Bio Knowledge Agora: Developing the Science Service for European Research and Biodiversity Policymaking

Despite improved understanding of the need for science to inform biodiversity related policy making and the rich field of science-policy interfaces (SPIs) there remains a gap in ensuring that all decision makers across all societal sectors have direct access to research-based knowledge when planning, budgeting and deciding on actions that have an impact on local, national, EU and global biodiversity. BioAgora will develop a Science Service for Biodiversity (hereafter referred to as Science Service), which responds to the present gaps and future needs in SPIs and provides the science pillar of the EU’s Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity (KCBD). It will channel the entire landscape of EU biodiversity science from monitoring to meta-analyses and communicate this knowledge through two-way platforms to EU institutions and the broader community. To do this, the project will use ongoing processes of SPIs across Europe and beyond, as knowledge exchange networks, to address the most urgent needs identified for the Science Service. BioAgora will go beyond the state of the art by co-creating new ways of bridging the gap between science, practice and policy and use this as a basis for the Science Service’s development for future needs. To do this, it will 1) analyse the existing landscape of SPIs, assess their policy tools and the current biodiversity knowledge held in Europe, 2) engage with a broad range of actors –those already established ones and those not yet fully integrated within the landscape, as well as the users of SPIs; 3) form the Science Service governance structure and systems model along the projects span by testing it in real life; 4) provide capacity building for the EU community of decision makers to become empowered for transformative change for biodiversity. BioAgora will deliver a functional and responsive Science Service, capable of providing a one-stop-shop for fit-for-purpose materials and tools which enable decision makers to secure biodiversity and sustainability transformation.