Innovative solutions to fight wildlife trafficking and to reduce invasion of invasive alien species

Forthcoming

This is the status published by the official source.

Sign in to bookmark this

Expected Outcome:
Proposals are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:

• custom officers, border guards and relevant law enforcement officers and civil servants from competent authorities have improved capacities to detect illegal wildlife trade and prevent invasive alien species introduction, reintroduction and spread;
• illegal wildlife trade is better detected, contributing to improved protection of endangered species, and the spread of invasive alien species through trade is prevented and identified as early as possible, supporting the EU and global biodiversity objectives. Scope:
Wildlife trafficking and invasive alien species pose major threats to biodiversity[1] and present important challenges regarding enforcement, prevention and detection capacities. Invasive alien species also cause significant negative economic impacts, estimated at around €12 billion per year in the EU, and wildlife trafficking is one of the most profitable criminal activities worldwide[2]. Moreover, they pose significant health hazards. The rate of introduction of invasive alien species has been increasing. Wildlife trafficking is also increasing, especially due to increase in online trade[3]. The development of innovative tools to identify wildlife species in international trade offers opportunities for multiple applications to better combat drivers of biodiversity loss, in particular the overexploitation of wildlife through trade and illicit trafficking and, in specific cases, the introduction and spread of invasive alien species. European law enforcement, customs and competent authorities, need improved capabilities that allow better and automatic monitoring and detection in online trade (e.g. e-commerce platform and marketplaces); and in physical trade, considering trade and logistic chains (e.g. ports, border crossings, postal and logistics hubs); interpreting data from multimodal signals; to support the detection of illegal wildlife trade and smuggling and invasive alien species in trade (intentionally or unintentionally introduced) while minimising disruption to the trade flow. This topic is expected to support the implementation of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 (target 12 on invasive alien species), the EU invasive alien species regulation[4], the EU wildlife trade regulations[5], the revised EU action plan against wildlife trafficking (2022-2027)[6], the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (target 4 on halting species extinction, protecting genetic diversity and managing human-wildlife conflicts; target, 5 on wild species; and 6 on invasive alien species).
Proposals should:

• develop tools/prototypes, using innovative solutions for the detection of invasive alien species in trade and illegal wildlife trade, prioritising technologies and methods deployable by law enforcement and competent authorities, in co-creation with the end-users taking into consideration cost-effectiveness and minimising barriers to adoption;
• ensure that technical solutions developed under this topic are interoperable with existing operational systems used by law enforcement and competent authorities;
• ensure that the solutions developed allow for the lawful collection, preservation, and admissibility of digital and physical evidence. Furthermore, solutions should specifically facilitate cross-border evidence collection in support of competent authorities, while maintaining the unbroken chain-of-custody and data governance compliance principles;
• demonstrate the developed solutions in relevant environment(s);
• ensure the scalability of the tools developed and develop long-term maintenance plans;
• develop the skills and competences of competent authorities, including law enforcement services, border guards, customs authorities and environment protection agencies, to use these tools (including for the lawful collection of crime evidence), for example by developing trainings and training materials;
• develop modern and effective societal awareness raising campaigns involving civil society non-governmental organisations and companies where relevant. Proposals should involve, as beneficiaries, at least 3 relevant competent authorities representing law enforcement (like customs or border guards), nature conservation services or environmental protection services from at least 3 different EU Member States or Associated Countries.
This topic requires the effective contribution of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.
Proposals may include PCP subcontracting activities as described in part H of the General Annexes of the work programme.
Funded projects are encouraged to liaise with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), for example with regards to a possibility of testing the relevant research outputs at the JRC Border Security Lab.
Technology Readiness Level - Technology readiness level expected from completed projects
Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-7 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. Activities may start at any TRL.

