{"id":166984,"date":"2026-01-15T12:54:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T11:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dbu.de\/topics\/funding-initiatives\/digital-nature-landscape\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T11:29:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T09:29:29","slug":"digital-nature-landscape","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.dbu.de\/en\/topics\/funding-initiatives\/digital-nature-landscape\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital.nature.landscape"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DBU mit Unterst\u00fctzung von KI<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Digital.Nature.Landscape<\/h1>
Practical innovations for biodiversity, climate and soil<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/header>\n\n\n
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Background<\/h2>\n\n\n
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ASphotostudio<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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The diversity of habitats and species is a central foundation of human well-being. Intact ecosystems provide indispensable services<\/strong> such as clean air and pure water, fertile soils, food and wood as well as natural recreation and quality of life. At the same time, intensification and standardization of land and water use continue to lead to a considerable loss of biodiversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digitalization<\/strong> offers considerable potential to effectively support environmental, climate and biodiversity protection. The ability to collect and process large amounts of data can make ecological relationships transparent, enable data-based decisions and make planning, implementation and management processes efficient and sustainable. At the same time, there are often deficits in the use of digital methods in terms of target clarity, indicator reference, interoperability, data availability and social integration. In addition, demographic change is further exacerbating the situation in environmental protection: numerous engineering and planning offices, environmental experts and specialist bodies in administrations and consulting practices are facing age-related retirements, while there is a lack of qualified young talent. <\/p>\n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

The German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) therefore sees an increasing need to manage environmental tasks efficiently by using digital processes despite a shortage of skilled workers. At the same time, it sees the dynamic development of digital technologies as an opportunity to develop innovative and effective measures for the protection of biodiversity and sustainable land use<\/strong>. The DBU expressly sees digitalization as an instrument for promoting ecological impact, not as an end in itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against this backdrop, there is a particular need to further develop and use digital technologies in a targeted manner so that they have a concrete ecological impact and at the same time address existing capacity bottlenecks in planning, implementation and management. With the funding initiative “Digital.nature.landscape – practical innovations for biodiversity, climate and soil<\/strong><\/em>“, the DBU addresses innovative digital solutions for sustainable land use<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aim of the funding initiative<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The aim of the funding initiative is to develop, test and transfer interoperable, scalable and sustainable digital applications for key environmental objectives of land use. The digital developments should make a measurable contribution to environmental protection in land use and at the same time facilitate the implementation of environmental tasks in planning, enforcement and management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The focus is particularly on the topics of biodiversity (recording, monitoring and management), climate adaptation and water management (drought, heat and heavy rainfall prevention as well as water retention and use) and soil protection (erosion, soil moisture and site assessment).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funding is provided for practical model and pilot projects with a clear environmental impact, measurable indicators and a high degree of practical applicability. The projects should provide for open interfaces, suitable data standards and, where possible, open source components and ensure transferability to other regions and fields of application. The environmental impacts should be described appropriately for the project and, where possible, presented in a comprehensible manner using suitable indicators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In particular, projects that use digital technologies specifically to record, evaluate and control ecological processes are eligible for funding. The following thematic priorities describe central fields of application of the funding call. The examples given are not exhaustive and serve as a guide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thematic focus of the funding<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Biodiversity<\/summary>\n

Funding is provided for digital applications that support engineering and planning offices, municipalities and other practitioners in recording and evaluating biodiversity in an efficient, comprehensible and standardized manner and integrating it into planning and decision-making processes. Exemplary approaches are
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