How human activities cause biodiversity loss
Interactions and relative contributions of human activities; What do we know, what do we need to know ?
Relevance: This conference stems from the observation that the interactions between, and the relative contributions, of different types of human activities have unclear contributions on current and future biodiversity loss unclear for most researchers. This is largely due to the fact that very few publications compare the effects of these different activities in the same model, and since all these activities have been growing exponentially since 1850, they all correlate well with the quantifications of biodiversity loss.
This conference aims to make people from areas of research involved in biodiversity degradation and conservation, including biologists and geographers (IPBES), and climatologists (IPCC), share data and a vision in the context of the IPBES and IPCC coming reports about common sections focusing on biodiversity. We aim that this conference allows a thorough discussion of the causes of biodiversity loss. We expect it to be also an occasion to spread the excellent work of IPBES and IPCC editors and chairs to the political community in Belgium, which hosts the European parliament and commission. Key players will be invited to join the conference (UCLouvain is located 30 min from Brussels).
The conference can conveniently take place at the Earth and Life Institute (450 researchers) at UCLouvain, which hosts internationally recognized expertise in biodiversity, climate change, land use, forestry, and agricultural practices notably, including Profs. Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, Eric Lambin, Patrick Meyfroidt, Hans Van Dyck, and our university also hosts other key actors of UN goals such as Prof. Olivier De Schutter. This conference will also be an excellent training for ELI PhD students
Organisation : 24th October , one day, 4 sections (no parallel sessions) and two round tables for discussion and synthesis. Proposed by : Caroline Nieberding, Michel Crucifix, Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, Philippe Marbaix and Patrick Meyfroidt.
Addressed to: Researchers in Environmental sciences at UCLouvain and in Belgium (Msc to PI), Belgian and European politicians (DG Environnement) and Belgian NGOs. General audience will be welcome.
The lectures will be in English
Place : Auditoire Socrate (SOCR11), Place Cardinal Mercier, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
List of speakers and proposed contents of talks : (4 sections; 45 minutes including questions by talk)
1) Biodiversity: State and drivers of loss
9.00 – 9.45: Prof. Josef Settele (Center for Environmental research, Germany), co-Chair of 2019 IPBES Global assessment on biodiversity loss "Biodiversity loss : state of knowledge, by taxa and by regions (IPBES global report)".
9.45-10.30: Prof. Mark Urban (University of Connecticut, USA) "Relative importance and interactions of human drivers for biodiversity loss”
2) Role of land use change and degradation on biodiversity loss
10.30-11.15: Prof. Patrick Meyfroidt (Earth and Life Institute, UClouvain, Belgium) “The role of land use change in synergy with other human activities on biodiversity loss”
11.15-12.00: Prof. Teja Tscharntke (Göttingen university, Germany) “The role of industrial agriculture and forestry in synergy with other human activities on biodiversity loss”
12.00-13.00: lunch
13.30-13.30: 30-minutes Brainstorming by Prof. Philippe Baret (Earth and Life Institute, UClouvain, Belgium)
"Round Table 1: Political (individual, regional, national, European) actions needed for biodiversity conservation"
13.30-13.45: Announcement by Dr. Jorge Ventocilla, Policy Expert at the science and policy interface for the Belgian Biodiversity Platform/IPBES Belgian Focal Point:
"IPBES Rolling work programme up to 2030: Opportunities for Belgian experts to get engaged"
3) Role of climate change on biodiversity loss
13.45-14.30: Prof. Jean-Pascal van Ypersele (Earth and Life Institute, UClouvain, Belgium) “The role of climate change in interaction with other human activities on biodiversity loss”
4) Solutions for efficient mitigation of biodiversity loss
14.30-15.15: Prof. Klaus Birkhofer (University of Brandenburg, Germany) “Mitigation of biodiversity loss in industrialized countries through changes in agricultural practices”
15.15-16.00 : Prof. Sven Wunder (European Forest Institute, Barcelona, Spain) “Biodiversity conservation in tropical forests based on the REDD+ strategy”
16.00-16.30: coffee break
16.30-17.15: 45-minute brainstorming by Prof. Michel Crucifix (Earth and Life Institute, UClouvain, Belgium), “Synthesis of the day”
Registration Form
(Deadline on October 13th, 2019)
More information on the event website.