Symposium “Biodiversity Change in the Anthropocene: Research Priorities”
Biodiversity experts gathering at the Fano Marine Center
On 10 and 11 April 2024, the Symposium “Biodiversity Change in the Anthropocene: priorities in research” was held at the Fano Marine Center, a fruitful meeting between experts dealing with biodiversity in Italy, both in the terrestrial and aquatic fields. The keynote lecture by Grégoire Dubois, head of the Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity (KCBD), Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Ispra (VA) introduced the theme of “Reverting biodiversity loss by 2030: all for one policy and one for all policies”. This was followed by 46 oral communications divided in three sessions: examples of change; predictions of change; tools, actions and change management. A specific session, the “PhD spot”, was dedicated to PhD students funded and co-funded by the National Research Council to allow even the youngest researchers to discuss the key issue of biodiversity change. The poster communications reached a total of 78 contributions, also articulated in the three sessions. With a view to the complete sharing of contents, the symposium web page contains: the detailed agenda, the recording of the event and all the oral scientific communications and from it it is also possible to consult the posters. The event was organized by the Biodiversity Working Group (WG) of the CNR and CNR-IRBIM of Ancona in collaboration with the Fano Marine Center, Lifewatch Italia and the National Biodiversity Future Center. In particular, the organizing committee was composed by the CNR-IRBIM members: Ernesto Azzurro, Sara Bonanomi, Pierluigi Strafella, Marina Chiappi, Fabrizio Moro, Paolo Scarpini, Rocco de Marco, Andrea Miccoli and Mattia Betti. The event received a remarkable interest, with a total of about 200 participants and well over 50 remote connections. Participants had the opportunity to discuss biodiversity changes, intervening with questions during oral communications and discussing in the poster session permanently open in the hall of the Fano Marine Centre. The symposium’s strategy also included, from the moment of registration, the collection of individual proposals to improve research activities on biodiversity changes; these proposals were then subjected to a real evaluation by all congress participants with real-time voting. The thematic tables were also used to elaborate the conclusions of the individual sessions and all these experiences of sharing and debate will flow into a list of concrete recommendations to prioritize biodiversity research. The organizers and participants of the symposium demonstrated a deep commitment to addressing the health of the Planet and protecting natural resources. For more information and updates, please consult the symposium page.Photo Courtesy by Fabrizio Lecce (CPM – Centro di Produzione Multimediale – Università del Salento and LifeWatching).
12.04.2024 - Ancona