Europa Biodiversity Observation Network: integrating data streams to support policy

Observations are key to understand the drivers of biodiversity loss, and the impacts on ecosystem services and ultimately on people. Many EU policies and initiatives demand unbiased, integrated and regularly updated biodiversity and ecosystem service data. However, efforts to monitor biodiversity are spatially and temporally fragmented, taxonomically biased, and lack integration in Europe. EuropaBON aims to bridge this gap by designing an EU-wide framework for monitoring biodiversity and ecosystem services. EuropaBON harnesses the power of Author-formatted document posted on 26/01/2022. DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3897/arphapreprints.e81207

• Survey existing monitoring initiatives, including long-term ecosystem monitoring and monitoring that responds to regulations (directives and strategies), remote sensing and citizen science, and assess how they can contribute to producing comprehensive biodiversity information under the EBVs and EESVs frameworks. This will build on previous databases from EEA (BISE, WISE), EU BON, WISER and EUPMS, but will now be matched to the EBV and EESV framework and associated workflows.
• Identify gaps in the current monitoring of European biodiversity, including thematic, taxonomic, geographic and temporal gaps, and how novel technologies and modelling approaches can assist in filling those gaps. Particular attention will be given to the needs of the Birds and Habitats Directive and the monitoring of Natura 2000 sites. We will be building on work from projects such as ECOPOTENTIAL and MS.MONINA which focused either on site level monitoring or a narrower range of biodiversity and ecosystem service variables, to consider national and European scale and the entire EBVs and EESVs set.
• Analyze the pathway from data collection to knowledge production in order to identify good practices, bottlenecks and limitations on the mobilization and harmonization of monitoring data to publicly accessible infrastructures (e.g., EEA, GBIF) and on their policy uptake. This will build on concurrent work being done in E-Shape, but will consider a wider range of data streams and variables.
• Co-design workflows needed for a more integrated biodiversity observation network that can close gaps and reduce bottlenecks, in dialogue with data producers and users to support EU policies and targets. This will build on conceptual ideas regarding EBV workflows developed in GLOBIS-B, the remote-sensing-enabled W47000734 -Part B-8 combining in-situ, space and air-born monitoring.
Scope: design an EU-wide framework for monitoring biodiversity and ecosystem services which: 1) integrates different reporting streams, data sources and monitoring activities at international, EU, national and regional level (including remote sensing, citizen science and citizens observatories) EuropaBON will assess the existing monitoring capability and reporting streams in Europe (WP3) and propose how they can be integrated in the co-design of the BON (WP4).
2) is cost effective EuropaBON will not only consider cost-efficiency of existing monitoring schemes, but also new cost-effective techniques and benefits of a European biodiversity monitoring network (dedicated tasks under WP3 and WP4).

3) links to policy targets, indicators and assessments
EuropaBON will specifically ensure uptake of policy and user needs. Showcases will demonstrate (WP5) concrete examples on how the new design can support the major relevant EU policies.

4) builds on best practices in EU member states
EuropaBON will organize a series of workshops (WPs 2-5) to profit from the rich experience EU member states already have on biodiversity monitoring, and include the best practices in the WP5 policy showcases.

5) delivers timely data, which is comparable over time and across the EU member states
EuropaBON will identify and propose a set of workflows that will ensure regularly updated data streams on biodiversity (WP4). The project will raise awareness on current challenges concerning comparability and representativeness and discuss with relevant EUwide expert groups and national agencies in EIONET how these challenges can be properly addressed (WP2).
The project should: 6) provide an analysis of current programmes and gaps EuropaBON has a dedicated task on reviewing ongoing biodiversity monitoring programmes and identifying their characteristics, gaps and bottlenecks at the EU-and national levels (WP3). 7) design accurate and cost-effective techniques for establishing regular and comprehensive monitoring systems EuropaBON will identify and propose a set of work flows that will ensure spatially representative, cost-effective and regularly updated data streams on biodiversity, combining conventional and new monitoring techniques (WP4), and show how this can be done in concrete showcases (WP5).

8) play a coordination role
EuropaBON will propose a European coordination center to implement and oversee an operational European biodiversity observation network. This will be done in dialogue with relevant stakeholders from the scientific, civil society and user communities, as well as national and international authorities and funding bodies (WP2). Several agencies have already assured their support. For a list of LoS, please refer to section 6 of the proposal.

9) facilitate the work at Member State level
EuropaBON has already established contacts with national authorities to understand how a network can facilitate current reporting obligations. The showcases will demonstrate how a more integrated and innovative biodiversity monitoring network can support reporting obligations of the EU Birds and Habitats Directive and the Water Framework Directive (WP5).

W47000734
-Part B-9 10) work with KIP INCA partners, as well with the EEA EuropaBON will work with INCA through the JRC whereas EEA has agreed to be part of the Advisory Board (WP1, WP2).

11) explore potential synergies with previous and future actions funded under the EU research
EuropaBON has identified key projects within the European research area ( Table 2.2) that will be used to support all the work packages.
In response to this challenge, this proposal outlines an architecture for a European biodiversity monitoring system that will maximally be aligned with the needs of policy and key strategic objectives including the European Green Deal, the post 2020 biodiversity strategy, the Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe work programmes and the sustainable development goals (see also section 2.1). EuropaBON offers a means to achieving better coordination of different monitoring actions taking place in Europe by mobilizing key stakeholders and their knowledge. The implementation of EuropaBON will allow improving decision making in policies that impact or govern the use of natural resources by enhancing the capacity of early warning, forecasting and communication among relevant actors to better cope with biodiversity change and its impacts on society. Table 1.1 provides more detail on how EuropaBON will address the different challenges and specific requests that are identified in the call of the Horizon 2020 work programme 2018-2020.

Concept and methodology
We live in a world of information and biodiversity data is no exception: the number of occurrence records in GBIF is growing at a pace of over 100 million records a year 5 , the number of structured monitoring programmes in Europe has grown over the last few decades 6 , citizen science websites reporting on the state and change of a wide range of taxa and environmental descriptors are on the rise, molecular methods are generating massive amounts of biodiversity data opening up the frontiers of biomonitoring and remote sensing products are becoming more accessible and relevant for biodiversity 7 . However, the uptake of such data for policy and management is hampered by temporal, spatial and taxonomic gaps, lack of standardisation and integration, quality constraints, limited availability of data in publicly accessible databases, little interoperability among data and infrastructures, and few suitable knowledge products readily usable for policy and management 8 . While reporting requirements for multiple national and EU policies continue to increase, much of those requirements are fulfilled with expert-based assessments, with limited data traceability, lack of reproducibility and very heterogeneous approaches across reporting bodies, including member states 9 . Similar gaps between biodiversity data availability and policy needs occur in other regions of the world, as exemplified in deficient reporting for the Convention on Biological Diversity.
To address this challenge, the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) has recommended the adoption of Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) 10 , and more recently, the related Essential Ecosystem Service Variables (EESVs). The key idea of the essential variables approach is to fully harness the power of the data that is becoming available from multiple data collection streams, through data mobilization and modelling for a set of complementary and relevant dimensions of biodiversity. Such spatially-and time-explicit EBV and EESV datasets can then be aggregated at different spatial scales and combined with ancillary datasets on pressures (e.g., threats to biodiversity) and responses (such as policies) to produce biodiversity indicators that can simultaneously meet policy and management needs at multiple levels. Comparable approaches can be used to provide short-term biodiversity and ecosystem service forecasts and assess long-term scenarios of socio-economic development and climate change 11 . The development of EBV/EESV centered workflows, from data collection to knowledge product generation, tailored to the needs of different EU policies is at the core of the EuropaBON project ( Figure 1). Below we explore the state of the art in each step of such workflows and identify the major coordination challenges that this action will address, both regarding the assessment of existing monitoring schemes (WP3) and the co-design of a W47000734 -Part B-10 European Biodiversity Observation Network (WP4). Finally, we discuss methods for assessing the cost-effectiveness of biodiversity monitoring.
The importance of innovation and novel technologies permeates all the steps of the EBV/EESV workflows in the EuropaBON and is addressed in a dedicated task in WP4 and demonstrated in the different showcases selected for WP5. This includes novel technologies for data collection, such as camera traps, eDNA and molecular biomonitoring, and automated image recognition or hyperspectral remote sensing, to the most recent developments in biodiversity modelling and data publishing, such as the lessons learnt from the biodiversity and ecosystem service intermodel comparison (IPBES Expert Group on Scenarios and Models) 12 or the adoption of the GBIF Darwin Event Core (originally developed in the EUBON project). Similarly, stakeholder engagement and the principles of co-design underpin all steps of the EBV/EESV workflows and are addressed in a central work package of the EuropaBON (WP2).

Figure 1:
Workflows for Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) and Essential Ecosystem Service Variables (EESVs). Multiple data collection streams are integrated through models and data mobilization into harmonized datasets and knowledge products, from which indicators, forecasts and scenarios can be derived to inform major environmental EU policies.

What is essential to monitor?
Biodiversity change is one of the most complex problems society faces. There are multiple dimensions of biodiversity change, from genetic composition over species distributions to ecosystem function. Several drivers, including landuse and habitat change, climate change, pollution, harvesting and biotic exchange, affect biodiversity. Furthermore, some of these drivers are very heterogeneous spatially and their dynamics and impacts on biodiversity need to be understood from the local to the global level. Therefore, policy makers, managers and scientists face a challenge: from the myriad of possible variables to monitor, which ones are essential? And at what spatial, temporal and taxonomic resolution do these variables need to be monitored?
The EBV framework addresses this question by taking two complementary approaches. On the one hand, a set of complementary variables addressing different dimensions of biodiversity have been identified and are being regularly revised by the GEO BON community 13 . A similar process is being carried out by GEO BON for identifying essential variables for ecosystem services. Most of these variables are key state variables in global biodiversity and ecosystem models and used in scenario projections, for instance in IPBES 14 . On the other hand, the particular biological entity W47000734 -Part B-11 or ecosystem attribute to be monitored should be identified together with stakeholders depending on the management or policy goals 15 . The choice of variables can be facilitated by developing narratives, together with stakeholders, about how ecosystems are believed to be changing, describing the different drivers and their impacts on biodiversity. Key variables and biological entities can then be extracted from these narratives and matched against the list of essential biodiversity variables, modelling tools, and data streams. For some policies like the water framework directive (WFD), the essential variables are given in its Annex V for the different taxonomic groups of aquatic flora and fauna, but can be checked against the EBVs and supplemented for more precise biodiversity monitoring.
In EuropaBON, policy makers and managers are involved (WP2) in the assessment of existing monitoring efforts in Europe (WP3) and the co-design of all aspects of the integrated and improved biodiversity monitoring system (WP4). The concept is further demonstrated in a set of policy-oriented showcases (WP5), which aim to show the integration of different data streams, each one requiring the monitoring of particular EBVs or EESVs (Table 1.2). Further refinement of the exact EBVs to be considered, the associated biological entities, and the spatial and temporal scope and resolution of the monitoring and projections, will be defined together with the stakeholders (T4.1, WP2, WP5). One way to conceptualize an EBV or EESV is to imagine a hypercube with the value of the variable at each position in space, time, and for different biological entities (Figure 1) 16 . This hypercube starts as a sparse collection of observations and is progressively filled by different levels of data integration and modelling 17 . This allows to operationalize EBVs or EESVs as comprehensive data products that seamlessly integrate multiple data streams to produce spatially and temporally explicitly estimates of the variable, in some cases with continuous wall-to-wall coverage. For instance, in the case of species distributions 18 raw observations can include opportunistically collected point species occurrences from citizen scientists and environmental impact assessments, long-term in-situ monitoring carried out by experts with repeated surveys using standardized protocols at fixed sites, or more recently the use of molecular techniques (e.g., based on environmental DNA) which provide novel tools for the identification of cryptic, inconspicuous and invasive organisms. These data can be integrated into the species distribution hypercube 19 , but significant spatial and temporal gaps in observations remain. These gaps can then be filled through modelling and by using remote sensing data on the habitat of each species. This allows to derive spatially contiguous, biological variables that can be used to calculate biodiversity indicators at different levels of spatial aggregation of the EBV, for instance to obtain the trends in the area occupied by a given species in a country or region over time.

