in relation to biodiversity and ecosystem services.
