INternational training at the Science-Policy Interface for Researchers in Europe, for Nature

Project Information

Inspire4Nature

Grant agreement ID: 766417

DOI

10.3030/766417

Project closed

EC signature date 3 August 2017

Start date 1 March 2018

End date 31 August 2022

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 3 950 859,24

EU contribution

€ 3 950 859,24

Coordinated by

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
France

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Inspire4Nature (INternational training at the Science-Policy Interface for Researchers in Europe, for Nature)

Reporting period: 2020-03-01 to 2022-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The growing recognition that biological diversity is a global asset of immense value to present and future generations has underpinned a number of multilateral environmental policy agreements, including the United Nation’s Convention on Biological Diversity and the European Union’s Biodiversity Strategy to 2030. Implementing these agreements requires a global-scale cooperation among conservation scientists to collect, mobilise and synthesise biodiversity data and ecological knowledge, and translating them directly into recommendations for conservation actions and indicators of progress towards meeting internationally agreed goals and targets.
The purpose of the Inspire4Nature project was to contribute to the training of a new generation of creative, entrepreneurial and innovative early-stage researchers by providing them with both research-related and transferable skills which will enable them to work at this science-policy interface, converting their knowledge and ideas into tools for tackling complex global environmental problems.
To do so, Inspire4Nature brought together a Consortium of 13 research centres, universities and international conservation organisations (representing 9 European countries in total) with a vast experience in the science and the practice of biodiversity conservation. The Consortium’s strength came from an unprecedented collaboration between academic and non-academic conservation organisations that have generated in the European research area a unique focus of professional training at the interface between conservation science and policy. We implemented an ambitious training programme combining: individual research projects of a high scientific standard that were by design strategically positioned at the science-policy interface in biodiversity conservation; with a rich network-wide training programme including five training sessions and three joint projects that give fellows a wide diversity of scientific, communication and project management skills.
Placed at the crucial interface between conservation science and policy, the Inspire4Nature supported key biodiversity knowledge products (in particular the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the Living Planet Index and the Key Biodiversity Areas) and related processes in order to advance the scientific knowledge necessary to support effective international policy processes impacting the conservation of biodiversity at the national, European and global scales. Specifically, this programme aimed to:
1. Enable more effective site-based conservation action and policy.
2. Guide more effective species-based conservation action and policy.
3. Strengthen policy-relevant biodiversity indicators.
4. Support the development of policy-relevant biodiversity scenarios under global change.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The training programme has enabled Inspire4Nature fellows to gain a direct experience of the science-policy interface of international biodiversity conservation, thanks to long secondments based on major international conservation organisations and the close cooperation in all individual research projects between academic and non-academic conservation scientists.
Five training sessions have provided a theoretical basis as well as hands-on experience in the identification of globally important sites for biodiversity conservation (through the Standard for the designation of Key Biodiversity Areas; KBAs), in the assessment of species’ extinction risk (through the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species), in communicating to a diversity of audiences, and in job-searching skills at the science-policy interface.
Three joint projects led by the fellows gave them project management experience as well as practical skills and experience in communicating to a broad audience. These included: designing, creating and maintaining a dedicated website, with new content uploaded monthly; organising a public outreach event on Twitter, associated with the UN Sustainable Development Goals week; and developing the carbon-neutral strategy for Inspire4Nature.
Fellows produced a wide diversity of scientific outputs as part of their Individual Research Projects, including (so far) 18 published papers, 4 in press, 9 in review and 8 in preparation; 4 published book chapters; 1 preprint; 9 PhD theses; and 10 databases and/or scripts. Despite the coronavirus pandemic (and associated travel disruptions) they were able to present their results through 42 presentations and 10 posters at national and international scientific meetings.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The key ongoing and foreseen contributions of the Inspire4Nature scientific results are:
- Contributions to Key Biodiversity Areas methods and data, including: through the development of a package for identifying Key Biodiversity Areas from tracking data; contributing to the testing and refinement of KBA Criterion E; bringing together data from a large diversity of taxonomic groups to identify potential KBA sites in Greece.
- Contributions to evaluating the effectiveness of Protected Areas, including by: investigating the effectiveness of tropical and subtropical PAs at preventing deforestation; analyzing the permeability of protected areas to non-native species; quantifying the effects of conservation management on wetland birds; demonstrating the effect of protected areas in tropical forest biodiversity hotspots at conserving birds; evaluated the coverage of threatened species by the Natura 2000 network; investigating if Marine Protected Areas in the Atlantic Ocean are well-placed to conserve migratory seabirds.
- Development of IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, by: advancing knowledge on the status of European Endemic fishes; production of new global map of terrestrial habitats; production of Area of Habitat maps for the world’s terrestrial birds and mammals.
- Contribution to the development of biodiversity indicators, namely global coverage of protected areas and coverage of protected areas by KBAs, and the Living Planet Index.]
- Investigating how species’ traits affect their responses to climate and land cover changes in order to better predictions of the responses of biodiversity to future global change. n).
- Guide priorities for international cooperation to conserve migratory birds, both marine and terrestrial.
With each Individual Research Project designed to be at the interface between the science and the policy of international biodiversity conservation, most of the results obtained in these projects (databases, methods, spatial layers, analytical results) are feeding, and will continue to feed, direction into the ongoing work of the non-academic partners to inform, influence and monitor biodiversity-relevant international policy processes such as those ongoing discussions for the Convention on Biological Diversity’s post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

2nd Inspire4Nature Training Session (HCMR Hydrobiological station of Rhodes, Greece, 2019))

1st Inspire4Nature Training General Assembly (CEFE, Montpellier 2018)

Inspire4NatureConsortium

Extraordinary General Assembly (remote, 2020)

3rd Inspire4Nature Training Session (Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy, 2019)