Data streams
There is a myriad of biodiversity data streams in Europe. Here, we classify them into four major classes: remote sensing, citizen science observations, long-term ecological research), and regulatory monitoring by agencies (also including long-term monitoring).

Remote sensing
Effective observation of rapidly changing ecosystems requires efficient and effective methods that allow periodic sampling of extensive areas at a fine spatial resolution and with a high temporal frequency. Satellite remote sensing plays a crucial role in providing such information. Free access to spatially contiguous, (near-)global satellite data streams, big data technologies and programmes such as Copernicus (the European Union's Earth Observation Programme) provides an opportunity to generate EBVs or EESVs with unprecedented detail and continuity to feed monitoring systems that support European policies. Despite the availability of Copernicus products with high temporal and spatial resolution, most of these are yet insufficiently tailored towards the needs of biodiversity and ecosystem monitoring. For instance, several Copernicus products already capture the abiotic and physical properties of ecosystems, but direct measurements of biodiversity or relevant fine-scale habitat features are either just newly released (e.g., the Small Woody Features (SWF) product which provides harmonised information on linear structures such as hedgerows) or not yet fully exploited in the currently available datasets (Sentinel-1, -2 and -5). Moreover, fusing these datasets with each other and with other remote sensing and in-situ information can provide unprecedented opportunities for generating indicators of biodiversity change. On top of this, new platforms such as the Sentinel-10 hyperspectral mission and lidar (laser ranging) mission of the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) can further extend these continuous capabilities and provide novel tools for generating EBVs or EESVs.

Citizen science observations
Citizen science observations of biodiversity provide around 80-90% of all species data in Europe and can provide a major tool for innovation in open science and policy development 20 . Citizen Science data can be split into two major categories: structured citizen science monitoring and opportunistic citizen science recording of observations. Structured citizen science monitoring is arguably the main source of data for biodiversity indicators such as the Common Bird Indicator 21 and the Grassland Butterfly Indicator. It is also behind other extensive monitoring schemes, such as those for atlases of species distributions, from the national to the European level. Opportunistic data can be used to assess shifts in species distributions, using Bayesian statistics and occupancy modelling to integrate structured W47000734 -Part B-13 and opportunistic data 22 , but does not give insights into changes in abundance or population sizes. Recording biodiversity has been made easier by the development of mobile apps that automatically record time and location and include some automated or (other) user feedback for data quality control. The rise of affordable audio-visual sensors and omnipresence of digital cameras, including those in mobile phones and tablets, makes it easier to upload photos for quality control or use camera trapping. Using artificial intelligence algorithms and machine learning that check for likelihood based on past records, considering both location and date, combined with image and audio recognition software for uploaded photos or audio files can substantially increase recording possibilities and also reduce the workload for the validation of data. With these novel tools, large datastreams can be collected and handled while maintaining a high data quality (e.g., EuroBird portal). Furthermore, the use of apps reduces the time lag between record and incorporation into databases substantially (eg. eBird, iNaturalist). EuropaBon will design workflows that leverage the datastreams being produced by citizen scientists.

Long-term ecological research
An increasing number of long-term ecological research (LTER) sites have been set up over the last few decades across Europe to address a range of scientific questions and provide long-term monitoring of ecosystems. Key findings from the LTER network in Europe include: showing that forest ground flora across Europe declines with the exceedance of critical loads of nitrogen 23 , identifying the effects of climate change on stream invertebrate composition in Central Europe over a period of 25 years 24 and on terrestrial vegetation and limnic zooplankton in the Alps 25 . Almost 20 years ago, LTER-Europe was founded, providing an umbrella network for the LTER sites. More recently, in order to renew efforts to expand harmonized and standardized data collection across sites, eLTER joined the ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) roadmap. eLTER RI will comprise terrestrial, freshwater and transitional water sites. It will allow in-situ, co-located acquisition and gathering of essential variables ranging from biodiversity to socio-ecological data, across 250 LTER-Europe sites 26 . During the five-year preparatory phase project, which started February 2020, the essential variables measured in the eLTER RI will be selected and approved. These observations will be made available through a data portal, building on data streams already available and strictly following the FAIR principles. Having eLTER as a partner in EuropaBON (for official LoS see section 6 of the proposal) will ensure that the ongoing developments, specifically data standard, work flows and data streams in eLTER and those foreseen in EuropaBON will be aligned, synergies used and redundancies avoided. This is considered in various tasks, namely T3.1, T4.1, T4.3 and T5.2.

Regulatory monitoring by agencies
Regulatory monitoring is carried out by regional, national and European agencies in response to reporting requirements of different plans and policies. For instance, EU member states implement national monitoring schemes to regularly report on the ecological status of water bodies under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The biological WFD-related indicators have been inter-calibrated across countries 27 , and the reported data are compiled and made available by EEA through the Water Information System for Europe (WISE). However, detailed record information on single species is not made interoperable, accessible and usable. Moreover, there are still many gaps and weaknesses in these data streams that need further attention, due to major differences in the actual monitoring and assessment systems used across Europe 28 . There are a number of other databases with species level data based on WFD monitoring of each of the biological quality elements. the monitoring and assessment systems have not been harmonised, and there is little knowledge on their comparability and representativeness. The quality of the underlying data differs substantially between member states and so does the reliability of the different conservation status assessments. In addition, there seems to be little harmonisation of the monitoring design and data collected for the WFD and the Habitats directive, in spite of clear potential for using the same dataset for multiple purposes. Regulatory monitoring in both the WFD and the Habitats Directive would benefit from adopting new molecular biomonitoring techniques using e-DNA and metabarcoding 29 .
Altogether, many of the data streams listed above lack harmonization and integration, and several bottlenecks still exist in making these data representative, reliable, publicly accessible and usable. EuropaBON will develop an upto-date inventory of these data streams (T3.1), identify gaps (T3.2) and bottlenecks (T3.2), building on previous projects and current monitoring practices. The potential of novel approaches for collecting biodiversity data will also be assessed, based on recent progress in the development and applications of such approaches (T4.2).

Integrating data and modelling EBVs and EESVs
The first step of data integration is to mobilize and harmonize raw data using interoperable and machine-readable (meta)data standards, to generate EBV integrated datasets (also known as EBV-ready datasets) 30 . For instance, standards such as the Darwin Event Core and data infrastructures as GBIF are well fitted for mobilizing and harmonising species monitoring data. However, the raw observations in regulatory reporting (e.g., WFD, Habitats and Birds Directive) or in long-term, structured citizen science monitoring behind the Common Bird Indicator or the Grassland Butterfly Indicator 31 are rarely available in public databases. This contrasts for instance with opportunistic citizen science data uploaded to iNaturalist (for official LoS see section 6 of the proposal) or eBird which is automatically pushed to GBIF. In addition, datasets integrating or combining multiple data streams or data from different countries, e.g., observation.org and artportalen.se, are also not readily available in an interoperable form, which limits their findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability (FAIR principles 32 ).
Even after several datasets from different data streams are integrated and harmonized (e.g., with a shared taxonomy, common formats, standardized units, and being quality-checked), many spatial and temporal gaps still remain. In order to fill those gaps, spatial and temporal interpolation can be done with statistical models and artificial intelligence methods. In addition, environmental variables for which wall-to-wall datasets exits, such as climate variables, landcover, or topography, can be used to model and predict the values of EBVs and therefore fill existing gaps in in-situ observations, resulting in EBV modelled datasets 33 .
Two main classes of the latter models can be used for species population EBVs: inductive and deductive models 34 . Inductive models go from specific to general and are based, for instance, on correlations between observations of species occurrences or abundances and the values of the predictor environmental variables (e.g., species distribution models SDMs) 35 . Deductive models take the reverse steps of inductive approaches (from general to specific). They use information on the habitat use of species, for instance the list of habitats where the species is known to occur, to refine coarse geographic range maps of species to finer maps of occupancy. Inductive and deductive models can be combined: the distribution of a species that can only exist in grasslands can be projected over time by tracking the ecosystem extent of grasslands using remote sensing, filtering out from an inductive model (e.g., SDM based on climate) the areas where grasslands no longer occur 36 .
Ecosystem function EBVs require the use of process-based models or other causal/correlative models (e.g., structural equation models) that allow to understand the direct and indirect influence of multiple environmental, land cover, or climatic drivers on the distribution and dynamics of specific functional variables. The use of process-based models allows both researchers, users and modelers to improve the transparency of the assumptions and theoretical knowledge supporting the definition of the functional variables. Once properly parameterized, these models can support the estimation of functional conditions under probable scenarios of climate or land-use change. Another example are models to assess the flows of ecosystem services. Such models usually start from service providing units (spatial distribution of species, habitats, or ecosystems) and then combine environmental data with specific knowledge about ecosystem processes to assess the capacity or supply to generate ecosystem services, while service W47000734 -Part B-15 delivery often requires human population data also. Measuring EESVs can greatly enhance the accuracy of ecosystem services models. Too often, models need to take unrealistic assumptions due to a lack of consistent observations on EESVs 37 .
EuropaBON will design workflows for EBVs and EESVs that allow raw data to be mobilized, harmonized, integrated and modelled (T4.3). The modelling tools available for each EBV and EESV will be assessed relative to their ease of use and predictive power, and their potential to be implemented in a sustained workflow-oriented e-infrastructure. The EBV framework and the use of modelling tools facilitate the integration of different data streams and heterogeneous monitoring methods. In addition, they can also guide the standardization of biodiversity monitoring protocols by identifying which measurements need to be made, where and of which biological entities, so that the potential of the modelling tools in producing robust biodiversity and ecosystem services trends is maximized. EuropaBON will use this framework to propose standardized data collection protocols for each EBV and EESV (Task 4.3), addressing also data publishing and sharing policies, analytical protocols and processing steps. These EBVs and EESVs workflows need to be open and reproducible to support reliable and repeatable reporting of biodiversity and ecosystem services trends by member states and European agencies.

Synthesizing EBVs for end users and policy support
EBVs are massive datasets that need to be interpreted and synthesized for users, such as policy officers, resource managers or even the general public. One approach to produce such synthesis is to produce indicators that summarize the trends of some aspect of biodiversity, but other syntheses such as maps and assessments are also possible. In EuropaBON will deliver various outputs that can be produced by synthesizing EBVs for specific users (WP5): indicators of current state, recent trends, short-term forecasts and long-term scenarios.

Indicators of current state and recent trends
Shortly after the adoption of the 2011-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, the EBVs were first conceptualized in response to a call from the CBD to assess the availability and adequacy of biodiversity data to track progress towards the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets 38 . Since then, multiple EBV products and derived indicators have been identified for their relevance to monitor the implementation of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development frameworks at the global and regional scales 39 . More recently, the EBV framework was used to guide and communicate on the assessment of the state of nature in the Global Assessment of IPBES, with a section dedicated to each of the six EBV classes 40 . Their scalability also makes EBVs adequate for assessments of the effectiveness of management and conservation policies, as well as to guide the design (or harmonization) of the biodiversity monitoring programmes that produce the underlying raw data, whether at the local, sub-national, or national scale.
Indicators of current state and trends in the biodiversity can be calculated at the scale of interest by integrating the relevant EBV over a spatial region. For instance, species population abundances of a selected group of species (e.g. pollinators) can be averaged and spatially integrated to calculate a composite indicator of mean species abundance over time 41 . They can also be combined with other datasets to calculate indicators of the impacts of intervention actions or of the benefits. For instance, to assess the effectiveness of protected areas, the spatial distribution of protected areas can be combined with changes in ecosystem extent or in species distribution 42 .
The choice of indicators to be derived from EBVs and EESVs depends on the policy needs and needs to be discussed with stakeholders. In EuropaBON we will identify the indicators (T2.3) to be produced in the EBV and EESV workflows (T4.3). The calculation of EBV-based indicators of current state and recent trends of biodiversity will be demonstrated in the showcases in particular policy contexts: Birds Directive (T5.1), Habitats Directive (T5.2) and Water Framework Directive (T5.3).

