Sustainability

In a Land Down Under, Pensoft joined the 11th ESP World Conference

The latest outcomes at the SELINA project and modern, open-access scholarly publishing were ‘hot’ topics we discussed with delegates in Darwin.

*Official group photo of the delegates at ESP11 (Darwin, Australia).*
*Courtesy of the Ecosystem Services Partnership.*

Between 22^nd and 26^th June, the 11^th Ecosystem Services Partnership World Conference (ESP11) brought about 250 international delegates from diverse backgrounds: professional and demographic alike, to the Darwin Convention Centre in the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia.

Amongst the central topics of the event were the integrations of local and indigenous values and knowledge into the understanding of ecosystem services and their sustainable management; the implementation of nature-based solutions into practice; and the collaboration of scientists with policymakers, practitioners and other stakeholders.

Inspired by the location – curiously, Australia is the longest continuously inhabited continent on Earth – the conference had a well-pronounced focus on indigenous peoples and culture. Aptly, the conference ran under the theme: “From global to local ecosystem services: pathways to Nature-based Solutions inspired from Down Under”.

Cultural diversity was specially celebrated at both the opening and the closing ceremonies, as well as the special conference dinner. Attendees enjoyed multiple traditional performances from the region, but also from other parts of the world. They also had the chance to hear directly from members of Darwin’s indigenous communities about their own perspectives on ecosystem services and their sustainable management.

Indigenous Australian performance at the opening ceremony at ESP11 (Darwin, Australia).

During the week, each day would open with keynote speeches by renowned scientists from around the world. The programme would then continue with a set of six parallel sessions. The conference also included poster sessions, a conference dinner and field trips meant to provide the conference participants with a face-to-face encounter with Australian natural phenomena, including close-up encounters with the signature Northern Territory fauna, such as crocodiles, birds and sea turtles.

One of the field trips took participants to the uninhabited Bare Sand Island where they got the chance to see up close a Flatback sea turtle coming out of the water, making her nest and laying her eggs before making her way back to the waves under the cover of the night.

At the Pensoft stand, delegates met Pensoft’s Head of Journal development and PR: Iva Boyadzhieva, who would answer their questions about the various publishing opportunities and scholarly resources by the publisher, but also about the latest activities and results of the Horizon Europe-funded project SELINA (an acronym for Science for Evidence-based and Sustainable Decisions about Natural Capital).

*Pensoft’s stand at the ESP11 conference in Darwin, Australia.*

Having started in 2022 and set to run until 2027, SELINA comprises 50 partner organisations coordinated by the Leibniz University Hannover and Prof. Dr. Benjamin Burkhard (Leibniz University Hannover, Germany), who is also co-Chair of the ESP and Editor-in-Chief of the One Ecosystem journal. As an experienced science communicator and open-science publisher, at SELINA, Pensoft has been assigned to lead the project’s communication and dissemination activities.

The transdisciplinary project aims to provide smart, cost-effective, and nature-based solutions to historic societal challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and food security. One of the consortium’s main objectives is to identify biodiversity, ecosystem condition, and ecosystem service factors that can be successfully integrated into decision-making processes in both the public and private sectors.

Most recently, the consortium launched SELINA’s Communities of Practice initiative to promote collaborative learning and knowledge integration across Europe. This digital platform provides a forum for scientists, policymakers, practitioners, and business representatives to exchange knowledge and further engage with its real-life application. On the Communities of Practice, visitors may explore how SELINA is driving change across Europe.

Once again, all around the venue one could easily catch a glimpse of both local and exotic biodiversity that had taken cover on the laptops of the participants. The vivid stickers have become a signature Pensoft freebies that feature scientific illustration of species discussed in publications from across the publisher’s scholarly portfolio in a nod to the authors who have chosen a journal from the Pensoft scholarly portfolio.

Besides grabbing a sticker or two from the Pensoft stand, visitors were also intrigued to learn more about Pensoft’s flagship journals fitting the scope of the conference like Nature Conservation, NeoBiota and Biodiversity Data Journal, but also about the most recently launched titles: Individual-based Ecology and Advances in Pollinator Research.

Those who have missed the opportunity to sign up for those journals’ newsletters at the stand, can do this by filling in their email address from the homepage of the journal they fancy or by updating their profiles in the Pensoft system.

