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Biodiversity Newsflash 144
February 2025
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We are pleased to annonce that the PROGRAMME of the Belgian IPBES Day ( 19 March 2025) is now finalised ➙ You can find it here! What is the event about?In December 2024, two landmark IPBES assessment reports were approved at the eleventh session of the IPBES Plenary in Windhoek, Namibia:
- Nexus Assessment: Exploring the interconnections between biodiversity, water, food, health, and climate change.
The event will showcase these two latest assessments.
You can look forward to presentations by IPBES authors, interactive discussions with experts, and networking opportunities.
✒️ Register for this exciting day here!
- Application for Experts
- Application for Fellows (early career, under 35 years)
Deadline to submit applications: 28 March 2025. Experts and fellows that would like to be nominated by Belgium are highly encouraged to contact the IPBES NFP for further information and support on the application. IPBES will organise a webinar where you can learn more about the scope of this assessment, as well as the expertise that will be sought, on 12 March from 1-3 pm. You can register via the IPBES website.
3 | Other IPBES news
A new season of the IPBES podcast "Nature Insights - Speed Dating with the Future" is now available wherever you get your podcasts, including two episodes on the new assessments:
For further information, contact Anna Heck, Science-Policy Officer, with the Belgian Biodiversity Platform, and IPBES Belgian National Focal Point.
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GBIF opened nominations for its annual Graduate Researchers Award, rewarding outstanding and innovative research research that relies on biodiversity data.
This annual programme aims to highlight research and discovery in biodiversity informatics by master’s and doctoral students whose work advances biodiversity informatics through GBIF-mediated data.
For 2025, two early-career researchers will be awarded €5,000 each for their contributions to the field.
Deadline: 27 June 2025
More details on eligibility, submission, and selection process can be found on this page.
5 | Two new GBIF guides available!
A guide to help researchers in government, academia, NGOs, and freshwater practitioners to format and publish freshwater data.
➟ Survey and Monitoring Data Quick-Start GuideA quick-start guide outlining steps to use the Humboldt Extension to enhance discovery and reuse of survey and monitoring data by upgrading and enriching structured ecological inventories.
For further information, you can contact André Heughebaert, IT Coordinator & GBIF HoD.
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Members of the TDWG Darwin Core Maintenance Group are inviting the community to review and provide comments on proposed changes to Darwin Core.
The review period will last for at least 30 days.
For more information on the review process and the maintenance of the Darwin Core standard: Github Darwin Core Maintenance FAQ.
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Does your company use biodiversity data to guide decisions? Biodiversa+ wants to hear from you! They are interviewing businesses in the Consumer Staples, Materials, Financials, and Energy sectors. Share your expertise to gain exclusive insights, shape future guidelines, and join Biodiversa’s workshop in Madrid!
8 | Webinar: IPBES second Global Assessment
Would you like to contribute to the IPBES second Global Assessment? Biodiversa+ is hosting a webinar this Wednesday, March 5th, at 13:00 CET. They’ll cover IPBES fundamentals, the assessment scope, the author experience, and the application process. Q&A included!
➡️ Learn more
9 | Workshop: Remote Sensing
Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS) offers great potential for biodiversity monitoring but still faces challenges. Biodiversa+ is hosting an expert workshop on 27 March (13:00-17:00 CET) to explore integrating SRS with other technologies to develop reliable biodiversity indicators.
➡️ Learn more
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 Biodiversity around the world! Each month we present interesting news items from around the globe.
You’re warmly invited to attend the ICPD 2025 from the 8th to the 11th July 2025, at KU Leuven!
Since its inception in 1968, ICPD has brought together scientists from various disciplines within animal science and veterinary medicine to explore the connections between animal diseases and husbandry practices. The conference aims to promote healthier, more welfare-friendly, and efficient animal production by addressing factors such as nutrition, endocrinology, physiology, immunohistology, genetics, and animal behaviour.
ICPD 2025 will continue this tradition, fostering international collaboration to exchange and discuss the latest research and innovations. The conference theme, "One Health, One Welfare," emphasizes the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to public health, inspired by lessons from the recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. This theme underscores the need for cooperation among human, animal, and environmental health sectors to tackle public health threats.
🗓️ Webinar : Implementation Tools for Target 6 - IAS Reduction - of the Kunming-Montreal GBF
The CBD is organising an Information Webinar on Tools to Support the Implementation of Target 6 (regarding Invasive Alien Species) of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (see CBD Notification 2025-011).
During this webinar, the Secretariat to the Convention on Biological Diversity, with the support of members of the Inter-Agency Liaison Group on Invasive Alien Species, will present information on existing tools to support the implementation of Target 6 of the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was adopted during the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) - in December 2022 - following a four year consultation and negotiation process.
The aim of target 6 is to reduce the introduction of Invasive Alien Species by 50% and minimise their impact.
The webinar will take place on 26 March 2025, 14:00-15:30 CET.
An international team of scientists has conducted the most comprehensive global analysis of genetic diversity to date, examining over 600 species over a span of three decades. The study reveals that two-thirds of the populations analysed are experiencing significant declines in genetic diversity, primarily attributed to human-driven factors such as habitat destruction and climate change.
Nevertheless, the research also highlights the positive impacts of targeted conservation efforts, like habitat restoration and species relocation: in some cases, these interventions resulted in successfully maintaining or even increasing genetic diversity.
Notable examples include the reintroduction of golden bandicoots in Western Australia and the release of arctic foxes from captive breeding programmes in Scandinavia.
While these findings underscore the importance of conservation strategies to preserve biodiversity, the scientists reminds us that many species remain vulnerable, and current conservation practices are insufficient to protect them on a global scale.
Source: ScienceDaily, 29 Jan 2025
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