Short-term forecasts
Ecological questions being asked by policymakers, managers and citizens are often about the short-term future (e.g., coming days or weeks). These questions can refer to a wide variety of phenomena and the answers being given vary greatly in terms of the accuracy provided and of the scientific and technological capability that is used to achieve W47000734 -Part B-16 them 43 . However, for most ecological phenomena, scientifically sound, short-term forecasts remain missing. This is in sharp contrast with forecasts made for the long-term (e.g., biodiversity changes in a 50-year horizon), which abound in the scientific and technical literature and that are regularly used to supporting decisions made for the longterm 44 . A main reason for the scarceness of short-term ecological forecasts concerns the lack of data standardization among sources of biodiversity observation data. Short-term biodiversity forecasts require the automation of workflows into a continuous production loop, which includes procedures of data assimilation, model recalibration and the production and delivery of the predictions. There is now increased easiness in addressing the computational challenges involved and near real-time information on key environmental drivers is available from robust sources through standardized data sharing protocols (e.g., Copernicus imagery and meteorological observations). However, biological observation data, which are very often scattered across multiple sources, each using its own data-storage structure and often lacking interfaces for programmatic access, becomes a huge challenge to accommodate within the computational robustness and timeliness required for short-term model production.
The standardization of datastreams of biodiversity observation records that is aimed under EuropaBON, will represent a major step forward towards the wider implementation and availability of short-term biodiversity forecasting frameworks. Short-term forecasts for a range of ecosystem services in support of the bioeconomy will be demonstrated in T5.5.

Medium and long-term scenarios
Scenarios are a policy-support tool that allows to assess the impacts of different management actions 45 . This is particularly important because there is often a time lag between the response of biodiversity and the implementation of management interventions. Therefore, monitoring only the state of biodiversity without taking into consideration this time lag, can mislead managers to believe that their actions are not yet producing effects. Models can be used to project the future state of EBVs and EESVs based on scenarios for different interventions on direct drivers over the mid-term (i.e. intervention scenarios over a few years to a decade) or for different plausible trajectories of indirect and direct drivers over the long-term (i.e. exploratory scenarios over several decades). For instance, the expected recovery of species populations can be projected based on different levels of ambition for protected area coverage and their spatial distribution in a medium-term intervention scenario. While the future impacts of land-use change and climate change on species populations can be projected for different socio-economic scenarios 46 . It is also important to note that the EBVs and EESVs workflows allow for calculation of the same indicators for the past trends and future scenarios.
Although the full development of long-term scenarios is beyond the scope of EuropaBON, the model-based essential variables framework provides a seamless way of making biodiversity data streams available for scenario models. EuropaBON will demonstrate how EBVs about the state of soil functions can be projected into the future to inform the climate and ecosystem restoration targets of the EU (T5.4).

The economics of biodiversity monitoring
Biodiversity monitoring has rarely been in demand at such a scale but has often struggled to generate funds due to perceived high costs and limited commercial application, often resulting in their de-funding after a short time or in times of economic constraint 47 . Professionally led biodiversity monitoring can deliver consistent high-quality data but is often expensive in terms of staff, materials and administration 48 . As a result, much existing biodiversity monitoring has been organized by charitable organizations and conducted by volunteers with value equivalent to millions of € 49 . Although properly structured voluntary schemes can return high quality data, even on rare invertebrate species 50 , volunteer-oriented schemes often have high recorder turnover 51 , and may be limited by what monitoring methods different recorders are willing to undertake. For instance, a recent study in the UK found that farmers were less willing to undertake active pollinator monitoring methods than non-expert volunteers but that these volunteers were often unwilling to undertake lethal passive sampling methods 52 . Furthermore, volunteers are likely to select sites in a highly non-random fashion, based on e.g., ease of access and probability of the species being present reducing the statistical power of the resultant data 53 .
Recent studies have attempted to explore methods of increasing cost-efficiency, suggesting that combining volunteer and professional data collection 50 and collecting information on multiple factors (e.g. climate 54 ) could reduce monitoring costs overall, while larger site networks would create schemes that are cheaper on a per-site basis 55 . However, these studies have mostly considered hypothetical networks, rather than looking for opportunities to improve cost-efficiency in existing schemes through more collaborative approaches. Moreover, the cost-effectiveness of existing vs. novel technologies for biodiversity monitoring (e.g. field observations vs. automated acoustic recording or monitoring with eDNA) has rarely been assessed. This cost-effectiveness will depend on the effort required in the field, the effort required in the laboratory, the quality of the data collected, and the costs for equipment/instrumentation. 56 Furthermore, many of the wider benefits of monitoring, particularly its value to wider ecological research have not been assessed for comparison to these costs 53 .
A key component of EuropaBON will be the assessment of the long-term costs in managing existing (WP3) and proposed schemes (WP4) to estimate the real costs of managing these schemes (including the value of existing voluntary work). This will be achieved using detailed interviews with stakeholders (WP2) and the best available data collected from monitoring schemes and research organizations. These costs will include all material, labor, administrative and other costs and account for relative cost differences between countries. The project will explore the cost-effectiveness of existing schemes, in terms of data produced per € spent. Through facilitating discussion between organizations, infrastructure operators, policy makers and researchers, the project will identify opportunities to enhance the cost-effectiveness of the schemes without compromising data quality or the long-term maintenance of monitoring efforts (WP2). Following this, the project will use expert Delphi panel methods to assess the benefits of the proposed schemes to wider ecological research and estimate the potential costs saved from increased efficiency compared to isolated research projects, providing a monetary value that can be contrasted with the proposed scheme costs (WP4). These key outputs will allow the commission, EU member states and conservation agencies to make informed decisions about monitoring that recognizes its full potential value to science and society.

Expected impacts
2.1.1 Expected impact on policy design and implementation at EU level On 1 December 2019, the new European Commission took office. Only 11 days later it presented an ambitious agenda on biodiversity and climate. This agenda was adopted as the European Green Deal, the EU's new growth strategy to 2030. The Green Deal puts biodiversity central to EU policies, which is an important step in mainstreaming and integration. Commission president Dr. Ursula von der Leyen stated that "Preserving and restoring our ecosystem needs to guide all of our work. We must set new standards for biodiversity cutting across trade, industry, agriculture and economic policy". It is thus clear that 2020 will be a key year for biodiversity policy and that the next decade will require doubling efforts to implement the ambitious targets which will be agreed this year in the next global and European biodiversity strategies to 2030. New policy targets to stop biodiversity loss, to set restoration goals and to define further knowledge needs will be outlined in the next biodiversity strategy to 2030, and will be adopted by the European Commission during the first semester of 2020. The new strategy is expected to make particular reference to better biodiversity monitoring. This strategy will be further amended and operationalized by a Biodiversity Action Plan, which will be adopted in the first semester of 2021.
The design, testing and deployment of a scientifically sound, cost-effective and multi-purpose biodiversity monitoring network will be an essential cornerstone to deliver on the ambitions of the European Green Deal and the EU biodiversity strategy to 2030. Systematic and harmonized in-situ monitoring of essential biodiversity and ecosystems variables across the EU is needed in order to support periodic evaluation of progress towards curtailing biodiversity loss.
EuropaBON is designed to meet these expectations i.e. not only to anticipate the new policy developments but also help implement existing policies, regulations and actions that require ecosystem and biodiversity data. The design of the monitoring network will be aligned with the key requirements outlined by these policy documents through consultation with the stakeholders at EU and MS level (WP2). To this end, EuropaBON has ensured that key stakeholders from the European Environment Agency, which are involved in the implementation of the biodiversity strategy to 2030, are part of the advisory board.
A better biodiversity monitoring system is essential not only to support new policy strategies but also to help implement existing legislation and actions that are dependent on knowledge about key biodiversity and ecosystem parameters. A pivotal project that will guide EuropaBON is the Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES), an initiative of the Commission and the Member States under Action 5 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020. MAES has delivered an EU wide typology for ecosystems and provides definitions and guidance on ecosystem condition and ecosystem services including a conceptual framing and indicators. INCA (integrated system for natural capital and ecosystem services accounts), the EU's initiative on ecosystem accounting, is part of Action 5. Ecosystem accounts monitor the extent and condition of ecosystems and the flow of services to the economy. EuropaBON will ensure compliance with the MAES framework and it will enhance the impact of a European ecosystem accounting system by addressing how regularly monitored biodiversity and ecosystem variables can provide direct input to ecosystem accounts through inter-operable data systems. Once again, key stakeholders of MAES and INCA are on board of EuropaBON, either as partner (JRC) or through the advisory board. EuropaBON will also engage and liaise with other important international initiatives including the Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP) as well as explore the potential to use the OPPLAthe EU repository for Nature Based Solutions to share results from the project.
Importantly, the impact of EuropaBON will clearly go beyond initiatives that directly relate to the EU biodiversity strategies to 2020 and 2030, as it will contribute to improving data flows for a variety of EU initiatives that explicitly require (or will require) regularly updated information on the state of ecosystems or the impacts of drivers, pressures and measures on biodiversity. Through various initiatives, the EU and national authorities and agencies are already putting much effort into the in-situ monitoring of land, freshwater, air quality, habitats, species and ecosystems. Most, if not all, of these initiatives are not aligned with each other. EuropaBON will collect information about the currently ongoing and planned monitoring schemes that exist at EU level and ensure maximal alignment.
In particular, the following policies initiatives will be considered: • The Habitats and Birds Directives: Every six years, member states have to report the conservation status of habitats, species and the population status of birds. More consistent and harmonized monitoring of habitats and species will be designed by EuropaBON by integrating existing data streams and setting up new biodiversity monitoring with an emphasis on Natura 2000 sites, which will substantially reduce monitoring gaps and also reduce reporting burdens for member states.
• The Water Framework Directive: Every six years, member states have to report on the ecological status of surface waters by examining the composition and abundance of communities of phytoplankton, benthic flora, including algae and aquatic macrophytes, macro-invertebrates and fish. These data are summarized in ecological quality ratios so as to report ecological status class. But the monitoring scheme provides a wealth of information that can also be used to report status and trends of biodiversity in freshwater ecosystems and could thus contribute to the objectives of a European Biodiversity Observation Network.
• The EU Pollinators Initiative: Under Action 1 of the initiative, the Commission is currently preparing the design of an EU wide monitoring network for pollinators. The design for the pollinators network will be an integral part of EuropaBON, which will be facilitated by two consortium members with relevant roles in the process, the JRC and the University of Reading (who are managing and chairing the expert pool that will deliver a monitoring design).
• The EU's Bioeconomy Strategy has a dedicated action on the monitoring of the condition of biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystem services, which underpin the bioeconomy. EuropaBON will be a key deliverable for this action, by designing and demonstrating workflows for ecosystem service forecasts that can support economic activities and business opportunities, and the EU citizens at large.
• The National Emissions Ceiling Directive establishes under its art.9 a network of monitoring sites that is representative of their freshwater, natural and semi-natural habitats and forest ecosystem types. The network is currently being put in place to monitor the impact of air pollution on ecosystems. EuropaBON will work with the relevant stakeholders (European Commission and the EEA) to ensure a high level of integration with EuropaBON.
• Agriculture has a key impact on biodiversity but can also contribute solutions to enhance biodiversity. A key data set on crop statistics is the Land Parcel Information System (LPIS) (in combination with the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS)). These data are not publicly available across the EU although they would be of considerable added value to understand the spatially explicit impacts of agriculture on biodiversity. The Commission is making efforts to unlock these data, in compliance with the Inspire Directive. EuropaBON will include relevant stakeholders in the co-design process to understand how these data can possibly contribute to the objectives of the monitoring network.
• The Commission has its own monitoring system to report land use: Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey (LUCAS). The scale of LUCAS as well as the type of data that is collected overlap to a certain extent with the objectives of any large-scale monitoring network on biodiversity and ecosystems. LUCAS is managed by Eurostat, the EU's statistical office. Eurostat is considered a key stakeholder at the EU level and as such the project will ensure an strong engagement with it.
The showcases in EuropaBON will effectively test how the design of the monitoring network can be improved in order to have more consistent, streamlined and harmonized data that can be used for the above-mentioned initiatives.
In addition, a fully implemented EuropaBON will ensure integration of data streams in the reporting on progress towards the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in Europe 57 . Alignment with the SDGs is a cross-cutting issue in Societal Challenge 5 of Horizon 2020 (see also section 1.2) and a key objective for EuropaBON. Special attention will go to improving the monitoring framework of the SDGs with special attention for goals SDG14 (life below water), SDG 15 (life on land), as well as SDG2 (zero hunger), SDG6 (clean water), SDG11 (sustainable cities), and SDG13 (climate action). EuropaBON will particularly address knowledge gaps in the measurement of goals 14 and 15 which are caused by the limited scope of the available indicators and the resulting problems to assess the EU's progress for these SDGs.

