What will the post 2020 European biodiversity strategy look like?

What should the post 2020 European biodiversity strategy look like and how will research contribute to this strategy and help to define these goals? These are the questions posed by Professor Mike Christie from the Business School, Aberystwyth University presenting the “IPBES European and Central Asia Assessment” at the ALTER-NET Conference, held in Ghent, Belgium 17-19^th June, 2019.

Nature provides valuable material, regulating and non-material contributions to people (nature’s gift), such as regulating clean water supplies, regulating climate and habitat creation. Biodiversity and ecosystems services are extremely valuable for humans, however these services are in decline. Human activity has caused the biggest decline of biodiversity in history due to land use change, pollution and impacts of climate change. It is more essential than ever that researchers and policy makers are involved in decision making for the protection of ecosystem services, taking a proactive role in the shaping of future critical strategies to safeguard ecosystem services for our future.

The ALTER-NET Conference aims to bring together “leading institutes from 17 European cities alongside policy makers to assess changes in biodiversity, analyse the effect of these changes on ecosystem services and to inform the public and policy makers about this on a European level.”