2-4 November 2010
Dublin, Ireland

The conference aims to:

- investigate how biodiversity policies and legislation including the Common Agricultural Policy, Fisheries Policy and the Marine and Coastal Access Bill) are affecting and driving biodiversity conservation;
– showcase biodiversity tools and methods available to ecologists; and
- review case studies of some of the more practical methods used in biodiversity projects.

Keynote speakers include:

Mairead McGuinness, MEP
John Cross, NPWS
Damon Stanwell-Smith, UNEP WCMC
John Finn, TEAGASC
Patricia Almeida-Villella MIEEM, Marine Management Organisation
Neil Wellum, Marine Management Organisation
Liam Lysaght, Director, National Biodiversity Data Centre
Matthew Jebb, Director of Dublin Botanical Gardens
Heather Thompson, Chief Executive, Ulster Wildlife Trust
Paul Wilkinson, Head of ‘A Living Landscape’, Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts

To view the full programme and to book you place, please visit the IEEM conference webpage.

Companies are increasingly seeking business opportunities in preserving biodiversity rather than viewing it as a threat to their profits, according to a new McKinsey survey. The survey of some 1,500 executives of companies in all global regions and industries found that 59% of respondents view biodiversity as an opportunity rather than a threat to their company. They identified opportunities to boost corporate reputations by taking action to preserve biodiversity or develop new products from renewable natural resources.

More from this week’s Society of Biology’s Science Policy Newsletter

The Cambridge Conservation Initiative, a partnership of NGOs and departments at the University of Cambridge, is seeking your views on whether the way in which climate change has been communicated to policy-makers and the public can provide lessons for the communication of biodiversity loss. How can biodiversity move up the political agenda, with policy-makers and members of the public recognising the seriousness implications of its loss? Will studying how climate change has moved to the forefront of policy and public awareness help in achieving a similar shift for biodiversity?

Your views will help the CCI and the conservation community more widely, in efforts to make sure that biodiversity loss achieves a higher policy and public profile.

You are invited to complete a brief survey, giving your view on 35 statements, drawn from interviews with experts in climate change and biodiversity conservation. This should take you no more than 20 minutes. The deadline for completion of the survey is 31st August.

From the Society of Biology’s Science Policy weekly news update:

Key results

• The unsmoothed farmland bird population index for England, covering 19 species, decreased by 5 per cent between 2008 and 2009. The index is now at its lowest recorded value, at 53 per cent lower than its 1966 starting value.
• Twelve species (almost two-thirds of those included in the index) declined between 2008 and 2009 – Kestrel, Lapwing, Grey Partridge, Skylark, Starling, Greenfinch, Tree Sparrow, Yellow Wagtail, Linnet, Wood Pigeon, Corn Bunting and Rook. This decline was significant for the first six species listed. For many species, the decline between 2008 and 2009 is a continuation of downward trends evident over at least the last four or five years.
• Seven species increased between 2008 and 2009 – Goldfinch, Jackdaw, Reed Bunting, Stock Dove, Turtle Dove, Whitethroat and Yellowhammer. Most of these, for example Goldfinch and Jackdaw, have shown long-term upward trends.

Bird populations are considered to be a good indicator of the broad state of wildlife because birds occupy a wide range of habitats, they tend to be near or at the top of food chains and there is considerable long-term data on changes in bird populations which helps with the interpretation of shorter term fluctuations.

Further information.

The Guardian last week published an article by George Monbiot and Guillaume Chapron, a researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, calling for readers to nominate key actions which can make a significant difference to halting biodiversity loss worldwide. The authors are seeking actions which ‘make a major contribution to protecting a particular species or ecosystem and that are ’strongly and widely supported by scientific evidence published in academic journals; but that are politically costly or opposed by special interest groups.’

Submit ideas to the Biodiversity100 campaign or see what others have suggested at the Guardian website. Readers have been given one month to submit their ideas, before the final list of 100 tasks, for presentation to G20 governments, is decided.

2010 has been designated the International Year of Biodiversity by the United Nations. To celebrate the Society of Biology has launched a major photography competition. Entrants are free to interpret how they capture photographically images that celebrate, explore, comment on or reveal aspects of biodiversity from around the world. The winning photograph will be used as the cover image for the Society’s leading Journal Biologist, and the winner will receive £1,000! There are four award categories; Land, Air, Water and Close Up and the Society is giving away lots of prizes to the winners and runners up in each category. Full details are available on the Society’s website or by emailing photocomp@societyofbiology.org.

A new campaign by the Guardian newspaper seeks to challenge ‘ill-conceived’ developments on nationally and internationally important habitats, by highlighting local campaigns against them from around the country.

By collating a catalogue of developments, from large national projects to small garden-grabs, the newspaper hopes to highlight the threat developments present to our national biodiversity, which, it is argued, is being eroded piece by piece. By seeking to expose what it deems to be an iniquitous planning system which permits developments despite various levels of protection, the newspaper aims to raise awareness of the changes occurring to Britain’s landscape and the consequence for our natural environment.

Beginning with featured articles from the current and former Environment Secretaries, Caroline Spelman and Hilary Benn, both of whom have expressed support for the Guardian’s initiative, the campaign starts from firm footings, already attracting a number of submissions from local groups concerned about planned local developments.

