Overview of the Belmont Forum 2014 CRA (Collaborative Research Action)
“Scenarios of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services” and its Evaluation

1. Aims of the joint call

Biodiversity scenarios, which are the outputs of the combination of socio-economic scenarios and models of impacts of global change on biodiversity, are essential tools for i) better understanding and synthesizing a broad range of observations, ii) providing information about future impacts of global changes such as land use change, invasive alien species, overexploitation, climate change or pollution, iii) providing decision support by developing adaptive management strategies and iv) evaluating the implications of alternative social-economic development pathways and policy options. One of the key objectives in using scenarios is to move away from the current reactive mode of decision making in which society responds to the degradation of biodiversity and ecosystem services in an uncoordinated, piecemeal approach, to a proactive mode in which society anticipates change and thereby minimizes adverse impacts and capitalizes on important opportunities through thoughtful adaptation and mitigation strategies.

Rapid scientific progress is now being made in developing socio-economic scenarios and models of global change impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Currently a major challenge in this field of research, is improving the relevance and value of these advances for decision makers at multiple scales. This Belmont Forum call encourages the development of new international networks of scientists and their institutions able to implement innovative research to underpin needed improvements in biodiversity scenario development.

2. Target research field

“Scenarios of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services”, specifically research exchange and networking projects.

3. Participating countries

Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Norway, South Africa

4. Eligibility

The following were eligible to receive support through this call:

• Persons affiliated with a domestic research organization where they are able to conduct research
• Persons not temporarily ineligible to receive public funding due to previous accounting irregularities

5. Research Period

2 Years

6. Amount of Funding

Approximately 7 million JPY per project (including indirect expenses)

7. Funded Expenses

Funding is provided mainly in support of exchange, networking and limited research activities

• Exchange and networking activity support can cover travel expenses and the costs of holding symposia and seminars, while support for research activities can cover consumables and facilities/equipment costs.
• In principle, indirect expenses can also be covered up to a maximum of 10% of the total direct costs mentioned above.

8. Evaluation Process

Evaluation of proposals was conducted by an international Panel of Experts nominated by the Belmont Forum member organizations taking part in this joint call. The participating funding organizations then met to discuss the outcome of that evaluation and jointly decided on the projects to select for funding.

9. Evaluation Criteria

The following Belmont Forum CRA general criteria were applied in evaluation of each proposal:

(1) Quality/Intellectual Merit

• Scientific quality and innovativeness of the goals and objectives of the joint research plan
• Added value to be expected from the international research collaboration

(2) User Engagement and Societal/Broader Impacts

• Engagement of research users (relevant policy makers, regulators, NGOs, communities or industry) and the effectiveness of proposed knowledge exchange activities
• Expected impacts: e.g. societal, policy related, economical

(3) Inter-Disciplinarity and Personnel/Quality of the Consortium

• Collaboration between natural and social sciences, and other sciences where relevant
• Competence and expertise of the teams and complementarities of the consortium (inter-disciplinary / inclusion of all necessary expertise)

(4) Resources and Management

• Appropriateness of resources and funding requested
• Balanced cooperation