How will EuropaBON create impact in relation to the call text
Clearly, 2020 is a key year for biodiversity science and policy for many reasons. First, it marks the end of the global and European biodiversity strategies to 2020 and the adoption of updated policies and strategic planning for the next decade. Moreover, 2020 is a transition year between Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, the 9 th EU framework programme for research and innovation. The Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework under the UN, Convention of Biological Diversity, the next EU biodiversity strategy to 2030 and Horizon Europe will beyond any doubt call for an enhanced monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystems using various data streams (ranging from remote sensing to in-situ data collection and citizen science). EuropaBON will support the new global and EU Biodiversity strategies by designing a novel, cost efficient and innovative system for biodiversity monitoring in Europe. This design will provide three major improvements: 1) all major taxonomic groups of flora and fauna in all major types of ecosystems will be covered by defining appropriate and applicable indicators in line with the Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs); 2) proposing better integration of data flows to ensure a spatially representative network of monitoring sites covering all common as well as rare/protected habitat types that can be used to assess current biodiversity status, and have sufficient monitoring frequency to reveal trends; 3) demonstrate with concrete showcases how points 1 and 2 can be achieved by combining conventional in situ monitoring with new methods ranging from molecular techniques and machine learning to citizen science, drones and remote sensing by satellites.  WP5 has a dedicated showcase on the Bioeconomy strategy, including outputs from a Nordic Center of Excellence for a sustainable bioeconomy related to forestry, agriculture and water. EuropaBON will also contact the Bioeconomy Knowledge Centre of the Commission as stakeholder to ensure policy relevance.
2) implementation of ecosystem-related EU policies, action plans, programmes and initiatives; in particular via the MAES and INCA processes WP2 will analyze the current and future knowledge needs to continue supporting EU initiatives on biodiversity. JRC is coordinator of the MAES process and a key partner in INCA and can be a knowledge broker between EuropaBON and the Commission (see also Biodiversity Knowledge Centre). The strong links between the EuropaBON partners and the EEA with its topic centers for biodiversity and for water will also facilitate impacts of EuropaBON on the mentioned EU policies and processes.
3) scenarios, assessments and data in the context of initiatives, such as IPBES, GEO/GEOSS, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility or IPCC; and in EU initiatives on Nature-Based Solutions or sustainable agriculture GEO is at the core of EuropaBON as it is based on GEO BON principles and experts (see also section on maximizing impact). EuropaBON will collaborate with GBIF (see LoS) to ensure that data collected is mobilized through GBIF infrastructure. Scientists from EuropaBON are involved in the various assessments of IPBES and IPCC and also work with nature-based solutions in various projects in dialogue with the agricultural sector.

4) proposing EU-level monitoring approaches of key EU ecosystem and biodiversity targets (including recommendations on the most accurate and costeffective techniques)
WP4 is designed to deliver an inclusive and encompassing architecture for an EU wide biodiversity monitoring system (EuropaBON) with accurate and cost-effective techniques.
5) integration of citizen-science data (e.g., bird and butterfly records) and research data depositories (e.g., the European vegetation archive) into publicly accessible EU-level data bases WP3 will assess how citizen science is used and can be enhanced in current monitoring schemes. WP4 will ensure the integration of citizen science in the design of EuropaBON (see LoS of iNaturalist and ESCA) and explore whether and how European research databases can be made more accessible at EU-level, e.g., through the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). EuropaBON will adopt the guidelines for citizen science in environmental monitoring drafted under the EKC-KIP Citizen Science initiative.

Dissemination and exploitation of results
EuropaBON has developed a Plan for Exploitation and Dissemination of the Results (PEDR) based on a strong expertise to engage stakeholders, a proven scientific excellence of the partners, a strong connection with the international research community, and a direct interaction with the main target groups. The following measures will maximise the impact of EuropaBON: • Dedicated Work Package (WP2) on communication and outreach and stakeholder engagement with stakeholder-oriented meetings • Collaboration with key projects (see Table 2.2) and exploitation of their results • A direct line to the new knowledge supporting mechanism for biodiversity policy of the EU, BKC, and to EEA and its topic centers for biodiversity (ETC-BD) and water (ETC-ICM), due to the direct involvement of EuropaBON consortium partners (JRC and NIVA) in these activities.
• A foundation in the research developments and community of practice of GEO BON 58 • An open data policy (see Table 3.1.b, T1.4 Knowledge management) • Strategy for Horizon Europe: EuropaBON outputs will be directly relevant for this strategy Communication and stakeholder engagement. A substantial part of the resources of EuropaBON will be dedicated to the full engagement of stakeholders (20% of personnel costs, plus 45% of other direct costs or 5% of the total budget is allocated to workshops). A dedicated work package (WP2) will stimulate the active involvement of a range of stakeholder groups. Their input and ownership of the design process are central to a successful proposal for a European Biodiversity Observation Network, and key stakeholders have already confirmed support to the project (see LoS).

Collaboration with key projects and international initiatives.
Within the European research area, EuropaBON can rely on the extensive networking capacity of the consortium members to make maximum use of existing knowledge on biodiversity through their key roles in ongoing or recently finished projects under the EU's framework programme for research and innovation. The consortium partners will also establish collaboration with other projects and initiatives that can benefit from EuropaBON. Partners already reached out to several national and international agencies to get their official support for this project (for a list of supporting agencies, please refer to section 6 of the proposal). The current involvement of the consortium partners in relevant international and national projects, particularly GEO BON, will guarantee an exchange of knowledge, expertise and results. Table 2.2 lists key projects, which deliver relevant outputs for the design of the monitoring network. Teaming up with the new EU's mechanism on biodiversity knowledge support. EuropaBON will deliver the design of an EU-wide, coherent and seamless, and spatially representative biodiversity observation network that serves the specific needs of the EU and its member states. The development of such a monitoring design will be done in close communication with the authorities that are responsible for biodiversity policy implementation and that have the technical and financial capacity to implement the architecture of the network into an operational service. In the framework on the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030, the European Commission, in close collaboration with the European Environment Agency (EEA) is currently setting up a Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity (BKC). Knowledge Centres inside the Commission are virtual entities, bringing together experts and knowledge from different locations inside and outside the European Commission. Their job is to inform policy-makers in a transparent, tailored and concise manner about the status and findings of the latest scientific evidence. Once operational, the BKC will track and assess progress in implementing the EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy and underpin further biodiversity policy developments. The BKC will specifically address scenario development and biodiversity monitoring. The BKC is considered a crucial partner for EuropaBON in the stakeholder engagement and co-design process. G. Dubois (JRC) has been appointed as the coordinator of the BKC and is one of the key participants in EuropaBON. Together with the EEA representatives on the Advisory Board, they can facilitate the exchange of expertise between EuropaBON and the BKC and ensure that policy requests reflected in the objectives of the monitoring network and resource constraints with respect to the future implementation are maximally considered in the final design. Importantly, the Commission closely collaborates with IPBES and provides financial support to maintain the secretariat. EuropaBON, through its contacts with the IPBES secretariat and with several participants having served or serving as lead authors of the various IPBES assessments, can already incorporate specific requirements that will serve future assessments.
GEO BON as foundation. At the core of EuropaBON is GEO BON, a flagship initiative of GEO and a key contributor to GEOSS. Its mission is to improve the acquisition, coordination and delivery of biodiversity observations and related services to users including decision makers and the scientific community. H. Pereira, the coordinator of EuropaBON, is the co-chair of GEO BON and hosts the secretariat at iDiv/MLU. Clearly, EuropaBON can rely on a strong scientific foundation that has been developed in the frame of GEO BON, a global network of expertise on biodiversity monitoring, and a strong commitment to deliver a design of an operational monitoring system. This experience in combination with the presence of key taxonomic and methodological expertise on biodiversity monitoring in the EuropaBON consortium will significantly contribute to a successful outcome of this project.
An open data policy. EuropaBON underwrites strictly to the open access and open data principles (FAIR principles 59 ) that form the basis for dissemination and communication of Horizon 2020. Workflows will emphasize the mobilization of data streams to public repositories such as GBIF (for official LoS see section 6 of the propo, while modelled EBVs will be shared on the GEO BON data portal. Where possible and on request of the Commission and EEA, EuropaBON can ensure that its outcomes are communicated on BISE, the Biodiversity Information System for Europe. A Strategy for Horizon Europe. One of the four overarching objectives of the recently established European Biodiversity Partnership (EBP) is "Improved monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem services across Europe." The EBP will work towards this objective by promoting the collaboration between national policy makers, R&I policy makers, and R&I program funders, building on the successful BiodivERsA platform. EuropaBON will collaborate with the partnership to define a strategic research agenda (SRA) both for Horizon Europe and for the national funding agencies of the partnership, with the goal of supporting the implementation of a Biodiversity and Monitoring Coordination Centre (BMCC) in the EU (Task 2.4). Based on the outcomes of EuropaBON, this agenda will deliver recommendations for potential follow-up phases (if identified to be necessary), creating synergies and collaboration between national and international research programmes. The SRA will be communicated as soon as possible to the Commission and a summary will be part of the Final Project Activities Report. It will provide identified research, coordination and support needs for testing or implementing the EuropaBON design in the Horizon Europe programme.

Communication activities
EuropaBON will involve the communication networks of all partners, to ensure a broad knowledge exchange and outreach to the different target groups at every stage of the project. EuropaBON will combine traditional and digital marketing tools and communication methods, which will be described in detail in EuropaBON's Plan for Exploitation and Dissemination of Results (PEDR) by month 6 of the project. These activities will target specific stakeholder groups (Table 2.3).
The project will foster two-way communication with stakeholdersboth co-creating knowledge, receiving knowhow and expertise from stakeholders and delivering outputs, tools and attractive dissemination of results. The EuropaBON social media channels (Twitter, Facebook) will be operational from the very beginning of the project in order to be used to collect opinions on the ongoing activities and define expectations, as well as to build a community of stakeholders, scientists and the general public. The website will be the main tool for both storing important documents (public document library) and dissemination of project outputs. The project website will: 1) present the objectives, work plan and expected results of EuropaBON; 2) publish press releases and summaries for the general public and specific stakeholders; 3) publish regular project and sector-related news; 4) provide links to other EU initiatives or research projects in the field; 5) host a dedicated biodiversity policy platform for the needs of policyand decision-makers with example products and tools from the showcases (WP5). The project website will inform and discuss specific topics of common interest; engage interested parties through provision of general information about the project and access to its main outcomes.

Number of visitors, website impressions, visit duration
Information point for all stakeholders, incl. journalists

Social media posts
Social media activity will cover events (e.g., live tweeting from meetings) and when there are project developments and new published results.

Number of likes, shares, followers
Promotional materials Leaflets, brochures, posters and stickers will be produced to raise awareness about EuropaBON. They will be distributed broadly at relevant events, and will be available for download at the project website.
Number of downloads of electronic copies 3 Implementation

Work plan -Work packages and deliverables
3.1.1 Brief presentation of the overall structure of the work plan The EuropaBON project is proposed for a duration of 36 months. It is structured into five different work packages (WPs), each subdivided into specific tasks ( Figure 2). Each WP has a WP leader and each task has a task leader. WP1 oversees the coordination and management of the project. Stakeholder engagement (WP2) is the hub of the project in which identified critical stakeholders will be engaged into assessment (WP3) and co-design (WP4) processes of the project, as well as in drafting policy support (WP5). While WP2 is the 'heart' of EuropaBON, WP3 and WP4 will deliver on the call. Drawing on the user needs identified in WP2 (T2.1), WP3 assesses different sources for existing biodiversity monitoring data in Europe (T3.1) to identify their current gaps and bottlenecks in terms of thematic content, spatial and temporal coverage (T3.2), data flows and availability (T3.3), as well as costeffectiveness (T3.4). WP4 builds on WP3 to deliver a new design for biodiversity monitoring in Europe, by improving existing monitoring schemes to become more representative, maximize benefits and become better integrated into wider biodiversity policy (T4.3 and T4.4). The new design will close existing temporal, spatial and thematic data gaps by integrating multiple monitoring sources with EBV modelling (T4.1) and various new technologies (T4.2) at national and European level, in dialogue with major stakeholders. The policy examples showcased in WP5 will demonstrate how EuropaBON could contribute to various major environmental policies of the EU by using the new design from WP4. The work in WP3-5 is always developed in a dialog with stakeholders facilitated by WP2 to assess whether the deliverables produced by the project meet the user requirements. Ultimately a coalition with key stakeholders will be formed to trigger the establishment of ToR for a Biodiversity Monitoring Coordination Center to implement EuropaBON after the project ends (T2.5).

