GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
15 – 17 January 2014, Geneva, Switzerland
Integrating biodiversity information for Europe –
from informatics to environmental politics:
advancing the European Biodiversity
Observation Network (EU BON)
Dr. Christoph L. Häuser
Museum für Naturkunde - Leibniz Institute for Research
on Evolution and Biodiversity
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
Global challenges
• Biodiversity loss,
• Climate change,
• Water & Food scarcity,
• Poverty.
The Knowledge Society is
based on science and
technology, i.e., the
availability of sound &
reliable scientific data,
analysis and tools
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
The Challenge: Integration of Biodiversity
Information
Freshwater
Detailed Challenges:
Terrestrial
Marine
Two realms: field (in situ) + remote sensing data
+ Data Standards, Interoperability,
+ Common Monitoring Schemes,
+ Analysis Tools, Patterns and Trends, Indicators,
+ Science Policy Interface(s), Dissemination
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
EU BON - key information
EC FP7 - Cooperation Theme 6 “Environment (incl. climate
change)”.
• Call ENV.2012.6.2-2: Assessing global biological resources:
the European contribution to the Global Earth
Observation Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON)
• Project start: 1st December, 2012
• Duration: 54 months (until May 2017)
• Projektkoordination: MfN, Berlin
• Consortium: 30 partners (18 countries)
• Budget: 11.6 mio Euro, < 9 mio Euro EC contribution
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
Map: Johannes Penner
EU BON Partners
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
EU BON characteristics
Key feature of EU BON:
Delivery of integrated, near-real-time relevant data – both from onground observation and remote sensing – to the various
stakeholders and end users ranging from local to global levels.
The main objective of EU BON:
Build a substantial part of the Group on Earth Observation’s
Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), also in light of the
new Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and
Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
EU BON – Meetings for the project kick-off
First WP5 Meeting EU BON test site in Spain
2-4 April 2013, Doñana Biological Station
• Goal: Sharing data among testing sites, principles and
guidelines for establishing and operating EU BON test sites
Informatics Task Force Meeting in Trondheim
29-31 May 2013, NBIC
• Goal: Discussing data architectures, standards
and interoperability for EU BON data portal
First Stakeholder Roundtable in Brussels
18 June 2013, Leibniz Association
• Goal: Determining policy needs in Europe
regarding biodiversity information
First WP4 Meeting Solsona
25-27 November 2013, Spain
• Goal: Defining next steps for developing tools,
methods, and analyses of biodiversity data
Next General Meeting: EU BON in Crete, Greece 30.3. – 2.4. 2014
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
EU BON –Data Integration (WP2)
EU BON will be implementing the GEO BON vision:
• automated, streamlined data flow, from observations via EBVs, to indicators,
• using a plug-and-play service-oriented approach,
• coordinated through the GEO BON registry system
• linked to the GEOSS Common Infrastructure, and transparent to users
through portals
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
EU BON – Plans for Biodiversity data portal (WP2)
•
•
•
•
•
User authentication and authorization
Upload data: datasets & related metadata, different formats (DwC, EML, ABCD).
Edit data and metadata (only allowed users).
Search biodiversity occurrence (returning data from any connected data provider)
Visualize data and metadata:
• Grids, forms and maps.
• Charts, statistics and reports.
• Export and download:
• Obtain statistics and EBV’s estimation from related data.
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
Improving tools and methods for data analysis and interface
(WP3 )
EU BON achievements for data analyis:
• For advanced tools for interpreting satellite or aerial imagery:
Assessment of available remote-sensing approaches.
• Methods for analyzing datasets:
• survey of existing spatial niche modeling approaches,
• focus on a novel hierarchical classification algorithm for habitat
classification,
• species population downscaling approaches developed,
• developing up-scaling approaches e.g. for plant - red lists,
3-dimentional “manifold” techniques,
• enhanced version of Aquamaps software
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
Science-policy dialogue (WP 6)
EU BON – Using biodiversity data for policy:
• Biodiversity data is often collected to support policy development,
reporting and monitoring purposes at all levels
• A large number of policies have reporting requirements
• In addition, there are many processes which are biodiversity data
hungry
• Data and information is used both directly and indirectly
• Being aware of the policy landscape will help:
• Making the most out of existing data. The same data can be
used to report to various policies and inform various processes.
