Developing operational 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?