Biodiversity and science strategy

MITECO

Coordinators:

Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO)
- Directorate-General for Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification (DGBBD)
- Autonomous Agency of National Parks (OAPN)
- Biodiversity Foundation (FB)
Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN)
- Directorate-General for Research Planning (DGPI)
- Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
- Funding bodies dependent on the MCIN.

Integrating nature into socio-economic models is an urgent task. The planet is in a continuous process of biodiversity loss and facing new scenarios in which it is necessary to apply greater impetus and coordination between policies, strategies, projects and actions that address transformative change, which minimises the effects and which, in turn, generates added value to the economy and society. Scientific knowledge is a fundamental pillar to approach decision-making with the necessary rigor and maximizing its effectiveness.

The Biodiversity and Science Strategy (EByC) is presented as an integrating tool that acts as a link between national initiatives in biodiversity and natural heritage and those in science, technology and innovation. Common objectives, synergies and existing infrastructures are leveraged and the following needs are shared:

To promote the development of scientific knowledge on biodiversity and to guarantee grounded knowledge of existing biodiversity.
Align scientific knowledge and improve its availability for strategic and management decision-making.

This initiative is part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RTRP) financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.

The RTRP includes the preparation and approval of the Biodiversity and Science Strategy to act as a bridge between policies for the conservation, sustainable use, improvement and restoration of natural heritage and biodiversity, as well as sectoral policies, science and the practical implementation of actions in the field of improving knowledge and conservation of biodiversity. supported by the implementation of a system for the management and monitoring of knowledge of biodiversity.

In response to the need to incorporate science into decision-making, the Spanish Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation 2021-2027 (EECTI) aims to place science, technology and innovation as key axes in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda.

The EECTI prioritises and responds to the challenges of the national strategic sectors in specific areas that will be key to the transfer of knowledge and the promotion of R+D+I in the Spanish business fabric.

This Biodiversity and Science Strategy (EByC) aims to facilitate the implementation of the EECTI in the field of biodiversity conservation. Among the strategic lines that structure the EECTI are those linked to “Climate, energy and mobility” and “Food, Bioeconomy, Nature and Environment” and it is in this context of concrete application of these two strategic lines in the field of biodiversity that this Biodiversity and Science Strategy (EByC) was born and intertwined, which aims to facilitate the implementation of the EECTI in the field of biodiversity conservation.

Developing the strategy

The first step in the process of preparing the EByC has been the creation of an initial proposal for the document based on a bibliographic review. This draft was divided into three axes:

Structuring of the strategy.
Generation of knowledge for management.
Transfer and communication.

The key principles on which the strategy is based are consensus and commitment, participation with a gender perspective, recognition of the value of research and knowledge production and effective governance.

During the process of drawing up the strategy, three participatory workshops have been held in which a total of 86 people from the scientific sector, public administrations and civil society have participated.

Finally, the proposal for the strategy has been drawn up. The result has been a document that includes the most relevant issues of the initial proposal, as well as the needs detected as a result of the participatory workshops. This document includes the missions, goals, objectives, lines of action and actions. In addition, it contains an annex that develops the priority lines of research in species, ecosystems, causes of biodiversity loss, social dimension and enhancement and companies and biodiversity.

Project

Line of action:

Knowledge generation and management

Status:

En ejecución

Execution date:

2021

End date:

2027

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Objectives

The main objective is to organize, within the framework and as an application of the Spanish Strategy and the Spanish Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation (EECTI and PECTI), a system that favors the generation and transfer of knowledge on biodiversity and ecosystem services, of quality, inclusive and effective, that covers the needs of planning and management to achieve their protection. conservation, sustainable use, restoration and its economic and social value.

Based on this objective, the following goals have been identified:

To achieve better scientific knowledge on biodiversity, ecosystems, the services they provide and their interrelationships.
Align scientific priorities with the needs of biodiversity monitoring and management.
Ensure that decision-making affecting biodiversity, in all areas, is carried out on the basis of the best available scientific knowledge.
To increase and promote the accessibility of solid and quality scientific knowledge for the conservation of biodiversity to decision-making bodies and society as a whole.

Actions

The Biodiversity and Science Strategy establishes a consensual framework in which six lines of action and 12 key actions are proposed to be developed by the general administration and different bodies of the state public sector,
and in which different actors are involved, within a period of four years from its approval.

The lines of action that underpin the strategy consist of improving the identification of scientific needs for the monitoring and management of biodiversity, promoting coordination mechanisms for the generation of knowledge, involving society in the generation of knowledge, promoting Spanish science in the international context, communicating and transferring scientific knowledge. The final objective is to strengthen the alignment of science in the making of relevant decisions in policies for planning, conservation, restoration and sustainable management of biodiversity and to regulate the necessary instruments for the knowledge and planning of natural heritage and biodiversity.

Results