Linking Biodiversity Science to Policy Making

Professor Mike Bruford has recently returned from Brussels, where he spoke at the Conference of the European Parliament Intergroup: Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development.

The conference's main objective was to bring together different representatives of society (decision-makers, administrators, civil society and business) to present and discuss the contributions of various actors to achieving the EU Biodiversity Targets which call for the halting of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, and for the restoration of degraded ecosystems by 2020. With sessions focussing on restoration and the contribution of green infrastructure; linking biodiversity science and policy; the role of the private sector in biodiversity conservation; and the measures for biodiversity conservation in agricultural practices.

The more than 150 delegates who participated in the event agreed on the urgent need for mainstreaming biodiversity conservation into other sectors of society and for greater collaboration between conservationists and other practitioners and experts, as well as a need to better value natural capital.