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A network of knowledge on biodiversity and ecosystem services in Europe

May 18th, 2012

A group of European experts on biodiversity will gather from the 21th to the 23rd May 2012 in Brussels in order to further improve the transfer of biodiversity knowledge from the scientific community into the policy sphere.

These experts will take part in a project funded by the European Commission: "BiodiversityKnowledge."

BiodiversityKnowledge is an initiative by researchers and practitioners to help all actors in the field of biodiversity and ecosystem services to make better informed decisions. This project aims at developing an open network of knowledge in Europe on biodiversity and ecosystem services (NoK). After developing the first prototype for such a network with the help of some targeted consultations, the project now engages with a broad range of knowledge holders invited to share their experience and contribute to a European conference held in Brussels, in the Belgian Science Policy Office, on May 21-23.

Developing such a network approach comes at a crucial time for biodiversity policy in Europe. With the 2010 biodiversity targets missed and new actions for 2020 now to be implemented across Europe, policy demand for better knowledge-based decisions continuously increases. Also, Europe needs to prepare for supporting the newly established Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES*) via its broad range of experts in the field.

Participants of the conference represent various scientific disciplines, policy sectors and civil society and will get involved through participatory workshops to discuss the network approach, its components and processes. Their comments will help improve the model that will be tested on several case studies. The conference is expected to be an open and lively meeting with a lot of space for discussions and exchange on how to make biodiversity research more relevant for policy making, including a discussion on how Europe may support the development and work of IPBES.

Provided by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres

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