This week, the Portuguese city of Aveiro hosted the annual conference of CO-OP4CBD partner Alternet, a Europe-wide network of research entities committed to integrating capabilities in the science-policy interfaces (SPIs) on biodiversity and ecosystem services. An overarching theme of this year’s edition was “Achieving transformative change for biodiversity”, a reflection on the systemic adjustments needed to reverse the decline of the Earth’s biosphere. It is an event meant to bring together stakeholders from across the scientific, decision-making and civil domains to foster a meaningful conversation on harnessing gathered insights in actionable strategies.

On 14 May, this forum’s agenda featured a joint session that was co-hosted by CO-OP4CBD and its fellow Horizon Europe projects BioAgora and RESPIN. Its title was “Engaging in the science-policy interface: Addressing capacity needs to meet their transformative potential”. It was the purpose of this showcase to lay out the role of these EU-funded initiatives in mapping, assessing, developing and improving the SPI landscape of the European Union (EU). The team behind this collaboration featured:

• CO-OP4CBD coordinators Constance Laureau and Nathalie Morata from the Foundation for Research on Biodiversity

• Alternet researchers Brooke Wilkerson and Fiona Nevzati

• Kaisa Korhonen-Kurki of the Finnish Environment Institute

• Jomme Desair of Belgium’s Research Institute for Nature and Forest

Content-wise, the segment of the presentation dedicated to CO-OP4CBD sought to show its focus on and relation to the processes and frameworks of the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity (UN CBD), particularly in the European context. A focal point of this introduction were the four primary functions of the project:

• strengthening ties between UN CBD and the EU

• providing technical knowledge

• building a network of experts

• building capacities

While the particularities inherent in each of those tasks was discussed, an emphasis was placed on two major challenges - identification of decision-making needs in UN CBD negotiation formats and the recruitment of experts to respond to these needs. It was made clear that these difficulties have convinced the project consortium to place such a high value on enhancing capabilities via trainings, workshops and instructional outputs.

More information about the Alternet conference can be found on the organisation’s website. Discover how the three SPI-centric projects took their collaboration further during COP16 Colombia, the world’s largest biodiversity summit, here.