Greenweek 2015 is over: you can access the speakers' presentations on its website
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Biodiversity for Life
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12 June 2015
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We hope that for those who could participate to the GreenWeek 2015 you enjoyed it! As reminder, the theme of this year was: "Nature, our health, our wealth". This is fully in line with what we seek to promote through our Biodiversity for Life flagship initiative.
You can retrospectively have an overview of what happened in this Greenweek by exploring its site.
Have a look in particular at three sessions that have much relevance for B4Life:
session 8.1.: Averting global biodiversity loss (5 June, 11:30 - 13:00)
session 8.2.: Biodiversity and climate change (5 June, 11:30 - 13:00)
By clicking on each speaker's name, you can access their short bio and the link toward their presentation.
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More on the session on the European Overseas (Friday 5 June; 13:15-14:15)
Biodiversity in the EU’s ORs (Outermost Regions) and OCTs (Overseas Countries & Territories)
During a presentation session on Biodiversity in the EU’s ORs and OCTs participants of the Green Week 2015 in Brussels had the opportunity to learn more about the milestones of the BEST initiative, the outcomes of previously funded conservation projects in the EU Overseas entities, the ongoing activities of the BEST III consortium partners who are elaborating regional ecosystem profiles as the basis for future actions, as well as the new funding opportunities for OCTs provided by the BEST 2.0 programme.
Highlighting the benefit of local engagement in preservation efforts, coordinators of three very diverse BEST projects opened the session by sharing the achievements made possible by the EU’s BEST Preparatory Action’s calls for proposals in 2011-2012. Their inspiring stories went from small islands in French Polynesia where bird species with less than 100 remaining individuals worldwide are saved from extinction thanks to invasive species control, to the icy landscapes of the largest island in the world - Greenland - where locals join in wildlife monitoring and governance, through the tropical coastal ecosystems of the Caribbean and Réunion Island, where efforts to protect wetlands contribute to the physical and economic well-being of many islands.
BEST III consortium partners then explained their work towards establishing a sustainable funding mechanism specifically tailored to meet the needs of biodiversity and ecosystem services preservation in EU Overseas entities. The participative approach involves the development of ecosystem profiles, which includes reviewing the status of threatened species, defining and prioritizing key biodiversity areas (KBAs), conservation concerns and priorities, as well as identifying niches for investments and potential financial partners by outlining a regional conservation strategy.
Thanks to these complementary efforts, valuable but fragile species and ecosystems are better protected and the discussed management strategies will benefit others. The challenges faced by EU Overseas entities as well as the objectives and past achievements of the BEST initiative were also highlighted in the special Green Week issue of the Parliament Magazine, which was given to all Green Week Brussels event visitors.
Read more:
Link to Green week website
Workshop photos
Parliament magazine with the article on the BEST initiative (p.35).