Figure 2:
Illustration of work packages and tasks and how they link/interrelate.

W47000734
-Part B-28 Figure 3 provides a GANTT chart of the end month of the different tasks in the project work packages. It also shows the deliverables and their relation to each other, as well as milestones (workshops, meetings or other achievements). For more details on deliverables and milestones, please refer to Tables 3.1.c and 3.2.a, respectively. EUROPA BIODIVERSITY OBSERVATION NETWORK  The coordination unit at MLU (WP1) will be responsible for the Scientific, Financial and Administrative Coordination of the project. The project coordinator is also responsible for the contacts between the European Commission and the project Consortium. The Consortium Coordination team (CC), which includes the project coordinator and all WP-and task leaders, will act as executive committee of the project, acting on behalf of the Consortium Assembly (CA) that includes all project partners. The Advisory Board (AB), consisting of representatives of the, EEA, GBIF, Biodiversity4All, the Microsoft European Biodiversity Partnership (EBP),, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Geo Engine -a private geo-data processing company, as well as two independent scientists with strong connections to the ESP (R. Chaplin-Kramer) and to Pan-European Bird Monitoring Schemes driven by NGO's (RSPB -R. Gregory), will provide policy and scientific advice, and help connect EuropaBON to the relevant international initiatives. Figure 4 illustrates the management structure of EuropaBON. The coordinator of EuropaBON is Prof. Henrique Pereira (MLU) who has outstanding experience in national and international research in the field of biodiversity change monitoring to inform policy and decision-making. He was work package coordinator for ECOPOTENTIAL (https://www.ecopotential-project.eu/), a project that aimed at improving future ecosystem benefits through earth observations, as well as TerraNova

I. McCallum
Author-formatted document posted on 26/01/2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/arphapreprints.e81207 project, which aims at establishing a biodiversity observatory in the Tropical Andes that produces data to help inform policy and decision makers at the national and regional level. He also co-chairs GEO BON (https://geobon.org/), which aims at improving the acquisition, coordination and delivery of biodiversity observations and related services to decision makers and the scientific community. The project coordinator is supported by the scientific-and administrative coordinator, and iDiv's well developed infrastructure, including strong central services (outreach office, biodiversity informatics, bioinformatics), a Synthesis Centre (sDiv) fostering theoretical and synthetic thinking, as well as a PhD graduate school (yDiv). He is the leader of the consortium and the main representative of the project. He is also responsible for the contacts between the European Commission and the project consortium.
The Scientific Coordination (at MLU) manages and supervises all scientific activities. The scientific coordinator oversees the work packages, implements quality control and ensures that project deliverables are supplied in a timely manner. The scientific coordinator provides strategic guidance and devises changes in scoping and focus of different scientific tasks. The scientific coordinator works closely with the project coordinator and the work package leaders and ensures continuous information exchange among them. The scientific coordinator also coordinates relations between the WP leaders and the interdependencies among tasks.
The Administrative Coordination (at MLU) of EuropaBON is responsible for all administrative, financial, and logistical matters, including the organization of workshops and meetings. The administrative coordinator is also responsible for the free flow of administrative information between her and the different partners of the consortium assembly. The scientific and administrative coordination work in close contact with one another and the project coordinator, to ensure efficient and professional implementation of EuropaBON's management structure.
The Consortium Coordination (CC) is formed by the WP-and task leaders. It represents the consortium partners and implements the decisions made by the Consortium Assembly. The CC is chaired by the project coordinator as leader of WP1. The CC is responsible for the operational management of EuropaBON. It monitors scientific progress, supervises the production of deliverables, and evaluates and handles risks, challenges and demands of the scientific work plan. The CC will meet once every month through web meetings and once a year face-to-face during the Consortium Assembly meeting to evaluate progress and facilitate communication within and outside the project. The CC will also be responsible for addressing all conflicts that may arise during the course of the project and propose potential solutions to the CA.
The CC is also in direct contact with the Advisory Board, which consists of four representatives from the policy space, one representative of a global biodiversity data network, one from citizen science, a representative from a partnership that connects national/local and European Research & Innovation programs, and one from a private geodata processing company, as well as two highly qualified scientists. This external expert group provides scientific feedback and advice on scientific challenges and demands to the CC. The CC meets at least yearly with the AB at the Consortium Assembly to discuss scientific progress and conceptual development. The advisory board includes: • Markus Erhard from European Environment Agency is one of the coordinators of MAES together with A.
Teller of DG ENV and J. Maes of JRC. He has the oversight within EEA to link the project partners to relevant colleagues in the EEA and the topic centres for specific aspects on freshwater, marine, urban and terrestrial biodiversity.
• Dr. Jan-Erik Petersen is the Head of Spatial Assessment Team at the European Environment Agency. EEA is a key partner when making proposals for a data infrastructure that should underpin the monitoring system, as they have the potential capacity and needed expertise to implement EuropaBON (given additional resources).
• Tim Hirsch is Deputy Director and Head of Participation of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Through its network of national and thematic nodes, GBIF will provide support to EuropaBON in mobilizing species-related data and biodiversity data-sharing. GBIF also provides an invaluable network of data contributors to be engaged in the design of the Europa-wide framework for monitoring biodiversity and ecosystem services.
• Dr. Patricia Tiago of the University of Lisbon and founder of the citizen science platform Biodiversity4All, will advise EuropaBON on the use of citizen science databases, and share her knowledge on biodiversity monitoring, trends for biodiversity change, and biodiversity monitoring schemes. Biodiversity4All is maintained by Associação Biodiversidade Para Todos, and the Portuguese node of iNaturalist, a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society. Research & Innovation projects and biodiversity research infrastructures and their collaboration with key initiatives, such as OPPLA, EKLIPSE and ThinkNature and its successor NetworkNature throughout the project and particularly during stakeholder engagement.
• Prof. Bernhard Seeger is a computer scientist and the Dean of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Philipps-Universität Marburg and co-founder of Geo Enginea new start-up company specialising in the efficient processing of large spatio-temporal data sets. His knowledge and expertise on methods for processing and analyzing large data sets and event streams will be invaluable to EuropaBON. • Philippe Vercruysse de Solart is a Global Technology Strategist at Microsoft. He helps EU institutions with their digital transformation projects and helps them to grow, evolve and meet the changing needs of European citizens/ markets/ applications, as well as capture new business applications opportunities (source: https://be.linkedin.com/in/philippevds).
The Work Package Leaders actively communicate with the participants of tasks listed in the respective WP. They are responsible for the timely completion of tasks in their WPs and for producing the deliverables and achieving the milestones on time. They coordinate the different tasks and components thereof, and deal with all issues related to the scientific management, the conceptual development, and progress of the respective WP. They inform the scientific coordinator of any potential problems that may arise during the course of the project, e.g., financial, political, or progress-related.
The Consortium Assembly (CA) includes all 15 partners of EuropaBON. The CA will meet once every year to discuss progress and address potential challenges (see Figure 3). There will also be an additional CA Kick-Off meeting in the first month of the project to develop a consortium agreement and publication policy. The main tasks of the CA include WP-and task coordination, monitoring of project progress and milestones, denominating and resolving of technical and organizational problems, timely production of deliverables, and resolving of conflicts.
Each CA member has one representative and one vote concerning decisions made by the assembly. Decisions are made based on a 2/3 vote.
During the project (T2.2) a Stakeholder Consultancy Group will be formed with the aim to identify specific user and policy needs for biodiversity monitoring. Here, special attention will be given to a balanced representation of academia/research institutes, governmental institutions, private companies, NGOs, and citizen science groups. These stakeholders will communicate with the CA and provide input on existing monitoring schemes in WP3 and on the practical needs of the communities and user groups involved with biodiversity monitoring and the cost-effectiveness of a EuropaBON in WP4. The stakeholder consultancy group will act as reviewers of the ToR for the BMCC and be actively involved in the BMCCs set-up and maintenance, thereby ensuring the availability of the project outputs beyond its official duration.
3.2.2 Appropriateness of the organizational structure and decision-making mechanisms The project's organizational structure is designed in a way that allows for pursuing a clear joint vision, while at the same time fostering the creativity of all project participants. The CC will ensure that efforts are aligned towards common goals and communicate these to the scientific coordination and the AB. The management structure further ensures that organizational project management is separate from scientific project management and that information can be exchanged directly between partners and the administrative coordination. Decision-making by consensus follows a bottom-up approach and is open and explicit.

Addressing effective innovation management
EuropaBON considers innovation management as the highest priority. Innovation management plays an integral role during all communication processes -internally among partners and key project staff, and externally, between project partners and the different stakeholders. The communication team will make sure that all lessons learned will be disseminated widely so that this may catalyse the development of similar initiatives elsewhere in Europe. Innovation management tools will also be applied in project management and the implementation of the work plan. Tools used both internally and externally -during stakeholder-, as well as CC-and CA meetings include Brainstorming, Mind mapping, Document management, Roadmapping, and Idea management, among others. The goal is to apply novel methods that ensure the generation of ideas and stimulate the efficiency of the workflow within the consortium, as well as to transfer knowledge outside the consortium in an innovative way. The novel tools will be upgraded according to the project needs in order to safeguard a high productivity level.

Critical risks and mitigation measures relating to the project implementation
Risk management procedures will be implemented throughout the duration of the project and as part of WP1, with the active involvement of all partners through the CC. The CC will continuously monitor the risks listed in Table  3.2.b and WP and task leaders will identify potential additional risks and immediately inform the CC and the project coordination team to adopt the necessary mitigation measures.

Consortium as a whole
EuropaBON's consortium was planned very carefully. All partners have high-level and complementary expertise in the different areas of the project, ranging from networking and cost-effectiveness analysis, biodiversity monitoring, modelling and analysis, to stakeholder engagement, policy support and dissemination ( Figure 5). The consortium greatly benefits from the involvement of partners in previous and ongoing EU projects (see Table 2.2) close connection with EEA and the European Commission (NIVA and JRC), regulatory monitoring agencies, NGOs and previous collaborative work on H2020 projects (e.g., ECOPOTENTIAL), thereby strengthening trust among these partners and facilitating collaboration and coordination. The partners in the consortium already demonstrated strong collaboration and cooperation during the development of this proposal. All partners contributed to the work plan, WP-and task descriptions, budget development, figures and writing of the proposal, in a time-efficient manner. In the early stage of the proposal preparation, partners already demonstrated strong commitment to this project when they participated in a face-to-face proposal planning workshop organised by the coordinator MLU.

Gender dimension
Women are still largely underrepresented in the natural sciences, especially in high academic positions. This problem is also reflected in the EuropaBON consortium, which consists of only three partners with lead female PIs out of 15 partners in total. Another reason for this imbalance is that it takes time for the gender gap to narrow, as staff turnover in high-up academic positions is slow. EuropaBON takes gender balance very seriously and addressed this problem by improving the female:male ratio of key project staff (female/male ratio: 14:26), scientific and administrative coordination (both led by women at MLU) and the advisory board (female/male ratio: 4:6, EBP still pending) (for more information on key project staff, see section 4.1). Women are also leading T2.2 (UFZ), T4.2 (USTAN) and T5.3 (NIVA). Particular care will be taken to include women in stakeholder workshops and the stakeholder consultancy group.

Types of organizations involved
The consortium consists of several partners at universities and research institutes (n= 10) and government and public institutions (n= 3), as well as one private company (Pensoft) and one NGO (Dutch Butterfly) ( Figure 5). This diversity in partner institutions ensures the right balance between research, monitoring practitioners and monitoring data analysis expertise, specialized skills in project dissemination and communication, as well as experts in stakeholder engagement, and policy support. Although our consortium is biased towards universities and other research institutes, we will ensure sufficient outreach to NGOs, businesses, and citizen science groups through EuropaBON's advisory board and the stakeholder consultancy group (see section 3.2.1).

