About 140 participants joined the conference on biodiversity scenarios organized by the French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity in partnership with Diversitas. Nearly 50 stakeholders and policy makers and more than 90 researchers from different fields of science – including a dozen international experts – took part in the launch of the FRB flagship programme « Biodiversity modelling and scenarios ».

The conference was marked by the presentation of four projects funded in 2010 by the FRB and its partners: Fondation TOTAL and GDF SUEZ. International experts gave keynote talks about the future of biodiversity under global change, one on the Amazon forest and the other on marine systems.

The French national forestry office and the French national union of animal insemination and breeding cooperatives shared with the audience their forward-looking approaches to forest management and animal genetic resources. They showed the relevance of scenarios to guide decision making and the need for real partnerships between scientists and socio-economic stakeholders to anticipate the changes of biodiversity and the management of biological resources.

The French Minister of Higher Education and Research, main financial support, officially launched the flagship programme. Then, a round-table gathering various personalities from society and research, was the occasion for a rich debate on the role that scenarios could and should play in the science-society dialogue on the future of biodiversity.

AGENDA OF THE 2 DAYS ( IN FRENCH)
LIST OF THE PARTICIPANTS : 30TH OF MARCH
LIST OF THE PARTICIPANTS : 31TH OF MARCH

DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATIONS

• Integrating remote sensing and models to improve projections of fire in Amazon forests
Doug Morton, Goddard Space Centre, University of Maryland (USA)

• Projecting climate change effects on global marine biodiversity and fisheries
William Cheung, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia and Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, U.K. 

AUDIO RECORDING ONLINE SOON

31st OF MARCH: FRB "PROJECT BUILDING" WORKSHOP ON BIODIVERSITY MODELLING AND SCENARIOS

This workshop aimed to improve the quality of the project proposals with regard to three main criteria: the use of models to develop plausible future trajectories of biodiversity (scenarios), the integration of different fields of science (interdisciplinarity) and the relevance of the research for stakeholders and their involvement in the projects (science-society co-construction). The hundred participants who took part in this workshop were mainly current and potential partners of the research projects submitted to the 2010 call for proposals, including about sixty scientists and forty stakeholders and policy makers. Among the researchers were about forty ecologists, fifteen experts in human and social sciences and ten mathematicians and modelers.

Two workshop sessions took place: the first one divided into types of ecosystems (marine, agricultural & urban, forest, freshwater) and the second one divided into three main topics (climate change, ecological infrastructure, changes due to human activities). These sessions helped to better comprehend the main questions and difficulties about defining and building biodiversity scenarios, but also the need for collaboration between disciplines and stakeholders’ involvement in the projects.

The workshop has also been an opportunity for the participants to share good practices and to propose solutions to the problems identified, including suggestions for the FRB (e.g. capitalizing, mutualizing, networking). The outputs of these exchanges will be used by the FRB to improve and continue its strategy for promoting activities across the national network of researchers and stakeholders.

A detailed report on the workshop will be online very soon.

• The goals oh the day, the 2010 and the 2011 calls for proposals
Xavier Le Roux, director of FRB – IN FRENCH ONLY

• Involving stakeholders in research projects on biodiversity: experience feedback based on the Ecocycles project (BiodivERsa) and on the co-management of the American mink on a very large scale in Scotland

Xavier Lambin, School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen (UK)

• Workshops « Biodiversity modelling and scenarios » - SYSTEMS
Workshop n°1 : MARINE & COASTAL SYSTEMS - IN FRENCH ONLY
Workshop n°2 : AGRICULTURAL & URBAN/PERI-URBAN SYSTEM - IN FRENCH ONLY
Workshop n°3 : FOREST SYSTEMS - IN FRENCH ONLY
Workshop n°4 : FRESH WATER SYSTEMS - IN FRENCH ONLY

• Workshops « Biodiversity modelling and scenarios » - TOPICS
Workshop n°1 : CLIMATE CHANGES - IN FRENCH ONLY
Workshop n°2 : ECOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURES (Protected areas, ecological corridors, connectivity) - IN FRENCH ONLY
Workshop n°3 : CHANGES DUE TO HUMAN ACTIVITIES - IN FRENCH ONLY

• Conclusion : IN FRENCH ONLY