Workshop on Water and Biodiversity – Brussels
I participated in a Workshop on Water and Biodiversity on the 17-18 June 2010 in Brussels, hosted by the Northrhine-Westfalia Representation (link to the case-studies document). The workshop was jointly organized by DG Environment Water and Nature Units with support from a number of Member States and with participation of the Member States experts from water and nature protection, stakeholders, NGOs and some elements of the scientific community.
The Workshop focused on the links between the EU Nature and Water legislation but it has also set the wider scene for the discussion on biodiversity and water. This discussion took place at this a crucial moment, when the EU Member States failure to meet biodiversity targets triggered the EU policy makers to discuss policy options for a new strategy.
The better integration of sectoral policies, restoration of ecosystem functions and better spatial planning based on sound data and scientific knowledge of how biodiversity links to socio-economic pressures and climate change are key aspects for success of novel biodiversity targets.
BioFresh, J. Freyhof from IGB delivered a short presentation on the Project goals with emphasis on the freshwater biodiversity platform connecting global and regional data bases. He encouraged the participants to share their data on biodiversity and thus to contribute to the EU capability to answer practical and scientific questions for conservation of biodiversity.
In his closing address G. Borchardt, Director DGENV D Water, Chemical and Biotechnology, highlighted the role of BioFresh in contribution to biodiversity conservation.
Ana Cristina Cardoso
Published in May, the 134-page CBD technical report “Biodiversity Scenarios: projections of 21st century change in biodiversity and associated ecosystem services” focuses on longer term projected estimates of biodiversity change .
I was interested to see how freshwater issues are discussed in this report, so I ran it through the ManyEyes Word-tree tool which visualises the context in which the word ‘freshwater; is used. Here is the result
If you would like to explore this word tree interactively click here
For me this confirms the strong associations between freshwater, ecosystems, services and biodiversity in international policy.
Paul Jepson
Name a species
Dr George C. McGavin, honorary research associate at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, poimted out last week in the UK newspaper the Guardian (article here), that when it comes to conservation, common names count. Latin classification can be cold and clinical – it’s much easier to care about a species that has a romantic and memorable name.
Following this idea, and to mark the International Year for Biodiversity, the Guardian, Natural England and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History have teamed up to ask the public to name some of the less well-known and lesser-loved animals and plants that inhabit UK shores. A list can be found here.
It is an original idea to raise awareness about biodiversity loss and the fact that not only cuddly polar bears are endangered by human-induced climate change. Any thoughts welcomed!
Muriel Bonjean
Biodiversity – our lifeline; Green Week 2010
The spotlight of the June 2010 EU Green Week conference was biodiversity. Topics addressed included the state of biodiversity and nature in Europe and the world, the benefits they bring, present-day pressures on them, and possible solutions to the current rates of loss.
Looking through the 2010 Green Week conference website, I came across this challenging quote from Prof. Peter Bridgewater which seems highly relevant to BioFresh :
“Despite the dark cloud of climate change, availability and purity of water (the water issue) is the world’s most serious environmental challenge; so can better biodiversity management help solve the water issue, or will the water issue simply add more stress to biodiversity?”
Perhaps the question for us is what evidence and arguments can we draw on to support the proposition that bio-diverse freshwater systems enhance the instrumental value of water in terms of the quantity and quality or water resources for human consumption and use? I would welcome your thoughts and comments on this question.Prof Bridgewater’s talk titled “Climate for Water and Biodiversity, Water for Biodiversity and Climate or Biodiversity for Water and Climate”, can be accessed from here.
Muriel Bonjean
I’ve just returned from the South Korean portal city of Busan where I participated in a week of intense negotiations that resulted in governments agreeing to establish a new mechanism to strengthen the dialogue between the scientific community and policymakers on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The new Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) aims to be for biodiversity and ecosystems what the IPCC is for climate change, namely a leading body offering policy relevant and legitimate, scientifically credible information to inform decision-makers with options and scenario s on biodiversity and ecosystem services, around the world.
In my view BioFresh is optimally positioned to become a crucial scientific partner of this IPBES. This is because we share the goal of providing access to data, information, and our scientific tools may, in the end, contribute to the IPBES assessments. In addition, we may contribute to the capacity development component of IPBES. No doubt there are other ways we could contribute to supporting the vision of IPBES and also take this opportunity to generate more visibility for freshwater biodiversity in international policy. Please contribute your ideas.
Hendrik Segers
For further information, see the IPBES website, the IISD website, the IUCN press release and the BBC news website.
The Freshwater Blog 