Mountains are hotspots of biodiversity and areas of high endemism that support one third of terrestrial species and numerous ecosystem services. Mountain ecosystems are therefore of prime importance not only for biodiversity, but for human well-being in general. Because of their geodiversity, mountain ecosystems have served as refuge for organisms
Forest management requires the use of comprehensive remote sensing data which enable monitoring biodiversity changes. Biophysical and biochemical vegetation parameters can characterise changes in biodiversity through changes in ecosystem structure and function.
The CEBioS programme funded by the Belgian Development Cooperation and hosted by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences developed a capacity development concept linking scientific data to policy development. In 2015 four projects were selected in Benin, Burundi and the D.R.Congo. The focus was on national indicator processes and
The NextGEOSS project, valued at €10 million, has been selected by the European Commission to provide the European hub for EO data distribution. NextGEOSS (Next Generation GEOSS for Business & Innovation) will be the European contribution to the global system being put in place by GEO, providing access to a
In November 2016, GEO-Wetlands has been approved by GEO-XIII Plenary in St. Petersburg and is now officially part of the GEO Work Programme 2017-2019 as a new GEO initiative. Currently, a website for GEO-Wetlands is being developed, with a first version already available at www.geowetlands.org. Different working groups have been
New partnerships for policy and conservation The MacArthur Foundation has awarded Map of Life and its partner the, Field Museum’s Keller Science Action Center, a grant to develop an online biodiversity dashboard for the park services and wildlife agencies in Peru, Ecuador, and Columbia. Read more With sponsorship from Map
Projects to establish biodiversity indicators in African countries The CEBioS programme funded by the Belgian Development Cooperation developed a capacity development concept linking scientific data to policy development in some African countries. To guarantee shared ownership, academic institutes and organisations or authorities with responsibilities in biodiversity policy were invited to
The project „Flora of Bavaria – Data management DWB and concept development Flora“ started in August, 2016. The two-year project is based on the results of a preceding project and will – at the end – give online access to more than 6 mio historical and recent occurrence data of
ScenNet’2016, 24-26 August 2016, Montpellier – France ScenNet’2016, the international conference on Scenarios and Models of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Support of Decision Making, has been a great success. An internationally diverse group of scientists assembled at this conference and brought their expertise on both modelling biodiversity and ecosystem
Socio-ecological drivers of change, operating at various administrative and temporal scales in an interactive pattern, determine the directionality and intensity of anthropogenic processes and their impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems. Anthropogenic processes may therefore also directly or indirectly impact on ecosystem resilience, the ability of a system to return to
