Climate & Biodiversity Initiative
In 2022, the BNP Paribas Foundation endowed again its “Climate & Biodiversity Initiative” programme with 6 million euros to fund 8 new international projects.
By 2025, the Foundation will have supported a total of 35 scientific research teams.
Find out more about their projects, sorted by type of ecosystem studied, with a focus on the 8 new laureates:
Marine ecosystems
COAST-VOC: the influence of coastal ecosystems on climate
Coastal ecosystems, which play a vital role for climate, emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The challenge for the research effort is to know whether, once in the atmosphere, they will aggregate into particles which can eventually form clouds and thus have a cooling effect on our climate.
Project led by Florian Roth, managed by University of Helsinki (Finland).
DEEPLIFE: marine animal forests
Deeplife is part of the “Under the pole-deeplife-2021-2030” programme. The project aims to map all marine animal forests, from polar areas to the tropics. The goal is to understand the requisite minimum densities and structures of each animal forest, in order not only to protect the species, but also their function.
Project led by Lorenzo Bramanti, managed by the Sorbonne University (France).
FLO CHAR: from land to sea, the impact of global warming in the Arctic
The project aims to investigate the effects of changing land-ocean carbon fluxes and organic matter outflows on coastal ecosystems and biodiversity in the Beaufort Sea.
Project led by Bennet Juhls, managed by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI; Germany).
PHYTOPLANKTON: will phytoplankton adapt to climate change?
Analysing the DNA of diatoms, microalgae which represent the largest group of phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean, then projecting the evolution of phytoplankton over the next hundred years. This will provide a better understanding of the impact on the carbon cycle, on atmospheric CO2 and therefore on the global climate, but also on the food chain.
Project led Chris Bowler, managed by the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS, France).
REFUGE-ARCTIC: study one of the last seas where the ice never melts
The aim is to launch an expedition with the widest range of scientists to best characterise this exceptional environment, and thus investigate past climate-related processes to look to the future.
Project led Mathieu Ardyna, managed by the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS, France).
Click to see the past projects on marine ecosystems
- CORESCAM: extreme events and ecosystems (led by Miguel Bastos Araujo and Rosa Maria Roman-Cuesta) – Watch the video
- eFOCE: long-term effects of ocean acidification and experiments in the Mediterranean Sea (led by Jean-Pierre Gattuso) – Watch the video
- NOTION: ocean and food chain (led by Mar Benavides) – Discover the project
- REEF Services: measuring and predicting the consequences of global warming on the coral reefs and the services they provide (led by Valeriano Parravicini) – Watch the video
- SABERES: fishing and rising sea levels (led by Marie-Paule Bonnet) – Watch the video
- SENtinels of the SEa Ice (SENSEI): measuring the impact of global warming on seabirds and marine mammal that inhabit the Arctic and Antarctic regions or rely on them for their reproduction (led by Christophe Barbraud and Yan Ropert-Coudert) – Watch the video
- SOCLIM (Southern Ocean and CLIMate): knowing the Southern ocean better to protect it (led by Stéphane Blain, Hervé Claustre and Sabrina Speich) – Watch the video
Terrestrial ecosystems
FRUIT RESCUE: how will fruit trees withstand climate change?
The project aims to assess the adaptability to climate change of European fruit trees, in temperate (apple, apricot, peach) and Mediterranean (olive, grapevines) regions. Which wild or cultivated populations, or even which varieties, will risk disappearing or, on the contrary, will be able to survive locally or in other regions?
Project led by Amandine Cornille, managed by the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS, France).
FUTURE FEAR: climate change, prey and their predators in the African savanna
Analysing the behaviours of zebras, wildebeests, and their predators, lions and hyenas, in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (South Africa). The project is investigating how rising temperatures, changing wind patterns and grassland cover influence these behaviours.
Project led by Simon Chamaillé-Jammes and Marion Valeix, managed by the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS, France).
NATURAL FORESTORE: carbon sequestration and storage in Thai rainforests
Performing DNA sequencing of soil bacteria and fungi that participate in carbon recycling. Assess forest biomass. Offer inhabitants the possibility of knowing the carbon capital of their forest and so promote it within the framework of the carbon market. Three essential areas to inform the general public about the major role of soil microorganisms, the importance of preserving forests, and the benefits they can derive from it.
Project led by Emmanuel Paradis, managed by the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD, France).
Click to see the past projects on terrestrial ecosystems
- BIOCLIMATE: forests and biodiversity in the Amazon (led by Jos Barlow) – Watch the video
- CAMBIO: new forests (led by Lander Baeten) – Discover the project
- HUM/ANI: health and climate change (led by Eve Miguel) – Discover the project
- INVACOST (Invasive Insects and their Cost Following Climate Change): preventing a massive insect invasion (led by Franck Courchamp) – Discover the project
- LIFE WITHOUT ICE: melting of glaciers (led by Olivier Dangles and Sophie Cauvy) – Discover the project
- MOMMY KNOWS BEST: birds and evolution (led by Céline Teplitsky) – Discover the project
- SOCA: SOil CArbon for tropical subsistence farming (led by Lydie Lardy) – Watch the video
- THEMES (THE Mystery of the Expanding tropics) (led by Valérie Daux) – Watch the video
- TREE BODYGUARDS: trees in the food chain and citizen science (led by Bastien Castagneyrol) – Discover the project
- TROPICOL: collecting unprecedented data on tropical climates over the past 800,000 years (led by Marie-Pierre Ledru) – Watch the video
At the poles
Click to see the past projects on the poles
- EAIIST: East Antarctic International Ice Sheet Traverse to model the evolution of East Antarctica (led by Barbara Stenni, Joël Savarino and Tas van Ommen) – Watch the video
- APT (Acceleration Of Permafrost Thaw By Snow-Vegetation Interactions): Preventing the massive release of CO2 from the permafrost (led by Florent Dominé) – Watch the video
- Ice Memory (formerly Subglacior): retracing climate history through an innovative ice core drilling process in the Antarctic (led by Jérôme Chappellaz) – Watch the video
Data and modelling projects
Click to see the past projects on data and modelling
- AAA: access to the climate archives at Fontainebleau – Watch the video
- CPATEMP (Continental PAst TEMPeratures since the last glacial cycle and recently developed organic biomarkers): learning from the past to improve climate change forecasting (led par Guillemette Ménot and Edouard Bard) – Watch the video
- FATES (FAst climate changes, new tools to understand and simulate The Evolution of the Earth System): studying global warming over thousands of years (led by Valérie Masson-Delmotte) – Watch the video
- Joint Attribution of Biopysical and Economic Impacts of Hydroclimatic Extremes: modelling extreme climate change events in Africa and their effects to help populations reduce their exposure to these phenomena (led by Mark New and Friederike Otto) – Watch the video
- PRECLIDE: estimating climate change over the next 30 years (led by Laurent Terray) – Watch the video
- REIMAGINE: re-imagining climate governance (led by Joost Vervoort) – Watch the video
Videos of the past research projects – the playlists
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