Adequacy of Biodiversity Observation Systems

In response to a decision taken last November at the Nagoya conference of the Convention on Biological Diversity, GEO BON has produced and submitted to the CBD a report entitled "Adequacy of Biodiversity Observation Systems to support the CBD 2020 Targets".  The report can be read here.

EC JRC launches DOPA, a Digital Observatory for Protected Areas

The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission has launched the Digital Observatory for Protected Areas (DOPA). A GEO BON contribution to the monitoring of biodiversity, the DOPA is designed as set of distributed web services to assess the state of, and pressure on, Protected Areas and to prioritize them accordingly in order to support decision making and fund allocation processes. It is also conceived as a monitoring and ecological forecasting service.

DOPA is supported by the European projects EuroGEOSS and UncertWEB and developed in collaboration with GBIF, UNEP-WCMC, Birdlife International, RSPB and others. Read here a description of the use of DOPA for Africa presented at MapAfrica, 23-25 November 2010, Cape Town, South Africa.

More information about DOPA can be found at http://dopa.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

Nature cites GEO BON value for biodiversity assessment

An editorial in the prestigious science publication Nature has recognized the GEO Biodiversity Observation Network as a crucial mechanism for supporting the proposed Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). See the article here.

SBSTTA calls on GEO BON

At its May meeting in Nairobi, the Convention on Biological Diversity's Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice adopted two recommendations pertaining to GEO BON. They highlight GEO BON's ability to contribute to strengthening biodiversity monitoring and to supporting the CBD Strategic Plan for 2011-2020.

The following excerpts come from the unedited version of the SBSTTA recommendations; the edited version will be posted on the CBD website (www.cbd.int) as soon as available.

The Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice [...]

1. Recommends that the Conference of the Parties [...]

(a) Recognizes the need to continue strengthening our ability to monitor biodiversity at all levels including through, inter alia: Strengthening the capacity to mobilize and use biodiversity data, information and forecasts so that they are readily accessible to policymakers, managers, experts and other users, inter alia, through participation in, and support to, the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO-BON); [...]

(c) Requests the Executive Secretary to invite GEO-BON, working through organizations conducting biodiversity relevant observations, including, inter alia, the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre and IUCN, to prepare an evaluation of existing observation capabilities relevant to the targets contained in the Strategic Plan for the period 2011-2020 and provide a report in time for the Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Indicators for the Strategic Plan for the period 2011-2020 and to a meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice prior to the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties;

GEO BON launches Implementation Plan

The Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) has released its detailed, 175-page Implementation Plan for a coordinated global campaign to gather and share information on biodiversity, provide tools for data integration and analysis, and contribute to improved environmental management and human well-being. For more information, see the Technical Summary, Detailed Implementation Plan, and press release.

GEO BON reaches out to Convention on Biological Diversity

GEO BON has submitted an information document to the Convention on Biological Diversity's Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technological and Technical Advice (SBSTTA-14), which is meeting in Nairobi from 10-21 May. The document provides a summary of GEO BON's implementation plans. The document is posted here as well as on the SBSTTA website.

The GEO Biodiversity Observation Network is organizing a side event on Thursday, 13 May, at 13h15, at the SBSTTA-14 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi.  The event will inform the CBD community about the work and relevance of GEO BON.

The programme is as follows:

• Dr Anne Larigauderie, DIVERSITAS
• Dr Robert (Bob) Scholes, CSIR, South Africa, Chair, GEO BON Steering Committee
• Launching AP-BON for establishing the Biodiversity Observation Network in the Asia and Pacific region, by Prof. Motomi Ito, University of Tokyo, Japan and Prof. Yoshihisa Shirayama, Kyoto University, Japan
• Implementing GEO BON: Plans for monitoring terrestrial biodiversity at the species level, by Dr Henrique Pereira, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
• General discussion