Understandably, the highlight in the Pensoft’s journal portfolio for ESP11 delegates was One Ecosystem, which was once born in a collaboration between Pensoft, the predecessor of SELINA: ESMERALDA, and the ESP community itself.

Since its launch in 2016, the open-access peer-reviewed journal has published about 200 research papers, including field-specific research outputs typically falling outside of what traditional scientific journals would see as a publication. These include Software description, Methods, Ecosystem Services Mapping, Ecosystem Accounting Table amongst others. You can find about the origins of One Ecosystem in the 2016 launching editorial. A few years ago, the journal became part of the scholarly literature databases of both Scopus and Web of Science. In fact, the latest Scopus CiteScore of One Ecosystem places the journal in Q1 in all five categories it has been assigned to.

*At a special session within the ESP11 programme, Editor-in-Chief Prof. Dr. Benjamin Burkhard welcomed various questions concerning the One Ecosystem journal.*

As part of the ESP11 programme, a session dedicated on the open-science approach of One Ecosystem that relies on opening up diverse research outputs and data, in order to prompt transparency, reusability and interdisciplinary in ecological research. Together, Pensoft’s Iva Boyadzhieva, Editor-in-Chief Prof. Dr. Benjamin Burkhard and subject editor Dr. Paulo Pereira talked about the journal and addressed the questions of the audience, while also providing general advice on scholarly publishing and editorial work to early career researchers at the session.

The session also presented the announcement that in 2025, ESP members are eligible for a 10% discount on the APC at One Ecosystem.

As usual, the conference closed with an engaging and heart-warming ceremony, where the organisers paid another tribute to local communities and volunteers who made the event an unforgettable experience for everyone. The ceremony finished with the awards for the three best posters presented at ESP11.

*Hamid Arrum Harahap was awarded first place for his poster “Ecosystem-Based Adaptation (EbA) to Climate Change for Indigenous Women in the Mentawai Islands and Aceh Singkil, Sumatra (Indonesia)”.*

Hamid Arrum Harahap (Universitas Andalas, Indonesia), Nicole Boyd (Charles Darwin University) and Gail Sucharitakul (Imperial College of London, United Kingdom) were recognised for their research posters.

“My poster highlights the climate knowledge of Indigenous women in the Mentawai Islands and Aceh Singkil. Their voices are often underrepresented in climate discourse, despite contributing the least to climate change and being among the most affected by its impacts”
said first-place sitter Hamid Arrum Harahap about his poster, titled “Ecosystem-Based Adaptation (EbA) to Climate Change for Indigenous Women in the Mentawai Islands and Aceh Singkil, Sumatra (Indonesia)”.

“In regions where downscaling climate models is difficult, intergenerational knowledge passed through indigenous women is critical. Our study highlights that while our climate models from modern science are built on numbers and projections, Indigenous women’s climate memories are rooted in stories and emotions—together, they offer complementary insights for understanding and adapting to climate change.”

In addition to the prizes handed by the ESP, he received a waiver for a free publication at One Ecosystem from the journal’s publisher Pensoft.

“I plan to use this opportunity to publish my research on Indigenous knowledge and ecosystem services. I am currently working on two studies: one on the relational values of ecosystem services governance with Indigenous Batak communities, and the other on ecosystem-based adaptation and the vulnerability of ecosystem services to climate change, focusing on Indigenous women in Sumatra and Far North Queensland, Australia. I believe One Ecosystem is an ideal platform for this work, as it offers an innovative and accessible forum for multidisciplinary studies like mine and focusing on sustainability of the ecosystem.
he added.

Third-placed Gail Sucharitakul received a copy of “Mapping Ecosystem Service”: a best-seller in Pensoft’s scientific book portfolio, edited by Prof. Dr. Benjamin Burkhard and Dr. Joachim Maes (European Commission DG Environment): both well-renowned in the field and the ESP community scientists. Maes is also a Deputy Editor-in-Chief at One Ecosystem.

Now that the ESP11 World Conference has turned into a wonderful memory, we set our sights on the 2016 European conference, which will be taking place in historic Prague, Czech Republic. See you there!

***

Follow One Ecosystem (BlueSky, X and Facebook), SELINA (BlueSky, X, Facebook and Linkedin) and Pensoft (BlueSky, X, Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin) on social media.

Take vegetation succession into account when planning solar parks, otherwise problems can grow up

The planning and sustainable management of ground-mounted solar parks can be enhanced by the consideration of vegetation succession.

