Science-Policy at iDiv

Close cooperation between research and politics is necessary to effectively protect biodiversity. Germany has achieved an international leadership role in this area, which was emphasised at the Parliamentary Evening on 25 June 2024 in the Käfer Club Room of the Reichstag building. Representatives of the scientific community and the Bundestag discussed the further development of this leading role, with the iDiv research centre and its future funding by the federal government playing a central role.

Science Minister Prof. Dr Armin Willingmann emphasised the importance of a strong scientific basis for the preservation of biodiversity and stressed the need for long-term financial support from the federal and state governments. Ms Katharina Peter from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and Prof. Dr Peter Seeberger, Vice President of the German Research Foundation, followed with words of welcome. Prof. Dr Aletta Bonn and Prof. Dr Martin Quaas then presented how biodiversity research and iDiv can be further strengthened. This was followed by a lively panel discussion with Prof. Dr Walter Rosenthal, President of the German Rectors’ Conference, Prof. Dr Katrin Böhning-Gaese, Head of the Biodiversity – Climate – Land Use Research Group at Leopoldina academy, and Ms Karin Zaunberger, Member of the European Commission, on the different perspectives on what is now needed to strengthen biodiversity research and iDiv. The official programme was followed by an informative exchange with members of the German Bundestag.

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Approximately 200 guests from politics, research, NGOs and the civil society followed iDiv’s invitation to a Parliamentary Evening in Saxony-Anhalt’s State Representation in Berlin on January 17 2023. The goal of the event was to discuss what actions need to be taken to implement the new Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Germany.

The evening was opened by a welcome address of Saxony-Anhalt’s Minister for Science and the Environment, Professor Armin Willingmann and a speech by Parliamentary Secretary of State for the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) Dr. Bettina Hoffmann. Professor Aletta Bonn then presented how biodiversity research can help implementation of the goals and targets, followed by a lively panel discussion with Dr. Christiane Paulus, Head of Division 4. Nature Conservation in the BMUV, Olaf Bandt, president of the NGO Friends of the Earth Germany, Andreas Jahn, member of the federal executive board of the Bundesverband Mittelstand (Federal association of medium sized businesses) and Professor Aletta Bonn representing biodiversity research.

The evening concluded with a reception where participants engaged in lively discussions until late at night.

On June 8 2022, the Committee for Science, Energy, Climate and Environment visited iDiv together with the Minister of Science, Energy, Climate and Environment, Armin Willingmann. The committee is composed of members of the federal state parliament (“Landtag”) and has the mandate to discuss bills and proposals related to the expertise of the Committee and to develop recommendations for resolutions to be adopted in parliament.

iDiv was represented by Helge Bruelheide, Jonathan Chase, Christine Fürst, Isabell Hensen, Sabine Matthiä, Robert Paxton, Henrique Pereira and Christian Wirth. Helge Bruelheide and Christian Wirth welcomed the delegates and presented biodiversity research at iDiv and MLU, Isabell Hensen and Henrique Pereira presented the projects PhenObs, EuropaBON and NaturaConnect, and MLU rector Prof. Christian Tietje and chancellor Markus Leber presented plans for the iDiv’s funding and permanency after 2024. The presentations were followed by lively discussions among the visitors and iDiv representatives and a tour of the building where Simone Cesarz and Susanne Dunker provided the parliamentarians with a glimpse of how research is done at iDiv.

Generating knowledge together – that is the goal of Citizen Science. On 29 April 2022, scientists from the Helmholtz and Leibniz Associations as well as the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) will present the Citizen Science Strategy 2030 for Germany to the public and present a series of current projects at a Citizen Science Festival. The strategy addresses the greatest challenges and potentials of Citizen Science over the next ten years. It contains 94 specific recommendations for action to further develop citizen science in Germany and to integrate it permanently into science, society and politics. The Citizen Science Strategy 2030 Germany was developed in a two-year participatory process with more than 200 actors from 136 organisations. The process was largely funded by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

In March 2022, delegates of the signatory countries of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and observer organisations met in Geneva for the first time after more than two years of online negotiations. In three parallel meetings, they focused on finalising the goals and targets of the new Post2020 biodiversity framework that shall be adopted later this year at the 15^th Conference of the Parties in Montreal, Canada. The focus was on the monitoring framework and suitable indicators to track progress towards the goals and targets, and means of implementation of the framework such as financing and capacity building.

iDiv as an observer of the CBD participated in the meetings with Hannah Moersberger, Henrique Pereira and Andrea Perino. Together with GEO BON and Future Earth, the delegation contributed a text proposal for an additional paragraph in the draft framework providing guidance for its implementation. The joint statement highlights the importance of identifying how different actions contribute to the different targets, who the responsible stakeholders are, promoting ownership of biodiversity action by recognising the multiplicity of biodiversity values as well as considering remote responsibility for biodiversity change.

The contribution stressed the need to further mainstream implementation across key economic sectors, to be supported by adequate legal, economic and behavioural tools and reward systems, and to ensure accountability through a systematic and transparent assessment of progress. This should be achieved with the help of national biodiversity observation and monitoring networks.

Implementation was also the topic of a side-event, that iDiv’s Science-Policy coordinator Andrea Perino and Henrique Pereira (iDiv, MLU) organised together with Yves Zinngrebe (UFZ). Among others, Haigen Xu from the Chinese Environment Ministry, Daniela Guaras (UNEP-WCMC), Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen (Wageningen University and Research), Cornelia Krug (bioDISCOVERY) and Universität Zürich) and Axel Paulsch (Institute for Biodiversity Network) were involved.

The environment ministers of the Central German states and representatives from nature conservation organizations and authorities exchanged views on the implementation of the international biodiversity targets at state level at the 2nd iDiv Forum “Biodiversity in Central Germany” on January 14, 2022.

The protection and conservation of biodiversity is one of the most urgent tasks of our time. The Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) are therefore working at full speed to develop a new framework for the protection of biodiversity, despite pandemic restrictions. The German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) supports the dialogue on the implementation of the biodiversity goals through an annual expert forum with lectures and discussion panels. Topics such as land use planning, pesticide reduction, pest-resistant plant varieties, reporting or the cooperation of different actors were on the agenda. The work of the recently opened National Biodiversity Monitoring Center of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) in Leipzig was also presented.
As at the first iDiv Forum 2021, the Minister of the Environment and the Ministers of the Environment of the Central German Länder, Anja Siegesmund, Prof. Armin Willingmann and Wolfram Günther, took over the patronage of the event and emphasized the urgency of the biodiversity crisis in their welcoming addresses. The participants agreed that this crisis can only be solved through the cooperation of many different actors.