BIONEXT: Providing integrated solutions to the biodiversity crisis

Experts from CzechGlobe are joining leading scientists from across Europe to provide practical and effective solutions for addressing the global biodiversity crisis.

The new four-year project, BIONEXT, funded by the EU’s research and innovation program Horizon Europe, will produce new evidence to demonstrate how biodiversity underpins every aspect of life, including the water we drink, the food we eat, and our health. They will also make recommendations on how governments, businesses, community groups and other organisations can support nature and reverse biodiversity loss as a part of decision-making. The project highlights that biodiversity must be at the heart of everyday choices and policymaking to protect nature and the vital benefits it gives us. BIONEXT will identify sustainable action to achieve this.

CzechGlobe researchers Zuzana Harmáčková and Simon Vaňo, who co-lead one of the project teams, will investigate what we can learn from successful case studies in Europe and around the world, which achieved synergic benefits for biodiversity, water, food and energy provision, transport, health and climate. The scientists will then work with governments, businesses, NGOs, researchers, community organisations, activists and minority groups to identify factors that help reach such synergic outcomes benefiting both nature and people. This information will be used to produce a BIONEXT Pathways app that will give organisations and groups guidance on implementing policies in their own areas.

The project aims to contribute new knowledge and science-based solutions on sustainable futures to the Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), EU policymakers, and civil society.

BIONEXT is coordinated by the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), with 10 partners from eight European countries. For more information, see the BIONEXT website www.bionext-project.eu and Twitter @BionextProject.