On the wings of a very successful interregional thematic workshop in Wallonia, Belgium, and in anticipation of the upcoming workshop in the Basque Country, the National Institute of Biology organised its second regional stakeholder meeting.
The theme of the meeting was ‘the importance of relevant biodiversity data for the decision-making process.’ The workshop was attended by 14 representatives from research institutions, NGOs and private sector bodies representing the main biodiversity data providers in the project area. Meeting participants presented the scope and extent of their data, its organisation and accessibility and discussed their experiences as data providers.
Mr Janez Kastelic, Director of Ljubljana Marsh, was also in attendance and provided a decision-makers perspective of how data could be collected and organised to maximise use and impact.
In general discussion, participants acknowledged that more data exists than there is available for decision makers and it was concluded that there is a need, a possibility and a will for creating a good practice to increase the availability and ease of understanding of the data for decision makers.
The National Institute of Biology will coordinate these activities as part of the BID-REX project. Time will tell if need, possibility and will are all that is required to implement these changes!