To read more about the project, see the Piece by Piece webpages, here.

Yesterday saw the launch of the ‘TEEB for Business’ report at the first annual Global Business of Biodiversity (GBOB) symposium, at the Excel Centre in London. The BES policy team was there, with other members of the Natural Capital Initiative secretariat, to see Pavan Sukhdev, TEEB study leader, unveil the report to an assembled audience of policy-makers, representatives from NGOs and business leaders. Although business still has a long way to go in terms of recognising the importance of biodiversity and sustainability in supply chains, it was encouraging to see that at least some companies have taken this to heart – and are showing leadership to others.

The Chief Executive of Rio Tinto delivered a presentation outlining why he thought that investing in biodiversity made sound business sense. Business is clearly first and foremost about the ‘bottom line’; economics and the profit margin. However, in order to maintain access to land and resources in perpetuity, Rio Tinto seems to have recognised that this depends on creating a reputation as a company which is not simply going to trash the environment to achieve the biggest profit, but on developing a reputation for ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’. CEO Tom Albanese said that Rio Tinto wants to create a ‘net positive impact’ for biodiversity.

Gavin Neath, Vice-President for Global Communications at Unilever delivered a presentation showcasing the company’s work in environmental stewardship. Unilever solely owns, and sustainably manages, its tea plantations. Flagging its sustainable practices up to the consumer has resulted in a consumer perception that tea processed in this way actually tastes better, delivering financial returns for the company.

A common theme to emerge from the day was the need for better communication and a ‘new language’ around the concepts of biodiversity and ecosystem services. This was perhaps most strongly illustrated by Pavan Sukhdev, who said that if he could have the opportunity once more he would re-name the TEEB study, ‘TEN’, the ‘Economics of Nature’. Pavan highlighted one of the next steps in the TEEB project, ‘TEEB for People’, which will see the creation of a website with social networks spinning off from this. It’s hoped that the public will engage with this resource – but there’s no doubt that either developing a new common language to describe the importance of biodiversity and ecosystem services, or working out means to better communicate using existing terminology, is vital.

Secretary of State at Defra, Caroline Spelman, delivered an address in the afternoon. The Minister used the opportunity to announce that in August, Defra will start a process of mapping the UK’s supplies of palm oil. The Government will work with companies and NGOs to produce a plan to shift the UK’s use of palm oil onto a sustainable footing. This is very encouraging. Less encouraging was the Minister quoting a figure of £3 million to support the implementation of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), where previously government had committed a much higher sum. The Minister’s answer to a query from the audience referenced the very difficult economic times ahead and the budget cuts which Government departments are being asked to make. By the Comprehensive Spending Review in the autumn it will be clear how other commitments are to be down-scaled: the conservation and ecological science communities have a role to play in advising Government in how to prioritise the cuts, making sure that harsh economic times to come do not compromise advances in environmental protection.

Overall, an interesting meeting. The role that business can play in highlighting the importance of biodiversity conservation, leading the way for consumers, was clear. The next steps must be to move from the conference centre to the board room of those companies not represented: to cease ‘preaching to the converted’ and to engage proactively with those harder to reach.

Last week and international meeting of UN delegates gave the ‘green light’ to a global panel on ecosystem services and biodiversity.

The Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), expected to be formally endorsed in 2011, is likely to modelled on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

One of the main roles of the IPBES will be to conduct peer reviews of scientific literature in order to provide governments with ‘gold standards’ reports, and to assess appropriate government responses.

The formation of the IPBES has been hailed as a “major breakthrough” by the executive director of the UN Environment Programme, Achim Steiner. It the culmination of work which began in Paris in 2006, following suggestions made in the UN’s Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005.

Plans to set up the IPBES are set to be formally established by the 65th session of the UN General Assembly, which opens in September.

Four years ago the European Commission’s annual ‘Green Week’ conference examined the progress towards the target of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010, carrying a positive “Biodiversity is Life!” strapline. Speaking for the UK’s Labour Government, the then Minister in charge of biodiversity, Barry Gardiner MP questioned the general public’s awareness of biodiversity loss, not to mention the apparent lack of understanding of what the term actually meant. Four years on, in the context of the International Year of Biodiversity, this year’s ‘Green Week’ fittingly brings biodiversity back into the spotlight. The conference provides a forum for a week of investigation into how to take the EU’s biodiversity policy forward post-2010.

Three days of discussion will address the pressing issues affecting Europe’s nature – what new policy responses are needed? How can the EU best value the remaining resource and measure the ecosystem services the continent’s nature provides? How can it properly maintain and expand its now long-established Natura 2000 network? 3,800 delegates from the public, charity, scientific, academic and business communities are joining representatives from the EU institutions to answer these questions.

Amongst the opening presentations was a speech by the European Environment Agency’s Executive Director Dr Jacqueline McGlade, who unveiled a new Biodiversity Information System for Europe (BISE), which centralises information about European biodiversity in a new web portal. Combined with the new Biodiversity Baseline, which provides a shapshot of the current state of biodiversity, the EEA and European Commission hope this partnership project will make the monitoring of progress towards renewed efforts to halt biodiversity loss a lot easier.

To catch up on the week’s activities, the Green Week 2010 website has details of the thirty sessions taking place, with video links to many of the proceedings.