European frontiers are disappearing; economic activities cross borders easily and there is European policy on issues such as nature (habitats and species), water, agriculture, regional development and transport. National policies are being coordinated. This also means that reporting on impacts of policies should not only take place at the national, but also at the European level. Measuring and reliable reporting of trends and changes in biodiversity requires that data and indicators are collected and analysed in a standard and comparable way. This is valid for a national park, but also for the European Union as a whole. However, at present, all responsible authorities (over 100 national and regional agencies) have different and uncoordinated approaches. Worldwide the problem is even greater because in different continents species and ecosystems differ. Therefore there is a need to develop a coherent system for data collection that can be used for assessments at the European and global scales.

EBONE is a partnership of 18 universities and research institutes in Europe, Israel and South Africa working on the challenge of methodological cooperation and institutional coordination.

Results

The main outcome is a fully integrated system based on key biodiversity indicators and implementation within an institutional framework operating at the European level. The project is a pilot for global biodiversity monitoring and in this way will deliver a European contribution to the development of a global biodiversity observation system that is spatially and topically prioritised as foreseen in GEO (www.earthobservations.org/geobon.shtml).

Follow up

The EBONE project intends to be the basis of a cost effective data collection system for biodiversity including extant data, both past and present, at regional, national and European level. It will form the basis for the continued development of a European Biodiversity Observation System and in this way provide a common European basis or reporting on biodiversity by providing access to data for reporting on development on habitat and species for European Directives, and CBD reporting against the 2010 target. The system contributes to the GEOSS 10 year implementation plan, especially to the GEOSS tasks EC-07-02 and BI-07-01.

Target/objective<

The objective of the EBONE project is to develop and implement a terrestrial biodiversity observation network that is spatially and topically prioritized and a structure for an institutional framework allowing European and world wide terrestrial monitoring and projections on trends based on reliable data and indicators.

Approach

The project is built in 7 steps:
1. Design a biodiversity observation hierarchy based predominantly on existing capability.
2. Develop techniques for upscaling between site, networks of sites, habitats and remotely sensed data for detecting and interpreting changes in key indicators and ecosystems.
3. Validate the observation hierarchy by testing the system with field and earth observation (EO) data.
4. Recommend refinements to the observation system.
5. Make recommendations for the implementation of the system in Europe .
6. Propose how data can be integrated in existing structures and data management systems.
7. Develop and test the world wide compatibility of the system in Mediterranean regions outside Europe.

Data that will be included are from representative LTER (Long-term Ecosystem Research) sites, BIOTA-Southern Africa sites and Natura 2000 sites. These will be linked to data from nation-wide habitat monitoring and EO monitoring programmes. The approach builds on recent European research projects and networks such as AlterNet, BioHab, BioPress and EuMon assessing representativeness of sites and integrating monitoring systems. Its final product will be a proposal for a cost effective procedure for biodiversity monitoring.

Website

 www.ebone.wur.nl

Name of funding organisation

European Commission, Seventh Framework Programme, Theme 6 Environment. (2008-2012)

Contact of project leader