[1] IPBES, Summary for Policymakers of the Thematic Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, 2023. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7430692; IPBES, Summary for policymakers of the thematic assessment of the sustainable use of wild species of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), 2022, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7411847.
[2] UNODC, World Wildlife Crime Report 2024: Trafficking in Protected Species, 2024 https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/wildlife/2024/Wildlife2024_Final.pdf.
[3] Europol, European Union Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment – The changing DNA of serious and organised crime, Publication Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2025.
[4] Regulation - 1143/2014 - EN - EUR-Lex
[5] Wildlife trade - Environment - European Commission
[6] EUR-Lex - 52022DC0581 - EN - EUR-Lex

Status

Forthcoming

Deadline

14 January 2027 (time not stated)

Opens

13 October 2026

Published

30 September 2026

Total budget

€13,000,000

Grant range

€13,000,000 – €13,000,000

Country

European Union (EU-wide)

Programme

Horizon Europe (HORIZON)

Funder

European Commission

Official page

Open at the source portal

What applying involves

12 steps, all of them taken from this call's own documents.

Understand the call

• Read the call on the source portal and download its documents
• Write the proposal against the award criteria and thresholds standard for this programme

  described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes — conditions §5a

• Check the grant's legal and financial set-up standard for this programme

  The specific conditions are described in General Annex H. The granting authority may, up to 4 years after the end of the action, object to a transfer of ownership or to the exclusive licensing of results, as set out in the specific provision of Annex 5. described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes. Specific conditions described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme] Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA): Application form … — conditions §6

• Note the opening date — a proposal cannot be submitted before it
• Check the amount you plan to request against the call's range

Check you are eligible

• Confirm your technology readiness level against the range the call states
• Check every partner is established in an eligible country standard for this programme

  described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide — conditions §2

• Meet the call's other eligibility conditions

  If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used). Some activities, resulting from this topic, may involve using classified background and/or producing of security sensitive results (EUCI and SEN). Please refer to the related provisions in section B Security — EU classified and sensitive … — conditions §3

• Be able to show financial and operational capacity standard for this programme

  described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes — conditions §4

Prepare the documents

• Prepare Part B of the Application Form standard for this programme

  Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System. — conditions

Submit

• Check the submission and evaluation process standard for this programme

  described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual — conditions §5b

• Submit before the closing date shown above

  The source states the closing day but no closing time — check the portal before the last day. — calls.deadline

Sign in to track these

Other calls under Horizon Europe (HORIZON)

• Enabling environments for a sustainable and circular construction sectorForthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €9,000,000
• Revitalising neighbourhoods around existing railway and motorway corridorsForthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide)
• PV based electrification of the economy: Designing & optimising PV systems supporting industrial electrification and promoting participation in electricity markets (EUPI-PV Partnership)Forthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €18,000,000
• Advanced TSO control rooms to enhance grid observability, stability and resilienceForthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €28,500,000
• Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADSM) for more efficient and flexible distribution gridsForthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €28,500,000
• Community of practice - Data-Driven Decision-Making in EnergyForthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €6,000,000
• Industrial processes and equipment for innovative, reliable and scalable tandem technologies (EUPI-PV Partnership)Forthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €28,500,000
• Integrated Approaches for Retrofitting Infrastructures with Innovative Energy Storage TechnologiesForthcoming · deadline 1 December 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €22,500,000

All calls under this programme

Similar opportunities

• Living Labs for the eradication and/or management of invasive alien speciesForthcoming · deadline 22 September 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €24,000,000 · same sector, same funder
• Strengthening plant health: addressing emerging plant pest risksForthcoming · deadline 8 April 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €12,000,000 · same sector, same funder
• Technical innovation to protect ecosystems and to scale up their restorationForthcoming · deadline 22 September 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €14,000,000 · same sector, same funder
• Ensuring continuous effectiveness of protected areas in conserving habitats and species while facing intensifying drivers of biodiversity lossClosed · deadline 23 September 2026 · European Union (EU-wide) · €13,000,000 · same sector, same funder
• Detection and characterisation of threats or illegal/ smuggled goods in cargoForthcoming · deadline 4 November 2027 · European Union (EU-wide) · €14,000,000 · same funder, same programme
• Improving capabilities of law enforcement to counter climate-related challengesOpen · deadline 5 November 2026 · European Union (EU-wide) · €8,000,000 · same funder, same programme