Mission
EuropaBON will work with stakeholders to identify user and policy needs for biodiversity monitoring and investigate the feasibility of setting up a center to coordinate monitoring activities across Europe. Together with stakeholders, EuropaBON will assess current monitoring efforts to identify gaps, data and workflow bottlenecks, and analyse cost-effectiveness of different schemes. The results of this assessment will be used to inform the design of improved monitoring schemes able to integrate in-situ and remote sensing data through models, and using novel technologies, to deliver more complete and less biased biodiversity information with multiple benefits to users and society. A set of EuropaBON showcases will demonstrate how the EBVs and EESVs provide timely and relevant data for EU member states and regions, including policy-relevant indicators to assess progress in biodiversity targets, short-term biodiversity and ecosystem services forecasts, and scenarios that support IPBES and other assessments.
Objectives
EuropaBON aims to:
Engage users at the regional, national and European level to identify the data needs of policies and targets aligned with the new European Green Deal, such as the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, Habitats Directive, Birds Directive, Water Framework Directive, Climate Strategy and Ecosystem Restoration goals, the Bioeconomy Strategy, and national and EU wide initiatives on natural capital accounting.
Adapt the generic Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) and Essential Ecosystem Services Variables (EESVs) and their characteristics (spatial, temporal and biological entity, scope and resolution) to address the specific user needs.
Survey existing monitoring initiatives, including long-term ecosystem monitoring and monitoring that responds to regulations (directives and strategies), remote sensing and citizen science, and assess how they can contribute to producing comprehensive biodiversity information under the EBVs and EESVs frameworks.
Identify gaps in the current monitoring of European biodiversity, including thematic, taxonomic, geographic and temporal gaps, and how novel technologies and modelling approaches can assist in filling those gaps.
Analyze the pathway from data collection to knowledge production in order to identify good practices, bottlenecks and limitations on the mobilization and harmonization of monitoring data to publicly accessible infrastructures and on their policy uptake.
Co-design workflows needed for a more integrated biodiversity observation network that can close gaps and reduce bottlenecks, in dialogue with data producers and users to support EU policies and targets. For the first time, workflows will be proposed for a wide range of EBVs at the European scale including the biodiversity monitoring protocols, modelling tools available, and analytical steps required.
Assess cost-effectiveness of existing monitoring schemes and of the new monitoring design (including benefits related to ecosystem services, as well as co-benefits on education, Common Agricultural Policy goals, and business opportunities) with EBVs and EESVs workflows implemented at different levels of ambition.
Demonstrate in a set of policy-oriented showcases how such EBVs and EESVs workflows allow the integration of different data streams and thus provide timely and relevant data across the EU member states and regions, including indicators to assess policy targets and ecosystem condition, current trends, short-term biodiversity and ecosystem services forecasts for the public, and support the development of long-term scenarios in IPBES and other initiatives.
Mobilize a coalition of key players in national and EU level bodies to establish the ToR for a permanent Biodiversity Monitoring and Coordinating Centre that will implement and oversee a European Biodiversity Observation Network.