INTRODUCTION TO E-CONFERENCE SESSION: How to reach the 2010-and beyond-target: Research influencing policy

Welcome to the Finnish EPBRS e-conference session on 'Actions for the 2010 biodiversity target in Europe – how does research contribute to halting biodiversity loss?”

In this E.conference we will continue the task laid out by Jari Niemela in his introduction. In summary, the aim is to enhance collaboration between research and policy makers and to identify research practices and tasks to support the development and implementation of an effective and socially acceptable biodiversity policy. Over the next 3 weeks we will try and identify the essential research and development required to ensure that biodiversity and the services it provides can be protected and enhanced up until 2010 and beyond. Many would argue that achieving the 2010 target was always going to be an impossible dream, but it is also apparent that the target has already served a useful role in focusing policy and research priorities. We now need to continue this process and look beyond 2010 to create a longer-term framework for policy and research on biodiversity.

STRUCTURE OF THE E-CONFERENCE

Day 0. We will start by summarising current research priorities and their link to the 2010 target by presenting the results of the survey has been developed jointly by European Platform for Biodiversity Research (EPBRS), ALTER-Net (A Network of Excellence on biodiversity Research) and the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE). This questionnaire was based on a comprehensive list of important research topics presented in the ‘Message from Malahide’ and the results represent the views of EPBRS members and participants in the biodiversity related networks of excellence, ERA-Nets and national biodiversity platforms.

Day 1- 14. But do these research priorities really reflect policy priorities? The bulk of the E-conference will be made up of a structured discussion designed to explore how well current research priorities meet the policy priorities related to the 2010 target. The framework for this is provided by the key policy areas for action identified in the Communication from the Commission (COM(2006)216final) on “Halting the Loss of Biodiversity by 2010 – and beyond”. This lists 118 specific actions related to 10 policy objectives in 4 policy areas:

Policy Area 1: biodiversity in the EU
Objective 1. To safeguard the EU’s most important habitats and species.
Objective 2: To conserve and restore biodiversity and ecosystem services in the wider EU countryside.
Objective 3. To conserve and restore biodiversity and ecosystem services in the wider EU marine environment.
Objective 4: To reinforce compatibility of regional and territorial development with biodiversity in the EU.
Objective 5. To substantially reduce the impacts on EU biodiversity of invasive alien species and alien genotypes.

Policy Area 2: the EU and global biodiversity
Objective 6. To substantially strengthen effectiveness of international governance for biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Objective 7. To substantially strengthen support for biodiversity and ecosystem services in EU external assistance.
Objective 8. To substantially reduce the impact of international trade on global biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Policy Area 3: biodiversity and climate change
Objective 9. To support biodiversity adaptation to climate change.

Policy Area 4: the knowledge base
Objective 10. To substantially strengthen the knowledge base for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, in the EU and globally.

The Communication provides a neat set of objectives with some clear policy actions and leaves some key questions for the research and policy communities to consider:

Q1) What research and development is required to enable us to meet these specific objectives? Do we already know everything we need to know to implement these policies and are improved knowledge management, knowledge transfer and communication strategies the main priorities? Some might say so. But others might point out that biodiversity is such an integral part of our lives that it effects and is affected by almost everything we do. We may only have a small part of the knowledge base necessary to manage these complex interactions between biodiversity and society and we require new integrated, inter-disciplinary, cross-sectoral research approaches if we are to tackle the complex issues mentioned in the Communication from the Commission such as:
· Coherence, connectivity and resilience of the Natura 2000 network.
· Conservation of habitats and species requires a wider environment favourable to biodiversity and cross-sectoral approaches (agriculture, forestry, water, marine etc).
· Biodiversity needs must be taken into account further upstream in the decision making process.
· Interactions between biodiversity loss and climate change adaptation and mitigation methods.
· A more coherent EU approach is required is required to reduce the loss of biodiversity globally, which ensures synergy between actions for governance, trade and development cooperation.
· A balance between development and conservation.
· The critical need to strengthen our understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem services, if we are to refine our policy purposes in the future.

Q2) What research infrastructures, data, science-policy interfaces, communication methods are going to be required in order to implement the work that needs to be done to meet these objectives?

Q3) Are these actions and objectives necessary and sufficient to enable us to halt the loss of biodiversity in Europe? Perhaps there are some fundamental research issues that we need to address if we want to look beyond 2010 towards a longer-term framework for future policy.

Days 15-17: In the concluding days of the E-conference we should also take some time to think outside of the box. If we do some distant horizon scanning will we see that we are missing some crucial bit of knowledge that doesn’t fit comfortably into either the research or policy frameworks used above? If so we really need to hear from you.

What next?
The results of the survey and of the electronic conference will be distributed to all respondents and will also feed into the12th meeting of the EPBRS to be held November 16-19 in Helsinki during the Finnish EU presidency. One of the key topics of the meeting will be the contribution of research towards and beyond the 2010 goal.

Terry Parr
E-conference Session chair