Large-scale ground-mounted solar parks are relatively new phenomena. Over time, ideas have been put forward about how they can accommodate biodiversity, and some parks are indeed becoming more multifunctional, for example by providing habitats for plants, invertebrates and birds. From a background of studying idyllic ecosystems in dynamic change, Dr. Markus Zaplata, research technician at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Germany, has come to appreciate the biology of solar parks, and has found evidence that they can support a wide range of biodiversity.

A photo of plants growing near a solar park. — Biodiversity in solar parks is a given (here two *Mantis religiosa* nymphs) and, with the possible exception of self-seeded woody plants, is desirable. Photo by Dr Markus Zaplata

His research, published in the open-access journal One Ecosystem, proves the previously overlooked fact that vegetation succession also takes place in solar parks, and that certain intrinsic technical structures can even help self-seeded woody plants live there. Vegetation succession refers to the directional development from easily spreading but low-competitive species such as herbs and grasses towards highly competitive species such as woody plants. Mowing alone is not enough to deal with woody plants, he argues. “The fact is that subsurface woody structures continue to grow after mowing, and may at some point massively interfere with the solar installations”, he says.

With 18 years of experience in studying vegetation succession, Dr. Zaplata has supported a research project on biodiversity in solar parks since 2021.

“I do the mowing myself, so I experience the very things I write about in this paper”, he says.

Mowing can also be expensive and labour-intensive, he adds, suggesting that other construction methods and grazing could provide a more sustainable alternative.

Including insights from succession research can make global solar energy landscapes more sustainable, he argues. “The universal and unstoppable ecological process of succession is here linked to a management recommendation that can bring society closer again, on the new or neutral territory of new energy landscapes. In fact, new and old professions are connected, for example solar park manager and livestock farmer.”

A photo of willow tree stalks in a solar park. — Above-ground parts of a willow tree (*Salix* sp.) that have resisted a recent mowing campaign. Photo by Dr Markus Zaplata

“Finally, and very importantly, my article points out that experts with in-depth predictive knowledge of dynamic vegetation processes must be consulted in the future on everything that has to do with the technical transformation of landscape units, including solar parks,” he says in conclusion.

Original source

Zaplata M (2025) Management and sustainability of ground-mounted solar parks requires consideration of vegetation succession as an omnipresent process. One Ecosystem 10: e141583. https://doi.org/10.3897/oneeco.10.e141583

Integration of ecosystem services in urban planning tools can directly contribute to the sustainability of ecosystems

Integrated ecosystem services can be a potent tool to inform and guide spatial decision-making.

Guest blog post by Zeynep Türkay

Ecosystem services’ (ES) integration into global policies is widely recognized as a hope for environmental sustainability, as they provide a robust framework for representing natural values. The role of healthy ecosystems in combating climate change-related risks and ensuring the sustainability of ecosystem services that are critical for human-natural life is well understood, and in this context, the protection and sustainability of Integrated ES areas, which represent the highest ecological functional areas in this sense, need to be highlighted. Integrated ES can be a potent tool to inform and guide spatial decision-making. However, presently, there is a need to improve the content of related conventional tools on how to introduce and involve their roles in decision-making processes.

A map of Istanbul showing the integrated ecosystem services potential of the current situation.

Our paper, published in the journal One Ecosystem, investigates the incorporation of this problem, underlines ES significance as the Integrated ES, and transfers this information into spatial decision-making. The content of the paper discusses the potential contributions and limitations of the integration. It provides solid suggestions on how Integrated ES can be operationalized in Istanbul’s high-level plans.

Research article:

Türkay Z, Tezer A (2024) Contribution of integrated ecosystem services to urban planning tools: Can it be more functional for the sustainability of ecosystems? One Ecosystem 9: e121553. https://doi.org/10.3897/oneeco.9.e121553

AI-powered data-limited stock assessment method more accurate than ‘gold standard’ in predicting sustainable fisheries catches

A recent update introduced to the CMSY methodology used to assess the status of fish stocks has proven to more accurately predict the catch that a population can support than highly valued data-intensive models.

Article provided by Valentina Ruiz, Sea Around Us.

In a paper published in the journal Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria, the international team of researchers that shaped the improved CMSY++ model noted that its results better correspond with what is, in reality, the highest catch that a fish stock can support in the long-term, given that environmental conditions do not change much.

