Project Summary: This multi-stakeholder collaborative project brings together experts from conservation biology and business sustainability management to explore biodiversity data user needs across sectors and identify the reasons behind blockages to information flow and access. The project runs from November 2021 until December 2023 with the aim of identifying solutions to enhance the availability of biodiversity data to key data users, from governments to businesses to civil society.
This page provides project information and updates.
This page provides project information and updates.
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Core project partners and staff leads:
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Project donor: Swiss Network for International Studies (https://snis.ch/)
For more information, please contact the project coordinator, Dr PJ Stephenson (StephensonPJ[at]gmail.com), or see the project page on the donor's website HERE.
For more information, please contact the project coordinator, Dr PJ Stephenson (StephensonPJ[at]gmail.com), or see the project page on the donor's website HERE.
Project Description
| project_description_sept_2023.pdf |
Project Updates
- The project started November 2023.
- PJ announced the new project during his presentation to the Global Landscapes Forum Climate conference in Glasgow, 5 November 2021, and also during the specialist group's symposium at the 30th International Congress for Conservation Biology, Kigali, 15 December 2021.
- The first year focused on literature reviews and on recruiting post-doctoral researchers in each partner institution.
- The team then conducted in-depth analyses of data user needs and challenges in the three target countries through online surveys and stakeholder interviews.
- The project team hosted a workshop in Lausanne on 20 September 2023 to bring together a diversity of data users and enablers to discuss preliminary results and help identify solutions to identified data blockages.
- The project has so far generated 7 published papers and two updates to the Database of Global Data Sources for Biodiversity Conservation Monitoring.
- The final data analyses were completed in December 2023 as the project came to an end. These results will be submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals in early 2024. A global webinar sharing project results will also be organised in 2024.
- A short film made by SNIS allows you to hear the team members explaining the relevance of the project and our preliminary results.
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Participants at the project workshop in UNIL, September 2023.
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Publications
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The following publications have been produced either as a direct result of our project, or as a result of team members being able to contribute to collaborative publications due to their time being covered by the project.
Mansourian, S. & Stephenson, P.J. 2023. Exploring challenges and lessons for monitoring Forest Landscape Restoration. Current Landscape Ecology Reports, 8(4): 159-170. DOI: 10.1007/s40823-023-00092-z
Moreno, I., Gippet, J., Fumagalli, L. & Stephenson, P.J. 2023. The biodiversity data conservationists most need in East Africa are the most difficult to access. Biodiversity and Conservation, 32: 249–273. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-022-02497-4 Pringle, S., Davies, Z.G., Goddard, M.A., Dallimer, M., Hart, E., Le Goff, L.E., Langdale, S.J., Abad, S.-A., Ancrenaz, M., Angeoletto, F., Auat Cheein, F., Austen, G.E., Bailey, J.J., Baldock, K.C.R., Balmer, D.E., Banks-Leite, C., Barau, A.S., Bashyal, R., Bates, A.J., Bavin, S., Beale, C.M., Bicknell, J.E., Bielby, J., Bosilj, P., Burslem, D.F.R.P., Bush, E.R., Butler, S.J., Carpenter, D., Clements, C.F., Cully, A., Davies, K.F., Deere, N.J., Dodd, M., Drinkwater, R., Driscoll, D.A., Dyrmann, M., Edwards, D.P., Farhadinia, M.R., Faruk, A., Field, R., Finaughty, D.A., Fisher, J.C., Fletcher, R.J., Foster, C.W., Fox, R., Francksen, R.M., Franco, A., Gainsbury, A.M., Giorgi, I., Griffiths, R.A., Hamaza, S., Hanheide, M., Hayward, M.W., Hedblom, M., Helgason, T., Heon, S.P., Hughes, K.A., Hunt, E.R., Ingram, D.J., Jackson-Mills, G., Jowett, K., Keitt, T.H., Kloepper, L.N., Kramer-Schadt, S., Labrosse, F., Lawson, J., Leadbeater, E., Lecomte, N., Littlewood, N.A., Marshall, H.H., Masala, G.L., Maskell, L.C., Mazzolai, B., McConnell, A., Melbourne, B.A., Miriyev, A., Nana, E.D., Nason, M.A., Ossola, A., Papworth, S., Parr, C.L., Payo-Payo, A., Perry, G., Pettorelli, N., Pillay, R., Potts, S.G., Prendergast-Miller, M.T., Qie, L., Rolley-Parnell, P., Rossiter, S.J., Rowcliffe, M., Rumble, H., Sadler, J.P., Sandom, C.J., Sanyal, A., Schrodt, F., Sethi, S.S., Shabrani, A., Siddall, R., Smith, S.C., Snep, R.P.H., Soulsbury, C.D., Stanley, M.C., Stephens, P.A., Stephenson, P.J., Struebig, M., Studley, M., Svátek, M., Tang, G., Taylor, N.K., Umbers, K.D.L., Ward, R.J., White, P.J.C., Whittingham, M.J., Wich, S., Williams, C.D., Yakubu, I.B., Yoh, N., Zaidi, S.A.R & Zwerts, J.A. (2023). Robotics and Autonomous Systems for Environmental Sustainability: Monitoring Terrestrial Biodiversity. UK-RAS White Paper, EPSRC UK-RAS Network. DOI: 10.31256/WP2023.4. ISSN: 2398-4422 (Online), ISSN 2398-4414 (Print). See, L., Lyet, A., Salvatori, M., Rovero, F., Pérez-Granados, C., Wich, S. & Stephenson, P.J. in press. Monitoring rangeland wildlife with the aid of remote sensing and other technologies: a review of the options. In O.P. Dube & J.I. Molefe (eds.), Remote Sensing of Rangelands - Monitoring the Anthropocene. CSIRO Publishing, Clayton, Australia. Stephenson, P.J. & Damerell, A. 2022. Bioeconomy and circular economy models need to enhance the focus on biodiversity to achieve sustainability. Sustainability, 14(17): 10643. DOI: 10.3390/su141710643 Stephenson, P.J., Londoño-Murcia, M.C., Borges, P.A.V., Claassens, L., Frisch-Nwakanma, H., Ling, N., McMullan-Fisher, S., Meeuwig, J.J., Unter, K.M.M., Walls, J.L., Burfield, I.J., Correa, D.C.V., Geller, G.N., Montenegro Paredes, I., Mubalama, L.K., Ntiamoa-Baidu, Y., Roesler, I., Rovero, F., Sharma, Y.P., Wisesa Wiwardhana, N., Yang, J. & Fumagalli, L. 2022. Measuring the impact of conservation: the growing importance of monitoring fauna, flora and funga. Diversity, 14(10): 824. DOI: 10.3390/d14100824 Stephenson, P.J., & Ruiz de Paz, A. 2022. New database enhances the accessibility of global biodiversity information for conservation monitoring. Oryx, 56(3): 329-330. DOI: 10.1017/S0030605322000205 Stephenson, P.J. & Walls, J. 2022. A new biodiversity paradigm for business. Amplify, 35(5): 6-14. https://www.cutter.com/article/new-biodiversity-paradigm-business Unter, K., Vogel, L. & Walls, J. 2023. Connecting business strategy to biodiversity preservation. Amplify 36(3): 4-6 (and editors of the volume). https://www.cutter.com/article/connecting-business-strategy-biodiversity-preservation-opening-statement |
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Presentations at Meetings and Conferences
Project team members have seized several opportunities to participate in a range of diverse meetings, conferences and fora, to discuss topics relevant to the project or to present the project goals and early research results . These have included:
- Mammal monitoring for conservation: the key issues (by PJS), webinar for the IUCN Save Our Species Programme, Gland, Switzerland, 16 May 2023.
- Monitoring biodiversity for business: learning from the conservation community (by PJS), webinar for the WBCSD members group, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Geneva, Switzerland, 12 October 2022.
- Symposium on Mammal Population Monitoring for Conservation organised by PJS at the 95th Annual Meeting of the German Society for Mammalian Biology, Hamburg, Germany, 20 September 2022. PJS also presented a keynote talk, Mammal monitoring for conservation: an overview of challenges & opportunities.
- Species monitoring for conservation II – using and sharing data and what we need for future monitoring of biodiversity (by PJS), lecture for the UNIL Summer School on Transdisciplinary Nature Conservation, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, 16 September 2022.
- Keynote: Sustainability, Why We Need New Leaders (by JW), Hansgrohe Water Symposium, Schiltach, Germany, 16 September, 2022.
- The need for science and data in conservation (by PJS), lecture for the UNIL Summer School on Transdisciplinary Nature Conservation, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, 12 September 2022.
- Keynote: Biodiversity as a Business Strategy (by JW), Spirit of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, 23 August, 2022.
- Power of Nature: Understanding the firm's dependence on nature. (hybrid; online). Professional Development Workshop organized by JW and others, Academy of Management, Seattle, USA, 6 August, 2022.
- An overview of biodiversity monitoring tools: challenges and opportunities (by PJS), symposium on Scaling Up Terrestrial Biodiversity Monitoring - Needs, Challenges and Opportunities, World Biodiversity Forum, Davos, Switzerland. 30 June 2022.
- Keynote and panel discussion: Business and Biodiversity (by JW), Festival der Natur, St. Gallen, Switzerland, 20 May 2022.
- Symposium on Innovations in Biodiversity Monitoring for Conservation (online), jointly organised by PJS and YN-B at the International Congress for Conservation Biology, Kigali, Rwanda, 15 December 2021. PJS also presented An overview of modern biodiversity monitoring tools: challenges and opportunities.
- The role of agricultural ecosystems in biodiversity conservation (by PJS), Landscapes for Forests and Food plenary (online), 2021 Global Landscapes Forum Climate: Forest, Food and Finance - Frontiers of Change conference, Glasgow, Scotland, 5 November 2021.