Geographical and thematic balance
The consortium also displays a high degree of geographical-and thematic diversity ( Figure 5). Consortium members are distributed across Europe covering all major ecosystem types, including forests, grasslands, soils, wetlands, rivers/lakes, and coastal/marine ecosystems. We also have several ecological economists onboard (at UREAD). For the marine monitoring, including ecosystem services monitoring indicators, we have a strong expert group included (at USTAN), who will draw upon their collaborative network with other marine institutions. The participation of experts on networking, monitoring, and policy working on different ecosystem types is particularly important for this project, because the ecosystems differ in terms of environmental conditions, services, and threats. The choice of EBVs, EESVs, monitoring approaches and technologies, as well as the costs of monitoring will largely depend on the type of ecosystem involved. The selection of partners in EuropaBON reflects their contributions to tasks and WPs (Table 3.1.a), and attributed resources (Table 3.4.a).

Private organizations involvement
The involvement of SMEs is important as it creates new job opportunities relating to the management and analysis of remote sensing data, more specifically Copernicus products, as well as managing, planning and carrying out dissemination and communication activities for EuropaBON. VITO as a non-profit private organization, leads several consortia to bring the results of remote sensing research into operational Copernicus services and as such bridges this gap through involving partners from both the academic world as well as SMEs. These Copernicus products and the know-how facilitate SMEs to generate new businesses by providing downstream services for specific sectors. One of EuropaBON's partners, Pensoft Publishers, is a SME specializing in academic, open access book and journal publishing, software development and web design, project dissemination and science communication. By making monitoring data accessible and usable, and effectively communicating and disseminating project results, EuropaBON will successfully bridge the gap from the research environment to the private sector. In this way, the exploitation of monitoring and EO data by other SMEs (and large private companies) will be greatly facilitated.

Figure 5
Geographic distribution of the partners and their thematic expertise.

Resources to be committed
EuropaBON is a 36-months project, with a total estimated effort of 349-person months. The total project budget is 3 Mio. €. Project management and coordination under WP1 represent 9% (30 PMs) of the total effort. The project direct costs consist of approximately 90% personnel costs and 10% other direct costs. The latter covers travel expenses for project participants to attend meetings and conferences and costs for 14 workshops, four General Assembly Meetings and one high-profile event in Brussels (see Figure 3, Table 3.2.a). About 10% of personnel effort will be invested into the coordination and management of the project (WP1). Although the costs for the operation of the CC and CA are mainly allocated to WP1, they also include HR costs of participating institutions related to their contributions to the CA and CC, and thus allocated to the WPs/tasks in which they participate. WP2 and WP5 will receive each about 20% of all PMs. The assessment in WP3 and the co-design of the new monitoring system in WP4 will receive the most personnel resources, i.e., 23% and 26%, respectively.

Participant Description
Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg is an efficient, modern university, which maintains the highest requirements for teaching and research in social sciences and humanities as well as in natural sciences. The university invests into renowned scientists, high-tech equipment, and a modern research environment to foster research, research-training and cooperation with industry, policy makers, and public actors. About 2000, scientists are employed to conduct basic and applied research in various thematic areas. MLU executes research grants funded by national, EU, and international funding organizations as well as by industry with a total volume of more than 55 Mio. € per year. Experienced in EU-funded projects from FP3 onward, the university keeps ready an EU-office with highly qualified administrative staff to support EU project management and execution.
The work will be carried out at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, one of four research centres funded by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) with an average annual budget of 8 Mio. € since October 2012. iDiv currently employs >170 scientists and administrative staff. It has strong central services (outreach office, biodiversity informatics, bioinformatics), a Synthesis Centre (sDiv) fostering theoretical and synthetic thinking as well as a PhD school (yDiv). iDiv and its founding institutions manage large biodiversity databases, including the global vegetation database sPlot and the global trait database TRY. He was PI or co-PI of multiple grants from the Portuguese Science Foundation (>750 k €), WP leader in FP7 and H2020 grants (>17 Mio. €), and was involved as co-PI in the current DFG funding of iDiv (>35 Mio. €). His research revolves around global biodiversity change, with a particular emphasis on the development of monitoring and scenarios to inform policy. Henrique Pereira has been one of the leading developers of the concept of Essential Biodiversity Variables and of the Nature Futures Scenarios. His research interests include also modelling the impacts of land-use change on biodiversity and ecological rewilding. Role in the project: Henrique Pereira is the project coordinator and -with assistance from the scientific and administrative coordinator -will lead WP1.

MLU will host, coordinate, and manage the project and lead
Nestor Fernandez (male) is a researcher at iDiv/MLU as well as an External Lecturer at the University Pablo de Olavide in Sevilla. He is also Scientific Member of the Secretariat and co-lead of the Data Task Force of GEO BON. He is author of >50 international publications with >2200 citations and a H-Index=29 (Google Scholar). His research is focused on the effects of human impacts on species and ecosystems, with a strong emphasis on applications for conservation management and policy. He also pursues the conceptual and technical implementation of remote sensing in support of conservation assessments and has recently contributed to the development of conceptual biodiversity and ecosystem function. Role in the project: Within EuropaBON, he will be the leader of T5.4 Restoration and Climate Policy and coordinate the activities related to the task.

Jessica Junker (female) conducted her PhD at the International Max-Planck Research School at the Max Planck
Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPIEVA), from which she graduated in 2015. She has since worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Great Ape Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Group at the former Department Primatology at MPIEVA. Her research focuses on tropical ecosystem conservation with a special focus on monitoring of great apes and other large mammals. Jessica Junker is author of >20 peer-reviewed publications accumulating >600, citations (Google Scholar), H-index=12. Role in the project: In the framework of EuropaBON, she will be responsible for the scientific coordination of the project and support the identification of a candidate set of EBVs and EESVs (WP4, T4.1).
Ute Jandt (female) received her PhD degree from Göttingen University. She has been an active member of the European Vegetation Survey of the International Association of Vegetation Science (IAVS). In 2008, she established the German Vegetation Reference Database (GVRD), which now has ~ 200,000 plot records and is actively engaged in the European Vegetation Archive (EVA). She is a member of iDiv and has carried out numerous projects in the DFG Priority Programme "Biodiversity Exploratories". She is author of 62 peer-reviewed publications and has a H-index of 18 (Google Scholar). Recently, she initiated several resurvey projects of German vegetation plots. She is also one of the PIs of sPlot and sMon (Biodiversity Trends in Germany). Role in the project: Ute Jandt will be responsible for the workflow of Natura 2000 report data on extent and species composition from the national conservation agencies.  (H2020-INFRASUPP-2014(H2020-INFRASUPP- -2, 2015(H2020-INFRASUPP- -2017

Participant Description
Founded in 1972, IIASA is an international scientific institute that conducts policy-oriented research into problems too large or complex to be solved by a single country or academic discipline, or of common concern to many countries that require national and international cooperative actionsuch as climate change, energy security, population growth, and sustainable development. Funded by scientific institutions in the Americas, Europe, Asia Oceania and Africa, IIASA is independent and unconstrained by political or national self-interest; it is a not-forprofit, registered association in Austria. IIASA's Ecosystems Services and Management program consists of four research centres, one of them being the Center for Earth Observations and Citizen Science (EOCS).
EOCS research on Earth Observation, in collaboration with GEO and national space agencies, devises new approaches and technologies to collect, harmonize, and verify spatial information. At the core of these efforts is the Geo-Wiki platform, which provides citizens with the means to engage in environmental monitoring of the Earth. EOCS has extensive experience in land use and environmental assessment, and a track record in developing successful crowdsourcing mobile applications that allow for stakeholder involvement in the collection and use of information for early warning programs, risk analysis and decision making. Overall, the EOCS group is placed firmly at the intersection of Earth Observation and Citizen Science, having expertise in data quality assurance in citizen science, technical implementation, crowdsourcing and engagement. We are currently leading one of the H2020 funded Citizen Observatories, LandSense, along with the H2020 coordination and support action WeObserve. In addition, we collaborate in several H2020 and other citizen science projects, such as the SwafSproject EU-Citizen.Science, the GROW Observatory, or FloodCitiSense.
the Citizen Sensor (2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016) and is a member of the ECSA Working Group on Data, Tools and Technology for Citizen Science. She has an H-index of 39 and >5900 citations (Google Scholar). Role in the project: Linda See will be responsible for stakeholder engagement (WP2), in particular in regards to the use of Citizen Science data.

Piero Visconti (male) is a Research Scholar. Piero Visconti is a Research Scholar with the Ecosystem Services and Management program (ESM) at IIASA and an honorary research fellow with the Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research (UCL) and the Institute of Zoology of the Zoological Society of London as well as an
Academic Visitor with the University of Cambridge Conservation Science Group. Dr. Visconti completed a PhD in Conservation Planning between James Cook University and the Global Mammal Assessment programme (GMA) at Sapienza University of Rome jointly in 2011. At IIASA, he is continuing to work on exploratory, normative and ex-ante sustainability scenarios, with a particular focus on pathways that promote biodiversity recovery, at EU, regional and global levels. He is also developing new research that integrates biodiversity feedback into food production models and new ecological models that can respond to different types of crop and livestock production systems while considering interactive effects of climate and land-use change. He has an H-index of 31 and >4000 citations (Google Scholar). Role in the project: Piero Visconti will provide his extensive network in the biodiversity community in terms of stakeholder engagement (WP2), will help co-organize a stakeholder workshop and will participate in the habitat directive case study.

Inian Moorthy (male) is a Research Scholar. Dr Moorthy has been a Research Scholar in ESM since April 2015.
He has vast international experience in the field of quantitative airborne remote sensing and applied LiDAR research for vegetation condition mapping. His research interests within EO include geospatial data analysis, citizen science, and forest monitoring.

Participant Description
CREAF is a public research and innovation centre in terrestrial ecology, territorial analysis and environmental impact, which strives for excellence in knowledge generation, methodological development, transfer, training and dissemination. The centre aims to contribute to improving the conservation and management of our natural environment and territory on the local, regional and global scales by acting as a bridge between academia, public administrations and society. This is achieved through: Basic and applied research. CREAF conducts first-class, innovative basic and applied research and a center of excellence at both the national and international levels.
Priority research lines of CREAF are: (1) biodiversity; (2) functional diversity and global change; (3) forest ecology and wildfires; (4) landscape analysis and geographical information systems; (5) soil ecology and restoration. CREAF´s expertise includes conservation ecology, land use policy, forest biomass and production measurements, powerful GIS technologies, remote sensing, fire ecology, and modelling ecosystem processes. CREAF has participated in numerous EU projects (listed below) and is also a member or collaborator of relevant European and worldwide organizations on the domains of:  Sergi Herrando (male) is the Scientific Director at the Catalan Ornithological Institute (ICO) and associate researcher to CREAF. In 2011 he received his PhD. At ICO, he is responsible for promoting research projects that aim at improving our understanding of the status of bird populations and the underlying causes driving these changes. In this sense, his main activity is the research based on the data provided by monitoring projects and, especially, the development of bio-indicators. Since 2007 he has been the Spanish national to the European Bird Census Council (EBCC). He is the main promoter for the various monitoring and atlas projects that the ICO coordinates. Since 2013 he has been one of the two coordinators of the New Atlas of the nesting birds in Europe (EBBA2). Among the research projects, he has been involved in the EUBON project (FP7) aimed at the development of a European Biodiversity Observation Network. At the local level he is responsible for the Biosphere Reserve-Montseny Natural Park of the International Network for Ecological Research at Long Term (LTER). He has published more than 100 articles including leading international journals and has an H-index of 24 (Google Scholar). Role in the project: He will lead the Bird's Directive showcase (T5.1) and provide insights and expertise in the science-policy interface regarding bird monitoring in Europe.