Now powered by an artificial neural network that has been trained with catch and biomass data of 400 stocks to identify plausible ranges of the initial and final state of the stocks being assessed, CMSY++ allows managers and scientists to input only catch data to estimate how much fish is left in a given stock and how much fishing pressure can be applied.

CMSY model — Schematic representation of the surplus production model used by CMSY, with indication of impaired recruitment due to small stock size, where FMSY is reduced linearly with decline in biomass.

Maximum sustainable catches or yield (MSY) is a concept developed in the 1950s by US fisheries scientist M.B. Schaefer who proposed that if fishers left in the water a biomass equivalent to at least 50 per cent of the unexploited fish population, that is, of the biomass it had before being commercially exploited, then the highest possible catches could be sustained over time.

“By comparing the results of CMSY++ to models that are considered superior because they require large amounts of initial data inputs, such as the Fox surplus-production model and the Stock Synthesis (SS3) age-structured model, we noticed that these models badly overpredicted the catch that a population can support when previous overfishing has reduced it to a small fraction of its natural size, as is the case with most exploited fish populations in the world.”
Dr. Rainer Froese, lead author of the study and a senior scientist at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research.

In other words, the model underlying the CMSY++ method fitted the observed data, while the predictions of the ‘gold standard’ models were too optimistic in estimating sustainable catches.

“These models tend to estimate the biomass required to produce maximum sustainable yields as less than half of unexploited biomass, which is lower than M.B. Schaefer originally proposed based on the widely observed S-shaped growth curve of unexploited populations or population size that the ecosystem would normally accommodate.

“This finding could explain the often-observed failure of fisheries managers to maintain or rebuild depleted stocks even when the predictions of the gold standard models were followed.”
Daniel Pauly, co-author of the study and principal investigator of the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia.

Research article:

Froese R, Winker H, Coro G, Palomares MLD, Tsikliras AC, Dimarchopoulou D, Touloumis K, Demirel N, Vianna GMS, Scarcella G, Schijns R, Liang C, Pauly D (2023) New developments in the analysis of catch time series as the basis for fish stock assessments: The CMSY++ method. Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria 53: 173-189. https://doi.org/10.3897/aiep.53.e105910

Pensoft turns up ‘the voice’ of two strategic EU projects aiming to safeguard nature

CO-OP4CBD & BioAgora are among the latest Horizon Europe projects to benefit from Pensoft’s expertise in science communication and dissemination

Here we are, on our way to wave goodbye the first quarter of the 21^st 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

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.

*CO-OP4CBD kick off meeting in Brussels (Belgium), February 2023*.

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:

BioAgora

Logo of the Horizon Europe project 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.

*BioAgora kick-off meeting, Helsinki (Finland), November 2022*.

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.
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.”
comments project coordinator Kati Vierikko from the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE).

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

Illegal trade and poor regulation threaten pangolins in China

Unpermitted sellers are commonly found illegally selling pangolin scale products for the purposes of traditional Chinese medicine.

Pangolins, unique scale-covered mammals, are drastically declining in numbers across Asia and Africa, largely due to illegal trade. Part of the trade, both legal and illegal, supports the traditional Chinese medicine market, which has attracted conservation attention. The level of demand for pangolins and other animals in traditional Chinese medicine, however, hasn’t been thoroughly studied.

In a new study published in the journal Nature Conservation, Dr Yifu Wang, currently a postdoc researcher at the University of Hong Kong, investigated pangolin scale trade in China, interviewing staff in hospitals and pharmaceutical shops in two provinces (Henan and Hainan). Between October 2016 and April 2017, she and her team talked to doctors from 41 hospitals and shop owners and assistants from 134 pharmaceutical shops.

An adult Philippine Pangolin and her pup photographed in the forests of Palawan. Photo by Gregg Yan under a CC-BY-SA-4.0 license

The research found pangolin scales and their derivatives were widely available in hospitals and pharmaceutical shops across Henan and Hainan Provinces. The legislation in place, however, has not been able to prevent ongoing illegal trade in pangolin products. Her team found that 46% of surveyed hospitals and 34% of surveyed pharmaceutical shops were selling pangolin scale products illegally.

“Existing legal trade allows 711 hospitals to sell pangolin products as medicine with regulations on manufacturer, package, and national annual sale quantity,” explains Dr Yifu Wang. “However, we show that pangolin scales are under heavy demand and unpermitted sellers are commonly found illegally selling pangolin products.”