• Identify existing gaps. This will help to prioritize areas for further
work and allocation of resources
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
Ecosystem
Accounting
UNCCD
ITPGRF
CBD
UNFCC
C
Green
Economy
Barcelon
a
Helsinki
Bucharest
CMS
CITES
Antarctic
Ramsar
IPPC
OSPA
R
WHC
Regional
seas
Water Conv.
MEAs
Assessments
Genetic
resources
IPCC
ITTA
Espoo
ICR
W
Bern
IPBES
MDGs/SDGs
WOA
Alpine
Florence
Carpathia
n
Pan-European
strategy
FRA
GEO
EU level
RD
priorities
CFP
Nitrates
Directive
CAP
EIA Directive
ELD
Kyiv (SEA)
Protocol
WFD
MSFD
Wildlife
Trade
Regulation
s
Floods
Directive
Habitats
Directive
IAS
Directive
EU Biodiversity
Strategy
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
Birds
Directiv
e
GMO
Directiv
e
EU BON dissemination strategy (WP8)
Flow chart showing how
multiple uses will be
made of project results
for dissemination and
knowledge transfer
purposes.
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
Dissemination and outreach (WP8)
67 news items (news and events)
published on the website
4 press releases and 2 interviews
published
EU BON presented at 32 conferences
and workshops
Website statistics for 2013: 11 079 visits,
5939 unique visitors, 49 416 page views
www.eubon.eu
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
EU BON – Scientific Papers
Planned scientific papers of EU BON partners:
I) Big data for biodiversity – challenges and opportunities for integration
II) Availability/usability of - integrated - biodiversity information:
challenges and opportunities for IPBES
III) Biodiversity recording and information management in Europe –
state of the art and prospects
IV) Can EBVs deliver what they promise: monitoring of biodiversity
targets
V) Global DNA-derived datasets and taxonomy
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
Thank you very much for your attention
and
to all EU BON partners & associates !!!
www.eubon.eu
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
What can EBVs deliver?
EU 2020 Target 1 Fully implement the Birds and
Habitats Directives:
To halt the deterioration in the status of all
species and habitats covered by EU nature
legislation and achieve a significant and
measurable improvement in their status so that,
by 2020, compared to current assessments.
Relevant EBVs
• Genetic composition (co-ancestry, allelic
diversity, population genetic differentiation),
• Species population (Species distribution and
Population abundance),
• Species traits (Migratory behaviour)
• Community composition (Taxonomic diversity)
and
• Ecosystem structure (Habitat structure and
ecosystem extent and fragmentation)
Data availability for
• all biomes: terrestrial,
fresh water and marine
• geographical coverage
• specific taxa
• common versus rare
species
• Time series
Existing knowledge and data gaps
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
EU BON dissemination strategy
Figure 2.
The following
scheme illustrates
the EU BON Social
Media Strategy
workflow.
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
EU BON Work Packages
WP1: Data sources: requirements, gap analysis & data mobilization
[University Tartu];
WP2: Data integration & interoperability [Univ Eastern Finland - Digitarium];
WP3: Improving tools and methods for data analysis & interface [Univ
Leeds];
WP4: Link environment to biodiversity: analyses of patterns, processes &
trends [UFZ];
WP5: EU BON testing and validation of concepts, tools, and services
[CSIC];
WP6: Stakeholder engagement & science-policy dialogue [Univ Cambridge];
WP7: Implementation of GEO BON: strategies & solutions at European (&
global) levels [CNRS: IMEB];
WP8: Dissemination and outreach [Pensoft];
WP9: Consortium management & organization [MfN].
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
EU BON Workflow und Organization
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
Linking biodiversity information stakeholders:
EU BON Associates - and growing …
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014
Linkage to projects and processes
GEOSS
GEO-X Plenary + Geneva Ministerial Summit 2014