EGU’s Policy Priority Area 2022-2024: Biodiversity

Biodiversity is an essential component of many aspects of life on Earth, including human society, and even the world’s GDP. It is not only vital for natural areas such as forests and wetlands but also crucial for maintaining healthy freshwater ecosystems, soil systems, and oceans. Furthermore, it is a policy priority area for the European Union with the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 launched in 2020 with some very ambitious targets.

New and updated legislations such as those related to biodiversity, should be underpinned and supported by science to ensure that the processes that they use are as effective and successful as possible. As Europe’s largest geoscience society, the EGU is uniquely positioned to facilitate the transfer of knowledge from research into practice and to connect policymakers to the most relevant geoscience experts. In October 2021, the EGU Council approved biodiversity as the EGU’s 2022-2024 Policy Priority Area to support the translation and dissemination of relevant scientific information to where it is most needed. All of EGU’s biodiversity-related activities during this time will be co-ordinated by the EGU’s Biodiversity Task Force, a group of eight experts from different EGU divisions who have a diverse range of scientific knowledge and communication skills.

• Bikem Ekberzade: PhD candidate for Marine and Climate Sciences at Eurasian Institute for Earth System Sciences at Istanbul Technical University in Turkiye. Author, radio producer, and photojournalist.
• Rita Carrasco: Assistant Researcher in wetlands biogeormorphology at the University of Algarve in Portugal.
• Maria Polo: Professor in hydraulic engineering and Scientific Head of the Andalusian Institute for Earth System Research at the University of Cordoba in Spain.
• Viktor Bruckman: Assistant to Chair for the Commission for Geosciences, Austrian Academy of Sciences. Lecturer and Student Adviser at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Austria.
• Adriano Sofo: Associate Professor in Agricultural Chemistry and Plant Biology at the University of Basilicata in Italy.
• Adam Izdebski: Independent Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany, and Associate Professor at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.
• Felicia Akinyemi: Marie-Curie Research Fellow at the Land System and Sustainable Land Management Unit, Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Switzerland.
• Annegret Larsen: Assistant Professor in Soil Geography and Landscape Research, Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
• Noel Baker: Project Manager, Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy.
• Simon Clark: EGU Projects Co-ordination Officer, Munich, Germany.

• Publication of the EGU Biodiversity Task Force Response to the EU Nature Restoration Law (PDF document, 25.8 MB), and Executive Summary (PDF document, 56.6 KB) submitted as part of a European Commission Consultation.
• The co-ordination of the science for policy event, Supporting EU’s biodiversity targets by bridging the science-policy divide hosted inside the European Parliament.
• Restoring peatlands: Evidence-based insights for policymakers (PDF document, 620.0 KB)
• Restoring forest ecosystems: Evidence-based insights for policymakers (PDF document, 768.3 KB)
• Participation in the European Parliament's Intergroup on Biodiversity, Hunting, Countryside’s event on Delivering the Nature Restoration Law for rural stakeholders and biodiversity
• Participation and co-ordination the EGU23 Union Symposium, How can institutions assess impact beyond citations? Paths towards recognition and impact, EGU23 Union Symposium Managing compounding impacts from extreme events through societal crises, and EGU23 Short Course, How to create spaces for science-policy interaction and dialogue