The refreshed Scottish Biodiversity Strategy (SBS), the 2020 Challenge for Scotland’s Biodiversity, was published on 19th June 2013. This is Scotland’s response to the Aichi Biodiversity Targets for 2020 set by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (2010) and the European Union’s Biodiversity Strategy for 2020 (2011).
The SBS has three aims, which are to:
• protect and restore biodiversity on land and in our seas, and to support healthier ecosystems;
• connect people with the natural world, for their health and wellbeing and to involve them more in decisions about their environment; and
• maximise the benefits for Scotland of a diverse natural environment and the services it provides, contributing to sustainable economic growth.
The 2020 Challenge sits alongside the original Scottish Biodiversity Strategy It’s in your hands.
On 20th September, ‘The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy: Opportunities and Challenges for Science’ conference was convened as a joint venture between the British Ecological Society, the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, and the Scottish Biodiversity Forum. It would seek to provide an ideal opportunity to begin the discussion of the on-going and new research requirements, as well as the processes and tools (including data) needed to make this research useful. It would also seek to assess where the research needs of the original strategy have been, or are being, met, and where substantial gaps in our understanding remain.
Following a series of presentations in the morning, the afternoon comprised four workshops:
• New research challenges in delivering the 2020 Challenge
• On-going research challenges that remain relevant to the 2020 Challenge
• Clear mechanisms and processes to ensure relevant research influences policy, and supports conservation and management
• Data needs and support tools to help us get the work done.
The NBN was very pleased to be involved in the data workshop and Paula Lighfoot, Data Access Officer chaired the session.
Following a brief overview of the NBN Gateway and NBN Web Services, the following questions were posed for the basis of the discussion:
• What are the key data needs to help meet the requirements of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy?
• What support tools do we need to help inform research and conservation action on the ground?
• What additional mechanisms need to be put in place to ensure that all relevant data are easily accessible?
• What are the lessons to be learned from existing projects and case studies with regard to data availability and access?
• What areas require additional effort and partnerships in data collection / collation to help inform research and practice
The discussion showed that the NBN has a vital role to play in supporting the delivery of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, providing a single point for accessing data on priority species, sites and habitats and supplying biodiversity data to Scotland’s Environment Web via web services. However, work is needed to improve the efficiency of data flow, whilst maintaining data quality by supporting expert verifiers and engaging and training new recorders. Data mobilisation from the public and private sector was considered a priority. It was also recognised that museum collections, such as the herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh where the conference was held, are a valuable resource and should be made available to more users via digitisation. It was noted that new tools and technology such as NBN Record Cleaner, iRecord and the forthcoming rNBN tool will have a significant role in supporting the targeted collection, quality control and dissemination of data to support research and conservation action in Scotland. The Scottish Biodiversity Information Forum, whose steering group includes the NBN Trust, is coordinating work to ensure the accessibility of biodiversity data through their Action Plan.
The NBN was also represented at the poster session with a live demonstration of the new NBN Gateway and also at the Q&A session at the end of the event.
Continuing the Scottish theme and links with the NBN, we are also pleased to confirm that Graham French (Technical Liaison Officer) will be at the BRISC conference demonstrating the new NBN Gateway and iRecord as well as talking about current and future plans for development. You can find out more about the BRISC Conference, being held on 26th October, here.