Biodiversity knowledge synthesis at the European scale: actors and steps

Barbara Livoreil (1, 2) , Ilse Geijzendorffer (3) , Andrew S. Pullin (2) , Stefan Schindler (4, 5) , Marie Vandewalle (6) , Carsten Nesshoever (6)

1 FRB - Fondation pour la recherche sur la Biodiversité
2 Centre for Evidence-Based Conservation (CEBC), Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK
3 IMBE - Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale
4 Department of Biodiversity and Nature Conservation, Environment Agency Austria, Spittelauer La¨nde 5, 1090 Vienna, Austria
5 Division of Conservation Biology, Vegetation and Landscape Ecology, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, 1030 Vienna, Austria
6 Department of Conservation Biology [UFZ Leipzig]

To respond to the need for a strengthened biodiversity science-policy-society interface at the European level, this paper presents the relevant actors and steps of a knowledge synthesis process relying on a Network of Knowledge. This process aims to maximize active involvement and contribution (including holders of traditional and local knowledge), transparency, credibility, relevance and legitimacy (among other values defined during several workshops held). The presented process allows for the implementation of several synthesis methodologies, depending on the availability of resources, quantity and quality of knowledge and decided according to the expectations of the requesters and users. We put this approach in parallel with other knowledge-based recommendations and negotiation processes such as CBD and IPBES and highlight the need to encompass the diversity of approaches, values, and challenges at the European scale, while the process simultaneously has to be highly flexible, yet simple and robust. Although the presented process still holds several challenges, it offers a step forward in the development and reflections on science-policy-society interfaces, based on consultations with a significant number of the actors from the European policy-science community.

Mots clés: Science policy interface; Knowledge synthesis; Decision making; Evidence; Stakeholder involvement

Domaines: Biodiversité et Ecologie

Barbara Livoreil, Ilse Geijzendorffer, Andrew S. Pullin, Stefan Schindler, Marie Vandewalle, et al.. Biodiversity knowledge synthesis at the European scale: actors and steps. Biodiversity and Conservation, 2016, 25 (7, SI), pp.1269--1284. ⟨10.1007/s10531-016-1143-5⟩. ⟨hal-01444012⟩