Processed pangolin scales. Photo by Dr. Yifu Wang

“Quantities of products traded by permitted legal sellers are estimated to greatly exceed the supply capacity of legal sources,” she continues.

This widespread illegal trade, coupled with the very limited legal supply capacity compared to market demand, is concerning. The researchers point to the urgent need to reduce demand from traditional Chinese medicine on pangolin scales and revise the current legal pangolin scale trade system.

“We also highlight the importance of incorporating the traditional Chinese medicine sector into combating illegal wildlife trade and species conservation beyond pangolins,” they conclude.

The researchers plan to continue investigating the pangolin scale market in China to understand the trade after COVID-19.

Research article:

Wang Y, Turvey ST, Leader-Williams N (2023) The scale of the problem: understanding the demand for medicinal pangolin products in China. Nature Conservation 52: 47-61. https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.52.95916

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Redefining nature-based decision-making: Pensoft joins EU project SELINA

“Ecosystem services is one of the topics that Pensoft has been involved in for over 10 years,” points out COO Prof Pavel Stoev.

Ambitious goals have been set by the European Union, in order to tackle the biodiversity conservation challenges over the coming decade. No less ambitious are the goals of the Horizon Europe project SELINA, which is one of the current major initiatives looking in the same direction.

SELINA (Science for Evidence-based and Sustainable Decisions about Natural Capital) is a transdisciplinary project aimed at promoting the conservation of biodiversity, enhancing ecosystem conditions, and supporting the sustainable use of the environment through evidence-based decision-making.

As an experienced science communicator and open-science publisher, Pensoft will be leading the project’s communication and dissemination activities.

“Ecosystem services is one of the topics that Pensoft has been involved in for more than 10 years, so it was only natural for us to continue our work as a communicator of scientific information in the ambitious SELINA project as well,”
says Prof Pavel Stoev, COO at Pensoft.

“We have already collaborated with many of the partners within the earlier EC Horizon 2020 project ESMERALDA, which concluded with the launch of a pan-European network of scientific institutions engaged with biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services.
In addition, Pensoft has been strongly connected to the community through the scholarly journal One Ecosystem, which is supported by Ecosystem Services Partnership, and offers an opportunity for scientists in the field to publish their results in a new and innovative way.”
he adds.

The project

SELINA was launched in July 2022 and will run for 5 years. Having received EUR 13 million in funding, the project is seen as an unprecedented opportunity for smart, cost-effective, and nature-based solutions to historic societal challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and food security.

One of the project’s main objectives is to identify biodiversity, ecosystem condition, and ecosystem service factors that can be successfully integrated into decision-making processes in both the public and private sectors.

To achieve this objective, SELINA will develop, test, and integrate new and existing knowledge, including methodological approaches to improve biodiversity, ecosystem condition, and ecosystem service information uptake by decision-makers.

In addition, the project will utilise EU-wide workshops and multi-disciplinary Communities of Practice involving a wide range of stakeholders, including scientists, policymakers, business leaders, and civil society organisations.

The project will also organise Demonstration Projects on biodiversity, ecosystem condition, and ecosystem service integration in decision-making and co-create a Compendium of Guidance that will allow stakeholders to make full use of the project’s results and fit-for-purpose recommendations with real-world applications in policy-making and business decisions.

International consortium

SELINA project brings together experts from 50 partnering organisations across all European Union member states, Norway, Switzerland, Israel, and the United Kingdom.

The project comprises a Pan-European and transdisciplinary network of professionals from the academic and non-academic sectors with various (inter)disciplinary backgrounds – including ecologists, economists, social scientists – who have agreed to work collaboratively to support transformative change based on evidence-based decision-making related to the management of natural resources.

Find out more about the project on the SELINA website: project-selina.eu/.

Stay up to date with the project’s progress on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and YouTube.

Towards a climate-neutral society: Pensoft takes part in the Horizon project ForestPaths

Apart from science communication, Pensoft is also tasked with the development and maintenance of the CANOPY platform, whose aim is to support policymakers and national and regional authorities

Dedicated to bridging the gap between science, policy, industry and society, Pensoft is striving to maximise ForestPaths’ impact in meeting Europe’s climate and biodiversity targets

The backdrop

The European Union (EU) has set ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% in 2030 and to become climate neutral by 2050, which require urgent and major societal and economic reforms.

