News

CO-OP4CBD project kicks off in Brussels

07 Apr 2023

CO-OP4CBD held its first in-person consortium meeting between 21 and 22 February 2023 in Brussels, Belgium.

The meeting started with CO-OP4CBD's project officer Piret Nõukas who gave an introductory presentation to all partners, followed by an overview of the outcomes of COP15 and the expectations for the period leading up to COP16, presented by Daniela Guarás from UNEP-WCMC. 

The first day continued with Work Package leaders presenting their upcoming tasks in the project.

Work Package 1, called "Mapping the landscape of expertise for technical and scientific cooperation" was presented by WP leader Kaisa Pietilä from Finnish Environment Institute (Syke) - Suomen ympäristökeskus (Syke), while Robin Goffaux from Fondation pour la Recherche sur la Biodiversité (FRB) gave an overview of the tasks in WP2 called "Engaging expertise in CBD processes".

After a short break, the first day of our kick off meeting continued with a session led by Matea Vukelic from UNEP-WCMC on WP3 "Supporting monitoring, reporting and review", which will support the EU member states and associated countries by implementing a monitoring framework and review mechanisms.

The following session on WP4 "Supporting technical and scientific cooperation" led by Maja Vasilijević from NINA, discussed upcoming objectives such as enabling researchers to participate more effectively in the work of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

As every project needs a well-planned communication strategy, Boris Barov and Nikolay Mehandzhiyski from Pensoft Publishers presented WP5 "Communication, dissemination and exploitation" which will raise awareness and maximise the impact of the project outputs through a recognisable project brand and promotion. Pensoft Publishers will also support community building and knowledge exchange throughout the project by providing relevant materials and tools for improved communication, as well as maximise outreach and uptake of results to relevant initiatives, networks and projects by establishing a continuous communication flow, synergies and links.

The second day of our kick off meeting introduced future collaborators to CO-OP4CBD, such as the EU Knoweldge Centre for Biodiversity, introduced by Grégoire Dubois, Biodiversa+ presented by Charlotte Le Delliou and BioAgora Project, introduced by Kati Vierikko from Finnish Environment Institute (Syke).

The kick off meeting of CO-OP4CBD laid the groundwork for our upcoming collaboration on the project by including productive discussions and interesting brainstorming sessions.