HORIZON-MISS-2024-OCEAN-02-02: Support for the Coalition of waterfront cities, regions and islands for Mission Ocean and Waters

During the first phase of the implementation of the Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030’, a number of waterfront cities, regions and islands started to become engaged in the Mission with adhesions to the Mission Charter. The proposal should coordinate, support and strengthen this growing movement to create a broad Coalition supporting the Mission Ocean and Waters, which will focus on waterfront cities with their ports (coastal and inland), as well as regions and islands committed to implementing this Mission. Importantly, it should aim to build a broad coalition, which also includes, in addition to the regions/cities/islands who already adhered to the Mission Charter, new and so far less active members with equal representation from all Mission lighthouse areas. 

Objectives: 

• establish and strengthen a Coalition of coastal and inland waterfront cities (including their maritime or inland water ports), regions and islands across the EU and Associated countries; 
• support the governance, implementation and reporting of the Coalition; 
• co-ordinating, networking, twinning, and mentoring of the Coalition members, as well as sharing best practices and deploying solutions together with the projects resulting from the topic HORIZON-MISS-2024-OCEAN-02-01 and in collaboration with the Mission Ocean and Waters Implementation Platform; 
• develop participatory processes for cities, regions and islands to be able to better plan and implement actions aiming to reach the Missions objectives; establish robust mechanisms for regional and local dialogues and facilitate coordination and collaboration between the Coalition and relevant national, regional and local authorities, communities, as well as relevant networks and initiatives in order to engage a large number of stakeholders, including private actors and citizens, in the protection and restoration of the ocean, seas and waters. 
• enhance the visibility of the Coalition activities through targeted communication actions and educational campaigns engaging local communities, schools, and the general public;  
• help the Coalition to forge links and coordinate with other important EU initiatives and key players (while at the same time avoiding overlaps), such as the EU Cities Mission, the Horizon Europe Partnership for a Sustainable Blue Economy, the European Environment Agency and organisations in charge of protection of the marine and coastal environment in Europe; as well as relevant international activities; 
• leverage funds to support the actions of the Coalition, in interaction with managing authorities and the private sector, where relevant;  
• support the Commission in developing, launching and implementing a Mission Ocean and Waters Label, under guidance of and in a close collaboration with the EC Mission Ocean and Waters Secretariat. The Label should be awarded to entities that have already adhered to the Charter or are planning to do so, and whose activities or transition plans are being assessed as stand-out in terms of excellence and impact towards reaching Mission objectives; 
• work closely with other Horizon Europe projects, particularly Prep4Blue, the 4 Mission lighthouse CSA projects (EcoDaLLi, BlueMissionAA, BlueMissionMed, BlueMissionBANOS), the projects selected under HORIZON-MISS-2024-OCEAN-02-01 and the Mission Ocean and Waters Implementation Platform in order to ensure complementarities and avoid overlaps. 

Eligible applicants: 

Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulations have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call/topic. 

In addition to the standard eligibility conditions, the consortium must include beneficiaries from at least one region (represented by the relevant public authority), one waterfront city (represented by the relevant public authority representing a coastal or other waterfront (rivers, lakes, etc) municipality) and one island (represented by the relevant pubic authority), or associations thereof. 

Further information on the application process and on eligibility can be found in the General Annexes of the Horizon Europe 2023-2025 Work Programme.   

Budget: 

EUR 3,99 million 

Duration: n/a 

HORIZON-MISS-2024-OCEAN-02-02 call for proposals page 

Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2025: Missions and Cross Cutting Activities 

Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2025: General Introduction 

General Annexes of the Horizon Europe 2023-2025 Work Programme 

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