Project description
New tools to respond to biodiversity threats
Climate change, pollution, natural resource exploitation and land use change are global threats to biodiversity and ecosystems. Quantifying their impact, however, is not easy. Rapid, reliable and repeatable monitoring of biodiversity data is needed at all scales, from local to global. In this context, the EU-funded B3 project will simplify and standardise access to biodiversity data using the essential biodiversity variables framework. The overall goal of the project is to facilitate access to tools in a cloud computing environment, in real time and on demand. B3 will pave the way for a future where primary biodiversity data are seamlessly integrated into monitoring and forecasting. This way, policy and management can proactively respond to problems.
Objective
The world is changing rapidly; climate change, land use change, pollution and natural resource exploitation are creating a global crisis for biodiversity whose magnitude and dynamics are hard to quantify. Decision makers at all levels need uptodate information from which to evaluate policy options. For this reason rapid, reliable, repeatable monitoring of biodiversity data is needed at all scales from local to global. Only by leveraging large volumes of data, advanced modelling techniques and powerful computing tools can we hope to synthesize these data within timescales that are relevant to policy.
Data on biodiversity come from a diverse range of sources, citizen scientists, museums, herbaria and researchers are all major contributors, but increasingly new technologies are being deployed, such as automatic sensors, camera traps, eDNA and satellite tracking. Integrating these data is a major challenge, but is necessary if we are to create dependable information on biodiversity change. B3 will use the concept of data cubes to simplify and standardize access to biodiversity data using the Essential Biodiversity Variables framework. These cubes will be used, in conjunction with other environmental data and scenarios, as the basis for models and indicators of past, current and future biodiversity.
The overarching goal of the project is to provide easy access to tools in a cloud computing environment, in real-time and on-demand, with state of the art prediction models of biodiversity, that will output models and indicators of biodiversity status and change. The project envisages a future where primary biodiversity data are seamlessly integrated into monitoring and forecasting such that policy and management can proactively respond to problems while at the same time reduce the costs of monitoring and management, and the negative impacts of biodiversity change.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensorsoptical sensors
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringsatellite technology
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
IA - Innovation actionCoordinator
1860 Meise
Belgium