Here we are, on our way to wave goodbye the first quarter of the 21st century, and the Earth is still experiencing its largest loss of life and biodiversity since the demise of the dinosaurs.
One million plant and animal species are threatened with extinction, many within decades, admits the global Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on the eve of the adoption of its boldest plan ever, the New Global Agreement to Safeguard Nature.
Europe is a major player in the political response to this global crisis mobilised through its own Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. In recognition of its global responsibilities, the EU has taken bold steps towards global leadership in setting policies and commitments.
However, political commitments are not sufficient to mitigate and reverse biodiversity loss. To secure the future of the planet and society politicians, business leaders, scientists and society leaders must all prioritise the conservation and restoration of ecosystems through strong legislation and smart decisions.
The recently adopted by the CBD Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) provides the basis for the instruments for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and for equitable sharing of their benefits, including the genetic resources.
About the projects
The new Horizon Europe-funded projects CO-OP4CBD (abbreviation for Co-operation for the Convention on Biological Diversity) and BioAgora (or Bio Knowledge Agora) unite experts from renowned European organisations to enhance the coordination and strengthen the EU support for the implementation of the Convention.
Both projects will make more effective use of existing networks of experts with the aim to transform the EU policy-making process by supplying decision-makers with access to top European scientific expertise on biodiversity and social transformation.
CO-OP4CBD
(abbreviation for Co–operation for the Convention on Biological Diversity).
CO-OP4CBD kicked-off in December 2022 and will be running until 2026 with the grant of EUR 4 million, provided by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme.
The project will put in place a mechanism for mobilising, engaging and sharing expertise necessary for effective participation of EU member States and bodies in the CBD policy and decision-making processes.
Experts will provide advice to the European Commission, Member States and associated countries’ delegations of negotiators and technical experts.
Furthermore, the project will increase access to European expertise through enhanced mechanisms for promoting technical and scientific cooperation not only for negotiations, but also for implementation, monitoring and review of the efforts of the Parties towards the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and the Convention on Biological Diversity.
You can visit COOP4CBD on coop4cbd.eu and follow the project on Twitter (@coop4cbd) and LinkedIn (/COOP4CBD).
Consortium:
The consortium of CO-OP4CBD comprises 9 universities and research centers from across Europe. Together, they bring together experts from various backgrounds with extensive experience in EU projects in the field of biodiversity.
Full list of partners:
- Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (France)
- Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
- Finnish Environment Institute
- Alternet Europe
- Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
- Pensoft Publishers
- ELKH Centre for Ecological Research (Hungary)
- National Museum of Natural History (France)
- World Conservation Monitoring Centre
BioAgora
(abbreviation for Bio Knowledge Agora).
BioAgora was launched in July 2022 and is a five-year project with nearly EUR 12 million granted from the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme.
The project is tasked to build the Science Service for Biodiversity platform (SSBD) as the scientific pillar of the EU Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity (KCBD).
The KCBD, the European Commission’s initiative on better knowledge management for policy-making on biodiversity, plays a central role in the EU biodiversity policy landscape, and therefore BioAgora will support orchestrating a harmonious dialogue among scientists, other knowledge holders and policy actors in the biodiversity policy arena.
The project partners believe that science, policy, and society need to work closer together, if they wish to enable the sustainability transformation in Europe.
A key part of this transformation will depend on a stronger role of knowledge, whether from science or practitioner experience in decision-making and implementation of decisions on the ground. BioAgora aims to facilitate this interaction.
“Biodiversity and natural capital have to be integrated into public and business decision-making at all levels.
comments project coordinator Kati Vierikko from the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE).
Collective actions and pluralistic principles have to be at the core of biodiversity policy-making efforts, which is why the Science Service for Biodiversity is envisioned as a bridge between science, policy, and society.”
Visit BioAgora on https://bioagora.eu/. You can also follow the project on Twitter (@BioAgoraEU), LinkedIn (BioAgora Project) and YouTube (@BioAgoraProject).
Consortium:
The consortium of BioAgora consists of 22 partnering organisations from thirteen European countries, all of which bring their extensive knowledge of biodiversity policy and decision-making.
Full list of partners:
- SYKE: Finnish Environment Institute
- UB: The University of Bucharest
- UniTrento: The University of Trento
- INRAE: National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment
- EV INBO: Research Institute of Nature and Forest
- PBL: Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management
- NINA: Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
- UFZ: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research
- DC: Delbaere Consulting
- FVB-IGB: Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries
- CREAF: Ecological and Forestry Applications Research Centre
- ESSRG: Environmental social science research group
- PENSOFT: Pensoft Publishers
- ERCE PAN: European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology
- Euronovia
- WR: Wageningen University & Research
- ECSA: European Citizen Science Association
- AWI: Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
- UNEP-WCMC
- UK CEH: UK Centre For Ecology & Hydrology
- Alternet Europe
- OPPLA