In the meantime, the EU also aims to protect biodiversity and reverse the degradation of ecosystems, while using natural resources to mitigate climate change.

ForestPaths – a recently started Horizon Europe project will help meet Europe’s climate and biodiversity targets by providing clear policy options that enable European forests and the forest-based sector to contribute to climate change mitigation, while conserving their biodiversity and sustaining the services they provide to people.

As an experienced science communicator, Pensoft is dedicated to maximising ForestPaths’ impact. The team will do so by means of tailored communication, dissemination and exploitation strategies aimed at sharing the project’s results with relevant stakeholder groups.

Furthermore, Pensoft is tasked with the development and long-term maintenance of the CANOPY platform, whose aim is to support policymakers and national and regional authorities by granting them access to the knowledge and scientific evidence acquired within ForestPaths long after the project is finalised.

The ForestPaths approach

ForestPaths will work with practitioners through four demo cases to determine climate- and biodiversity-smart forest management options.

Building on these options, the project will collaborate with policymakers and key authorities through a series of Policy labs, where the partners will co-design policy pathways, which will then be analysed with next-generation integrated assessment techniques.

Lastly, ForestPaths will apply this framework for an all-round assessment of the climate mitigation potential of European forests and the forest-based sector.

The ForestPaths legacy

ForestPaths’ policy pathways – as well as their supporting information and evidence – will be made openly available through the project’s policy-support platform CANOPY, hosted on the ForestPaths website.

The platform, whose launch is scheduled for 2026, will feature an interactive policy analysis tool explaining the policy pathways and showcasing their implications, as well as providing detailed assessment results and policy recommendations in an easily accessible manner. Its long-term mission is to become the go-to place for easily accessible assessment results and policy recommendations.

“We are excited to be doing our part for Europe’s fight for climate neutrality by extending ForestPaths reach to policy, industry and society at large! As an open-access scientific publisher engaged in about 50 environmental research projects, Pensoft echoes ForestPaths’ aim to support the EU’s climate neutrality transition through what we are sure will be a prolific international research collaboration,” says ForestPaths’ WP7 leader Anna Sapundzhieva.

You can find out more about the project on the ForestPath website: forestpaths.eu. Stay up to date with the project’s progress on Twitter (@forestpaths_eu) and LinkedIn (/forestpaths-project).

Full list of project partners:

Knowledge is power: How can we make cave tourism more environmentally friendly?

A new study in Nature Conservation presents a literature-based dataset on the ecological status of 265 show caves in 39 countries across the world.

Throughout history, people have used caves for a number of reasons: as shelters, places for rituals, food storage, and, in more recent times, as touristic attractions. In these so-called show caves, visitors can experience the natural beauty of caves, usually by following a guide on constructed, artificially lit trails.

But caves are also very fragile ecosystems, bursting with underground life. They are home to numerous invertebrate and bat species, including ones that are threatened or endemic. The human disturbances caused by the changes in the infrastructure and environment, coupled with the influx of tourists, often affect the ecological processes and, consequently, these organisms. But how much do we know about the influence of tourists on cave ecosystems?

According to a new study in the open-access journal Nature Conservation, not enough.

Apart from affecting subterranean invertebrates, the artificial lighting and noise related to tourist visits may also affect the life of bats, making it harder for them to reproduce or overwinter in caves.

Going through more than 1,000 scientific papers, an Italian team of scientists, led by Marco Isaia and Elena Piano from the University of Torino, prepared a literature-based dataset relative to the knowledge on the ecological status of 265 show caves in 39 countries across the world. Their database includes a georeferenced set of show caves, where researchers have evaluated a number of environmental indicators that help monitor the impact of tourism and its related activities on subterranean ecosystems. They also list cave characteristics for each cave, including its natural heritage that attracts tourists.

There are many ways in which tourism can disturb life in a cave. For example, the presence of visitors may help increase cave temperature, which, combined with the increase of CO₂ air concentration caused by tourists’ breath, may enhance carbonate dissolution, damaging geological formations. Moreover, tourists can carry pollutants and propagules of microorganisms into the cave through their clothes and hands, which then land on geological formations, in the water, in the air, and on the ground. Apart from affecting subterranean invertebrates, the artificial lighting and noise related to tourist visits may also affect the life of bats, making it harder for them to reproduce or overwinter in caves.