CREAF coordinates and leads WP3 on the assessment of current monitoring and is involved in all
Joan Pino (male) holds a PhD in Biology and MSc in Geographical Information Technologies. He is full professor of Ecology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona since 2006 and director at CREAF since 2019. He has written more than 1000 scientific publications, including articles in SCI journals and book chapters. He focuses his research on landscape ecology, particularly the relationship of landscape structure and dynamics with species richness and composition, and on the application of these results in land planning. In the last years, he started working on the application of landscape ecology on green infrastructure planning for ecosystem service provision, especially in urban and peri-urban areas. He also works on the ecology of biological invasions, particularly the study of species invasiveness and the invasibility of habitats and regions. This research has been mainly performed in the framework of 30 competitive projects, of which he leaded several, both national-(e.g. NOVFORESTS, FORASSEMBLY) and EU-funded (BIOPRESS, COCONUT, GROUNDTRUTH2.0), and more than 40 transference contracts. In all his research, he uses a spatially explicit perspective that includes the generation and analysis of digital cartography. He coordinates several information systems on biodiversity and the historical cartography of land, and a set of citizen observatories on biodiversity and ecosystem services. He has directed or co-directed 10 PhD theses and 15 MSc theses. Role in the project: Joan Pino will be mainly involved in WP3 on analysing the coverage of current monitoring efforts. ( Since her arrival at the center, CREAF has provided a new website, a blog of News and different channels on social networks. During her professional career she has always worked in the field of the dissemination of science and the Corporate Communication of Research Centers. In addition, she has collaborated with the radio program Sapiència de la Xarxa coordinating the section on the environment and she is also member of the Catalan Association of Scientific Communication. Role in the project: Anna Ramon will be involved in communication and stakeholder involvement activities

Participant Description
The University of Amsterdam (UvA) is the largest university in the Netherlands, with >30000 students, almost 5000 staff, and a budget of almost 500 Mio. €. UvA also ranks amongst the largest universities in Europe and is a core member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU). The Faculty of Science at the UvA is located at Amsterdam Science Park, one of the largest research hubs in Europe, and surrounded by numerous knowledge institutes and spin-off companies with their roots in science research. The UvA was involved in >200 H2020 projects (122 of which were coordinated), including 61 ERC projects, 56 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Individual Fellowships, and 20 MSCA ITN projects.
The work will be carried out at the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), one of the institutes of the UvA Faculty of Science. IBED contains approximately 140 staff (including: 43 academic staff, 22 postdoctoral researchers, 32 PhD researchers, and 29 support staff) and has an annual research income of ca. 12 Mio. €. IBED merges research groups with expertise in ecology and evolutionary biology, physical geography, and environmental chemistry, with the mission to increase the understanding of the diversity and dynamics of ecosystems from the level of molecules and genes to entire ecosystems. IBED's research is supported by excellent research facilities, including infrastructure for big data storage and analysis (e.g. high-performance computing facilities, dedicated servers, UvA Geoportal, GIS studio, and Virtual labs). IBED researchers are currently involved in various EU projects (H2020 SponGES, H2020 Pandora, H2020 Superpests, LIFE MICA, etc.), have three ongoing ERC Starting Grants and one ERC Advanced Grant, and 3 MSCA Individual Fellowships. interest is in data-intensive biodiversity science, especially in the fields of macroecology and global biodiversity change (past, present, and future). He uses large ecological and environmental databases together with informatics tools to understand and predict biodiversity patterns across space and time, taking advantage of recent advances in computing, data availability, numerical databasing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, and statistical modelling. Role in the project: He will lead WP4 of the EuropaBON project and be responsible for developing the co-design of the monitoring system. Engineering Sciences domain NWO, Rijkswaterstaat (Dutch ministry of infrastructure) and Gemini Windpark. She is WP leader and co-applicant of the BiodivScen ERA-Network project GloBAM "Towards monitoring, understanding and forecasting Global Biomass flows of Aerial Migrants" and was a lead applicant and vice-chair of the COST Action "European Network for the Radar surveillance of Animal Movement (ENRAM)" (ES1305, 2013(ES1305, -2017. Her research focuses on understanding how intrinsic and external factors influence animal movement at different spatial and temporal scales, with a focus on birds. She combines radar measurements, GPS tracking, remote sensing and simulation modelling and is involved in the design and development of e-science infrastructures. Role in the project: She will contribute to the analysis of workflow bottlenecks (T3.3), to identifying novel technologies for biodiversity monitoring (T4.2), and provide a showcase demonstrating the potential of operational weather radar networks for monitoring and forecasting aerial biomass flows (e.g. bird migration in relation to wind parks and flight safety) (T5.1).

Judy Shamoun-Baranes
An additional (replacement for James R. Allan) postdoc with equivalent qualification will be hired on the project under a regular employment contract.
• Kissling, W.D. et al. (2018). Building essential biodiversity variables (EBVs) of species distribution and abundance at a global scale. Biological Reviews, 93, 600-625. • FlySafe: UvA (J. Shamoun-Baranes) was one of the project leaders of FlySafe, an integrated application promotion program of the European Space Agency. FlySafe demonstrated the use of space-based systems (e.g. remote sensing environmental data and ARGOS satellite telemetry) and non-space systems (bird detection radar and operational weather radar) to provide real time warnings and forecasts of bird migration for aviation safety (including military flight training). The project was followed up to create an operational system which is currently used by the Netherlands and Belgian air forces. (Total: 5 Mio. €) • ENRAM: UvA (J. Shamoun-Baranes) was one of the project initiators and vice chair of ENRAM: European Network for the Radar surveillance of Animal Movement (COST action ES1305). The project brought together researchers and developers in the fields of ornithology, entomology, meteorology, data science and radar engineering. ENRAM has improved data quality and classification algorithms of weather radar to visualize bird migration and has tested the potential of radar networks to study animal movement at a continental scale. (UvA: 0.6 Mio. €)

Participant Description
The Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ,) Germany, was established in 1991 as the first and only centre in the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centres to be exclusively devoted to environmental research in a great variety of fields. It currently employs more than 1100 people and conducts research to support a sustainable use of our natural resources to benefit both mankind and the environment. Founded in response to the severe pollution prevailing in Central Germany, the UFZ has become a world-wide acknowledged centre of expertise in the remediation and renaturation of contaminated landscapes, as well as the preservation of biodiversity and natural landscapes. UFZ is and was participating in more than 90 projects funded within FP7 and Horizon 2020, 33 of them coordinated by UFZ (collaborative and individual projects). UFZ is or was the host for 3 ERC grants (2 Starting Grants, 1 Advanced Grant,) and has coordinated 3 MSCA-ITNs. Since 2014 the UFZ is leading the European Topic Centre on Inland, coastal and marine waters funded by the European Environment Agency (EEA).
Since 2020, UFZ leads the Long-Term Ecosystem Research (LTER) PPP (H2020) to implement the European LTER (eLTER), critical zone and socio-ecological systems Research Infrastructure, listed on the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) Roadmap.

Key Personnel Involved
Aletta Bonn (female) is head of Department Ecosystem Services at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental research (UFZ) and Professor at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena within the German Centre for integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) with a research focus on biodiversity and people, ecosystem services and citizen science (HWOS=25, HGS=35). With extensive work-experience at the science-policy interface as author UKNEA, IPBES) and co-coordinator of several ecosystem assessments (IUCN UK Peatlands, TEEB Germany) and as confounding Director of the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) she has led the development of the German Citizen Science Strategy 2020. She led the scoping study for a Living Atlas Germany, is PI of the sMon project at iDiv (Biodiversity Trends in Germany), and co-author of the White Paper on a German National Monitoring Centre for Biodiversity. She is one of the PIs and WP science-society interface lead for the national NFDI4Biodiversity consortium applying for German NFDI (national research data infrastructures) grants. Role in the project: She will lead the User and Policy needs assessment (WP 2.2), contribute to assessments of monitoring schemes and the scoping of the European monitoring coordination centre. (
• Hecker, S., … & Bonn, A. (2018). Citizen Science -Innovation in Open Science, Society and Policy. UCL Press, London. • Polce, C., Maes, J., … (2018). Distribution of bumblebees across Europe. One Ecosystem, 3, e28143. • The EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity. The JRC coordinates knowledge services to process sciencebased evidence to inform policy-makers and to provide tools and services for all EU policy areas (https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/knowledge). The European Commission will establish by the end of 2020 a Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity (KCB) as announced in the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. JRC will develop and host the KCB which will be chaired by JRC and DG Environment. The objective of the project will be to enhance ecosystem monitoring capacity and the KCB will be a key stakeholder in EuropaBON.

Participant Description
VITO, the Flemish institute for technological research, employs more than 800 professionals and provides high level services, multi-disciplinary assistance and applied research in the fields of environment, energy and materials. The Remote Sensing Unit employs more than 100 scientists and engineers with a yearly turn-over of 15 Mio. € and focuses on monitoring and modelling by means of earth observation to include image processing for environment, vegetation, climate and agriculture monitoring at different resolutions; and, the development of data platforms. VITO hosts several earth observation datasets, and is the main production center of the Copernicus Global Land Service (http://land.copernicus.eu), and recently started the production of Copernicus European Land Vegetation Phenology and Productivity. Data Platforms allow a large user community to process and analyze large time series of data and derive value from remote sensing products. The platforms serve as a node in a federation of platforms in various ESA (e.g. Food Security TEP) and EC R&D (e.g. NextGEOSS, Copernicus Applab, EO4GEO) projects as well as in the Belgian Sentinel Collaborative Ground Segment (CollGS). VITO is involved in the DIAS consortia. The Remote Sensing Unit has relevant expertise in agriculture and environment combining field observations, large statistical databases and geo-data with earth observation and model output in web-based services.
Group & Sentinel-2 Validation Team and consequently following closely changes in the processing & quality of Sentinel-2 data. Role in the project: Ruben will contribute mainly to WP4, T4.2.
• S. Skowronek, Van De Kerchove, R., … (2018). Transferability of species distribution models for the detection of an invasive alien bryophyte using imaging spectroscopy data. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 2, 68.
• • SIEUSOIL: The Sieusoil project (H2020-SFS-2018(H2020-SFS- , 2019(H2020-SFS- -2022 aims at developing a SINO-EU Soil observatory for intelligent Soil and Land Use Management. A research platform consisting of advanced crop and soil sensing tools, modelling and data fusion, digital soil mapping and farm management information systems will be developed to maximise land productivity and socio-economic benefits, while minimising the environmental impacts. VITO (A. Gobin) leads a WP on "Limiting factors to soil quality and soil productivity" and is in charge of a pilot study on "Flanders on soil management and spatial land suitability"

Participant Description
NIVA is Norway's leading institute for applied research and monitoring of aquatic biodiversity and ecosystems and develops tools for water management. NIVA's broad scope of competence, research expertise and extensive data collections including all groups of aquatic biota and water chemistry represent an important resource for national and international projects. NIVA has a key scientific support role for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in Norway, operates most of the national WFD monitoring, developed the biological indicators and assesses ecological status in rivers, lakes and coastal waters. NIVA has served as key expert for EEA's Topic Centre on Inland, Coastal and Marine waters (ETC-ICM) since 2007. NIVA is a partner in 15 projects under the EU Horizon 2020, including a European training and research network for environmental flow management in river basins (EUROFLOW) and has participated in projects under all the EU Framework Programmes, including 24 projects under the EU FP7. NIVA had 2 lead authors in the expert groups for the first IPBES report (2019). NIVA has about 220 water professionals working at the headquarters in Oslo, at the 3 regional offices or at the marine research station.
NIVA will be the major partner on freshwater work in the project and will be the lead for T5.3 in WP5.

