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Dear Members of the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Network,
We are happy to share that our team is constantly growing and now we have new colleagues supporting our online communication and social media works. From New York to Istanbul and Nairobi, the news updates from partners as well as our regional and national events are disseminated globally!
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Cameroon National Trialogue on Science-Policy for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
As part of the ongoing Cameroon National Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Assessment , BES-Net supported the Ministry of Environment, Protection of Nature and Sustainable Development and the Network for Environment and Sustainable Development in Central Africa (NESDA-CA) in organizing a 3-day National Trialogue in Yaoundé, from 25 to 27 February 2019, both technically and financially. On Day 1 and 2, the authors jointly reviewed the first order draft assessment to ensure synergy and consistency among chapters, identified information gaps and improve policy-relevance of the assessment questions and messages. Day 3 was organized in the format of an interactive science-policy dialogue between the authors’ team and the National Platform for Science-Policy Interface on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services to present the outputs from Day 1 and 2, and refine further the policy questions as per the latest government policy demands and priorities. The event not only contributed to fine-tune the focus and direction of the assessment but also helped enhance public awareness of the initiative with prominent media coverage. More information will be available soon.
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 Ever-bigger Assessments
I sometimes wonder whether future generations will chart the progression of our environmental crisis simply by graphing the size/weight of the reports on it. It would certainly be quicker than reading them! The only GEO report which I have in hard copy (GEO-4) weighs in at just a tad under 2kg (paperback) and is “only” 500 pages.
Last month’s United Nations Environment Assembly meeting saw the release of GEO-6, the Global Environment Outlook 6 report, available here as a whopping 745 page, 370 MB download. The GEO-6 Summary for Policy-Makers was agreed in January 2019 and is available, in all six UN languages, here as a 28 page 33.7 MB download.
The GEO-6 report is organized under the theme, “Healthy Planet, Healthy People” and draws attention to the connection between environmental and human health, and encourages the achievement of the environmental dimensions of the SDGs, internationally agreed environmental goals, and the objectives of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). Background materials for the report, including infographics are available here .
For those too busy to even manage a 28 page read, GEO-6 Co-Chairs Joyeeta Gupta (India) and Paul Ekins (UK), with a number of co-authors, have distilled the assessment down to a 3-page commentary, available here .
And, finally, for those who cannot stay still for long enough to read 3 pages, here is a link to a 1-minute video message from Joyeeta Gupta.
No matter how you prefer to get it, the message from GEO-6 is clear – our abuse of the planet’s health is rapidly becoming a case of self-harm – and the window of opportunity to reverse this is rapidly closing.
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The fourth UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-4)
As global environment leaders gathered at the Fourth UN Environmental Assembly (UNEA-4) in Nairobi from 11-15 March, there was a great opportunity to put in place plans to reverse the loss of nature by 2030. Such an event was the Ministerial Roundtable on main outcomes of the 2018 UN Biodiversity Conference and the development of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, called : Advancing the Biodiversity Agenda. Here are some of the resolutions taken during that week.
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Post-Trialogue actions in the Caribbean – a case from Antigua and Barbuda
Building on the BES-Net Caribbean Regional Trialogue on Pollinators, Food Security and Climate Resilience, Antigua and Barbuda Marine Ecosystems Protected Area (MEPA) Trust lead by Ruth Spencer – one of the participants of the Caribbean Trialogue – organized a national multi-stakeholder dialogue event on 27 February 2019 in partnership with the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme, the Forest Division of the Department of Environment of Antigua and Barbuda and the Beekeeping Cooperative. Read more
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IUCN and GIZ formalise their partnership to advance knowledge sharing in conservation and sustainable development
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ GmbH) recently signed a cooperation agreement to support peer-to-peer learning under the PANORAMA – Solutions for a Healthy Planet initiative. Read more
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SEED Awards 2019
This year, up to 66 prize packages will be awarded to locally-driven early-stage enterprises, which leverage their innovative business solutions to solve social and environmental challenges in Ghana, India, Indonesia, Malawi, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Candidates have until 02 April 2019 to apply, by logging on to the SEED application platform.
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IPBES-7
29 April 2019 – 4 May 2019, Paris, France
The seventh Plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Find more info here.
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ALTER-Net Conference 2019
17-19th June 2019, Ghent, Belgium
The 2019 ALTER-Net & EKLIPSE Conference entitled: “The EU Biodiversity Strategy Beyond 2020: Research insights and needs for biodiversity and ecosystem services in Europe” will bring together policy and other societal actors are invited to inform EKLIPSE about how this mechanism can contribute to their needs, or help address obstacles and problems in the process of developing/implementing an EU post-2020 Biodiversity Strategy. Read more
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Announcement and Call for Abstracts for the WOCAT Symposium and 19th WOCAT Network Meeting
13-16 May 2019, Addis Ababa,Ethiopia
The WOCAT Symposium and the 19th WOCAT Network Meeting has its thematic focus on ‘Up- and Out-scaling Sustainable Land Management and Achieving Land Degradation Neutrality’. Sustainable Land Management (SLM) provides the foundation for ensuring food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation, preventing and reducing natural disasters, and maintaining and protecting biodiversity. Please submit the abstract and register through the online registration form until Friday, 12 April 2019.
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Oceania Ecosystem Services Forum (OESF) 2019
2-6 September 2019, Ōtautahi (Christchurch), Aotearoa New Zealand
OESF 2019 aims to bring together policy-makers, businesses, community leaders and researchers with the aspiration of ‘Creating healthy communities and ecosystems for a resilient future’.
If you have any questions or would like to volunteer to OESF 2019 please contact the OESF 2019 Organising Committee (Richard Yao, Sandra Velarde, Tim Payn, Simone Maynard): oceaniaesforum@gmail.com).
Call for abstracts and proposals!
Submission deadline: Wednesday 3 April 2019!
Submit your abstract and proposals here.
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Free online course on Biodiversity Finance
Offered by UNDP and partners, this 7-week free-online course offers practical skills for assessing the policy, institutional, and economic contexts for biodiversity finance; conducting a financial needs assessment to achieve a country’s biodiversity goals; and developing a biodiversity finance plan. The course will run from 15 April to 31 May 2019. Register today
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MOOC on Business Model Innovation for Sustainable Landscape Restoration
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Highlights Report 2018 – Belgian Biodiversity Platform
In this document, you will learn how our organization, in collaboration with our partners, has been active in science-policy interface activities over the past year.
This report is available on the Belgian Biodiversity Platform website.
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 Applying integrated valuation of ecosystem services in Latin AmericaHere you can read about the work from one of BES-Net partners from Humboldt Institute in Colombia and see how they value the ecosystem services in their country and not only. Free access to the full document here.
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Senior Associate, Coastal Wetlands and Coral Reefs
Organization: The Pew Charitable Trusts
Location: US-DC-Washington
Closing date: 1 April 2019
See here
Primate Behavior Research Intern
Organization: Fundacion Para La Tierra
Location: Pilar, Neembucu, Paraguay (PY)
Closing date: 26 April 2019
See here
Foundation Program Manager
Organization: The JRS Biodiversity Foundation
Location: Seattle, WA, U.S.
Closing date: May 2019
See here |
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