The dataset published in Nature Conservation set a baseline towards the integrated and multidisciplinary study of the impacts caused by tourism on these fragile ecosystems, but the research team points out that much remains to be done. For example, they found out that there wasn’t enough research on show caves outside of Europe, or on the possible impacts of tourism on the subterranean fauna in the context of climate change.

Ultimately, the data in this study can help managing authorities come up with guidelines that will allow a sustainable touristic development of show caves, not only from an environmental perspective, but also from an economic and social point of view.

“Overall, this data paper could fill the lack of awareness towards the fragility of the natural heritage of show caves to favour a sustainable touristic use that would guarantee their preservation for future generations as well as the economic development of local communities”, the authors conclude.

Research article:

Piano E, Nicolosi G, Mammola S, Balestra V, Baroni B, Bellopede R, Cumino E, Muzzulini N, Piquet A, Isaia M (2022) A literature-based database of the natural heritage, the ecological status and tourism-related impacts in show caves worldwide. Nature Conservation 50: 159-174. https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.50.80505

All images are from Bossea show cave in Italy, by Simone Marzocchi.

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Snake trade in Indonesia is not sustainable enough — but it could be

A substantial part of the trade in blood pythons in Indonesia is illegal and underreported, a new study published in the open-access journal Nature Conservation found.

Wildlife trade is a multi-million dollar industry. While some animals are traded legally, in compliance with legislation that aims to protect populations, wildlife trafficking continues to thrive in many places, threatening precious species with extinction.

Reptiles are exported in large numbers, and snakes are no exception. They are mostly traded for their skins, used in luxury leather products, or as pets. In the case of the blood python, which can reach up to 250 cm in length, there are clear indications of misdeclared, underreported or illegal trading involving tens of thousands of individuals around the world.

According to Vincent Nijman, professor in anthropology at Oxford Brookes University in the UK, harvest and trade in certain species of snakes, especially ones that are common and have a high reproductive output, can be sustainable. But how do we make sure it really is?

Blood python in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Thailand. Photo by Tontan Travel

“Sustainability is best assessed by surveying wild populations, but this takes time and effort,” Nijman explains. “An alternative method is to use data from slaughterhouses and compare how certain parameters (number of snakes, size, males vs females) change over time.”

This method has been used by several research groups to assess the sustainability of the harvest and trade in blood pythons in Indonesia. The outcomes of these assessments vary widely, with some researchers claiming the trade is sustainable, and others that it is not and that populations are in decline.

“A major problem with these assessments is that while they can detect a change in, for instance, the number of blood pythons that arrive in slaughterhouses, it is unclear if this is due to changes in the wild population, changes in harvest areas, methods of harvesting, or changes in the regulations that permit the harvest to take place,” Nijman elaborates.

Using publicly available information, and searching for evidence of illicit trade, he set out to establish if there is sufficient data to assess whether blood pythons are indeed exploited sustainably in Indonesia.

“There is no conclusive data to support that the harvest of blood pythons in North Sumatra is sustainable, but there is sufficient evidence to suggest that a substantial part of this trade is illegal,” he points out in his study, which was published in the open-access journal Nature Conservation.

He goes on to explain that there is no one-on-one relationship between the sustainability of harvest and trade and its legality: “A species can be legally traded to extinction, or it can be traded illegally in small enough numbers for it to be sustainable.”

Conceptual framework of the relationship between population size, sustainable harvest and global conservation status. The harvest that took place between A and B, C and D, and E and F, could be considered sustainable, whereas it is unsustainable between B and C and D and E. The global threat assessment based on two of the IUCN threat level criteria (population size and declining populations) are not tightly linked to harvest sustainability (modified after Yamaguchi 2014).

A clear trend in the last decade was a change in the way blood pythons are harvested, compared to previous periods, “from opportunistic capture to, at least in part, targeted collection.”

Blood pythons are not included on Indonesia’s protected species list, but their harvest and trade, both domestically and internationally, is regulated by a quota system. The harvest for domestic trade typically constitutes 10% of what is allowed to be exported.

Nijman’s research identified substantial evidence of underreported and illegal international trade in blood pythons. “Part of any assessment of sustainability of the harvest and trade in blood pythons must address this as a matter of urgency,” he concludes.

Research article:

Nijman V (2022) Harvest quotas, free markets and the sustainable trade in pythons. Nature Conservation 48: 99-121. https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.48.80988