Key Personnel Involved
Anne Lyche Solheim (female), Senior researcher at NIVA with PhD in limnology from University of Oslo. Key expert in the EEA's Topic Centre (ETC-ICM) since 2007 on assessment of ecological status of rivers and lakes related to the WFD. She initiated the freshwater biological data flow from European countries to EEA in 2010 and supports the ETC Biodiversity related to revision of EUNIS habitat types. She has worked as visiting scientist at JRC on intercalibration of WFD biological indicators and is currently the co-lead for freshwater in the WFD-CIS expert group ECOSTAT. She has been a key contributor to several large EEA and ETC assessments, including the Status and Pressures on European Waters in 2012 and 2018, as well as PI for a cross-walk between the WFD and Habitats Directive types, status and pressures in 2015. She has been a WP-lead in several European research projects providing support for WFD implementation, e.g. REBECCA, WISER (WP lead on lakes), and MARS (WP lead on Communication and Dissemination). She is also the PI for designing, innovating and executing monitoring of large Norwegian lakes, including biotic and abiotic variables according to WFD requirements. Her research focuses on nutrients and climate change impacts on lake phytoplankton, incl. harmful algal blooms. She has published 43 scientific papers and 82 national and international technical/scientific reports. Her H-index is 29 and she has 2829 citations (Google Scholar). Role in the project: Anne Lyche Solheim will be the lead for T5.3 and also participate in other tasks (T2.4, WP3, WP4 and T5.2), contributing with ideas and knowledge based on European-wide assessments for EEA on the WFD and Habitats Directive, as well as WFD-monitoring of large lakes, focusing on harmful algal blooms. She will also coordinate the NIVA-team.
S. Jannicke Moe (female), Senior researcher at NIVA with PhD from University of Oslo with focus on statistical modelling and analysis of ecological responses to climate change, eutrophication and pollutants, including probabilistic approaches to ecological risk assessment. She has been a member of the EEA's' Topic Centre for Water since 2007, with responsibility for the biological data flow from freshwaters reported from EEA member states to the Water Information System for Europe (WISE). She had lead roles, including database management in several WFD-related EU projects, e.g. REBECCA, WISER (WP lead on data service), REFRESH (task lead on ecological thresholds in lakes) and MARS (task lead on multiple stressors in lakes at European scale). She has published 39 scientific papers and has a H-index of 19 and 1568 citations (Google Scholar). Role in the project: Jannicke Moe will provide access to large-scale European datasets for all freshwater biota in EEA-WISE and from EU research projects for use in WP3-tasks and T5.3. She can also contribute to WP4-tasks, combining data-skills and modelling skills. ( • EuroLimpacs and REFRESH: NIVA (S.J. Moe, L. Sandin and A. Lyche Solheim) has been WP lead, task lead or key researchers in these EU FP6 and FP7 projects (2008-2012, 2014-2017 on the effects of-and adaptation to climate change in freshwater systems (rivers, lakes and wetlands). (NIVA: 1.5 Mio. €, for both projects)

Leonard Sandin
• BIOWATER: NIVA (A. Lyche Solheim) leads module 5 on Evaluation of options and policy advice in a Nordic center-of-excellence that provides solutions for land, environmental and water resources management in the face of increasing demands for biomass, land and water resources related to the green shift and bio-economic development. (NIVA: 0.1 Mio. €).

Participant No 9
Participant short name IGOT Participant full name Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning

Participant Description
The Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning (IGOT) is the School of Geography and Spatial Planning of the University of Lisbon. The IGOT is a pioneering project within the Portuguese higher education system, being the only school in Portugal dedicated entirely to teaching and research on Geography and Spatial Planning, since 2009. The IGOT comprises state of the art teaching, research and innovation in several topics of Social Sciences, Earth System Sciences and Spatial Planning namely those focused on the territory and the environment.
The work will be carried out at the Centre of Geographical Studies (CEG), the research unit of IGOT. The Centre was founded in 1943 and its mission is fostering geographical research, promoting and disseminating geographical knowledge and contributing to social inclusion and sustainable development. The CEG, with 185 researchers and staff, 75 of which with PhD degree, is an institution offering a vibrant research environment, whose work is global in scope and addresses cutting-edge topics of contemporary Human and Physical Geography and Planning.
International collaboration includes the participation in the EU-PolarNet, MSCA-ITNs, Horizon 2020, ESPON and other international projects. The high-quality research environment and facilities include a specialized library, vast map and photo archives, physical geography laboratory and the recent GEOMODLAB, a computational laboratory for spatial modelling and remote sensing. In EuropaBON, IGOT will lead T5.5, on the use of BON for supporting the Bioeconomy Strategy, and will participate in tasks 3.3 and 4.3.

Key Personnel Involved
César Capinha ( He is co-PI, task leader and researcher in several national and European research projects. César's Capinha' research deals mainly with the biogeography of invasive species and the prediction of ecological phenomena, including the dispersal of invasive species and the temporal dynamics of phenological events. He is also actively involved in the development of operational early warning systems for epidemics transmitted by invasive mosquito species. Role in the project: César will lead the Bioeconomy Strategy showcases (T5.5.) and assist colleagues in T3.3 and T4.3.

Relevant publications
• Capinha, C. (2019). Predicting the timing of ecological phenomena using dates of species occurrence records: a methodological approach and test case with mushrooms. International Journal of Biometeorology, 63, 1015-1024.
• Capinha, C. et al. (2018) Margarita Grudova (female) has more than 15 years of experience in coordination and management of projects in the field of environmental protection, funded under different international programmes. Before joining the Pensoft's Projects department she worked as a Chiefc expert at the Executive Environment Agency. She has specialised in project financial management and control as well as administrative and financial reporting for FP7 and H2020 funded projects. Role in the project: Margarita will be involved in T1.2. Management of the project website and web-based communication, Anna Sapundzhieva (female) is a communications expert, working in the dissemination and communication of multiple EU funded scientific projects. She is specialized in social media, public and media relations and news writing. She is also involved in the preparation and implementation of sustainable plans for exploitation and dissemination of scientific results. Role in the project: Anna will be involved in T2.5. Communication and Dissemination.

Relevant publications
Author-formatted document posted on 26/01/2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/arphapreprints.e81207 Participant No economics, public attitudes toward pollinator losses and understanding farmer motivations behind pollinator management. He is currently Res Co-I on 3 UK funded projects and 1 EU H2020 project (research project PoshBee), where he provides social and economic research expertise. He has also worked on several EU FP7 projects (STEP, LIBERATION) and was a lead author on the economics chapter of the IPBES Thematic assessment of pollinators, pollination and food production. Dr. Breeze has published 22 papers in journals such as Nature, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Ecosystem Services and Ecological Economics (H-index = 12). Role in the project Within EuropaBON, he will lead the data collection and analysis of the cost-benefit aspects of the project (tasks 3.4. and 4.4.), building upon his considerable experience within this area.

Participant Description
The University of St Andrews is a premier university for biodiversity research. It combines a 600-year history with cutting edge research and teaching: it is jointly ranked third in the UK and 88th in the world, and the School of Biology ranks second in the UK for societal impact in the latest Research Excellence Framework. Particular strengths of the university relevant to this project include theoretical biology, environmental modelling, marine research and biological diversity studies. Specifically, St Andrews is home to the Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling, the Scottish Oceans Institute, the directorate of the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology, and the Centre for Biological Diversity. These centres and institutions collectively reflect the University's strength in quantitative science underpinning solutions to modern environmental problems.
The project team will be based within the Centre for Biological Diversity, where it will have access to a dedicated computing lab, as well as high performance computing, biodiversity monitoring and remoting sensing expertise. The team will be immersed in a vibrant scientific community researching the origins, distribution and change in biological diversity. The Centre hosts the biodiversity database BioTIME, and employs a full time database manager.

Key Personnel Involved
Maria Dornelas (female) is a Reader at the School of Biology, and Deputy Director of the Centre for Biological Diversity. She completed her PhD in Marine Biology at the James Cook University, Australia (2006). She is an elected member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland, and a member of the Royal Society Global Environmental Research Committee. She co-leads the biodiversity time series database BioTIME and contributed an indicator to the IPBES global assessment. She is Deputy Editor in Chief of the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography. She has published 67 papers, has accumulated >3700, citations and has an H-index of 25. (Google Scholar) She is a macroecologist who combines theory, data synthesis and field work to understand how biodiversity varies in space and time. Her research spans local to global scales, the poles to the tropics and many taxa. She develops novel methods to collect biodiversity data and quantify its change. Role in the project: Maria will lead T4.2 and will contribute towards T3.1 to T3.4.

Relevant publications
•

Relevant previous projects or activities, relevant to the proposal
• ABLE: DBC is one of the partners in Assessing Butterflies in Europe. (ABLE) ABLE is a major new project that will use butterflies to indicate the future health of Europe's' environment. The main aim is to create a representative butterfly monitoring network across as many countries as possible in order to improve targeting and efficiency of conservation measures within the European Union. (DBC: 0.405 Mio. €) • ACTION: The H2020 Project ACTION aims to create tools that facilitate Citizen Scientists doing research on pollution. RvG has a project on dragonflies and pesticides in this project and is mentor of one of the other pilots. (DBC: 0.2 Mio. €) • Monitoring of Dutch dragonflies and butterflies with Citizen Scientists is one of the core projects of DBC.
We have extensive expertise with the analysis of the data, interpretation and dissemination. DBC is currently running a GBIF-funded project to make European dragonfly data more accessible. This aims to open data that is currently stored in local databases and stimulate open data policies for odonatological organisations in Europe.

Participant Description
The participant institution is Associação BIOPOLIS a private, non-profit institution that benefits from administrative and financial autonomy. Associação BIOPOLIS was created in the scope of the Project Teaming BIOPOLIS -Teaming to Upgrade to Excellence in Environmental Biology Ecosystem Research and Agrobiodiversity, funded by the European Commission in the scope of the Horizon 2020 Widening programme.
As of November 1st 2021 Associação BIOPOLIS is replacing ICETA as the Participant/Managing institution.
The work will be developed by Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos (CIBIO), which is a Research Unit in the field of biological sciences. CIBIO develops research in the area of biodiversity, advancing knowledge on the origins and maintenance of biodiversity, and applying this knowledge to address societal challenges related to climate and land use changes, environmental degradation, the loss and sustainable use of biodiversity and agrobiodiversity, and the management, restoration and sustainable use of ecosystems and their services. CIBIO has 160 researchers with a PhD, based in several universities and research institutes across Portugal. CIBIO is involved in several training programmes, from undergraduate to post-doctoral levels, being the main host institution of the Doctoral Programme Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution and the Masters Course in Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution. (BIODIV). The capacity of CIBIO to undertake excellent research and development is being upgraded through a Teaming project with the University of Montpellier, involving a contribution from the EC of 15 Mio. €.
BIOPOLIS will contribute mostly to WP3, leading T3.2 and participating in T3.1, to WP4, participating in tasks 4.1 to 4.3, and to WP5, participating in tasks 5.1 to 5.3. BIOPOLIS will bring to the consortium its unique experience in the use of molecular tools for biodiversity monitoring and assessment, and its engagement with industry partners in environmental impact assessment and monitoring.  (1989), PhD (1996); Group leader of the CIBIO research group "Biodiversity in agricultural and forest ecosystems"; holder of the REN invited chair in biodiversity. Research interests include biodiversity impacts of agricultural and forest policies, fire ecology, and biodiversity impacts of anthropogenic infrastructures. He has published over 130 papers in international peer reviewed journals including Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Global Change Biology, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, and Science. >6500,7 GS citations; H-index=42,3. Leading author of the IPBES assessment report on land degradation and restoration. Role in the project: Francisco will be involved on WP3 and WP5, mainly on T5.1 and T5.2.

Third parties involved in the project (including use of third-party resources)
There are no third parties involved in the project.

Animals
EuropaBON's mission is to develop an integrated and standardized system for monitoring biodiversity and ecosystem health across Europe to effectively inform EU policy. As endangered species naturally form part of biodiversity, EuropaBON therefore also involves endangered species (as indicated in the administrative forms in section 4, part A). EuropaBON does not experiment with animals or manipulate them or their behaviour in any way, and it only uses non-invasive monitoring techniques. EuropaBON complies with the ethical principles and applicable international, EU and national law.

Non-EU countries
Partly, EuropaBON will involve non-EU countries: One of the consortium members (NIVA) is from Norway.
Although not a member of the EU, Norway is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA). The GDPR was incorporated into the EEA agreement and became applicable in Norway on 20 July 2018. Norway is thus bound by the GDPR in the same manner as EU Member States and is also associated to Horizon2020 by Article 7 of the Horizon2020 Regulation ("legal entities from Associated Countries can participate under the same conditions as legal entities from the Member States"). Two of our partners (UREAD, USTAN) are from the UK, which, until very recently, was part of the EU. There is now a transition period until the end of 2020 during which current rules on trade, travel, and business for the UK and EU will continue to apply. We hereby confirm that the ethical standards and guidelines of Horizon2020 will be rigorously applied, regardless of whether the country is in the EU, or not.

Security
The EuropaBON project will not involve security issues: • activities or results raising security issues: (NO) • 'EU-classified information' as background or results: (NO)