B-CHARMED, an acronym for "The Black Coral forests as unexplored Biodiversity Hotspots in the MAcaronesian Region: ecosysteM functions and sErvices analyseD", is an international project that will study the underwater black coral forests in the Macaronesia until August 2021. The project will use Lanzarote as the main study area, to develop habitat-mapping tools and deepen the knowledge of its associated biodiversity.
The project will be financed by LIFE4BEST 2019 programme, which follows the European Union's (EU) BEST initiative, aiming to support actions in favour of biological diversity and the sustainable use of ecosystem services in Europe's Outermost Regions (ORs). The LIFE4BEST programme is funded by the European Commission, the DG ENV/LIFE programme, in partnership with the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) and the French Development Agency (AFD), under the BEST ORs programme.
With a duration of 13 months, the B-CHARMED project is led by the Atlantic Biodiversity and Sustainability Association (ABAS), located on the island of Gran Canaria in Spain, in collaboration with the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research in Warnemünde (IOW) from Germany and the Benthic Environment Ecogeochemistry Laboratory in Banyuls-sur-Mer (LECOB) from France.
In addition, researchers from the University Institute of Aquaculture and Sustainable Coastal Ecosystems (IU-ECOAQUA) of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria will also participate providing local support to the project.