Biodiversity targets

Helmholtz scientists develop realistic and operationalizable goals for an effective protection of the biodiversity of terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems.

Biodiversity conservation goals set in the past have repeatedly been missed. One reason is the lack of operationalization of the associated implementation steps. In order to effectively combat the loss of biodiversity, it is necessary to integrate operationalizable goals into relevant policy areas and to ensure coherence between them, e.g. between nature conservation and climate protection. In addition, there are doubts in the scientific community about the feasibility of some of the currently formulated nature conservation goals in view of the globally changing environmental conditions, since they aim, for example, to completely avoid the settlement of non-native species.

The project deals with questions about realistic and operationalizable goals in biodiversity:

How can components of biodiversity be prioritized and measured?
Should species communities or long-term functionality and resilience of ecosystems be the focus?
To what extent are these goals achievable?

General Assembly 2023

Dorothee Hodapp introduced the project at the General Assembly of Helmholtz Earth & Environment. Katja Matthes, Helmholtz-Vicepresident Sustainability, congratulated her and the team with a SynCom-Award.

Kick-off Workshop

In a two-day workshop on July 18-19 in Berlin, the project team "Developing operational biodiversity targets" has taken up it's work.

2nd Workshop in Berlin

The second in-person workshop took place on February 1-2. The definition of goals, measures and indicators within the National Biodiversity Strategy and their connection to biodiversity variables were discussed. Further, for the second day, an exchange with (parliamentary) speakers for environmental policy was organized. The focus was on the questions of how and where science can contribute as effectively as possible to the political processes regarding biodiversity-relevant issues.

Scientific Publication

Elisabeth V. Henn et.al. published the scientific paper titled, “Perspektiven eines politikplanenden Biodiversitätsschutzgesetzes: Rechtsrahmen, Ausgestaltung und Forschungsbedarf". The publication can be found here.

3rd project workshop in Berlin

At the 3rd project workshop on November 19-20, 2024 in Berlin, the researchers of the project reflected on what a useful indicator could look like when it comes to restoring biodiversity (also in relation to climate change). These discussions will be compiled in an opinion paper and continued in a stakeholder workshop in May next year.

Contact

Dorothee Hodapp: dorothee.hodapp@hifmb.de