Staff from several of ALTER-Net's partners attended the meeting in Dublin, Ireland, of the European Platform for Biodiversity Research Strategy (EPBRS). On Monday 15 May the chair of the ALTER-Net Council, Eeva Furman (SYKE), presented a summary of the main outcomes from our recent conference in Ghent, Belgium. The conference addressed science underpinning the EU 2020 biodiversity strategy and was organised jointly with the EC. The theme of the EPBRS meeting in Dublin was attaining the biodiversity strategy's targets, and our conference recommendations were used as the key basis for the discussions on the EPBRS meeting outcomes.

During the Thursday session on 'a scientifically sound EU-wide evaluation of the status of all species and habitats covered by EU nature legislaton' Maurice Hoffmann (INBO) further elaborated on the ALTER-Net conference recommendations on EU Target 1 (Conserving and restoring nature). We were pleased to contribute to these research strategy recommendations and to recognize several, if not most, of our recommendations in the draft research recommendations of the Dublin conference.

ALTER-Net wants to support the EU in realizing the biodiversity targets by providing scientific knowledge and by helping to find solutions and evidence-based actions. Our members collectively form a major pool of European expertise in biodiversity and ecosystems research, covering a wide variety of disciplines. Already we are recognized as providing a vital knowledge hub for the emerging biodiversity Network of Knowledge. The EPBRS is an important forum for collaboration and agreeing priorities, and ALTER-Net is keen to play an active role in the process.

• Further details of the meeting... (EPBRS website)
• Presentation of the Ghent recommendations by Eeva Furman... (PDF file)
• Presentation on the Ghent conference recommendations concerning EU Target 1 by Maurice Hoffmann... (PDF file)
• ALTER-Net welcomes new member organisations: find out how to join...

Photos: A. Watt © CEH