Around 300 representatives from authorities and project managers from all over Europe attended the inauguration of the upcoming Biodiversa+ nature-based solutions programme yesterday. Geovana Mercado from SLU was one of the speakers and she presented the Greenhance-nbt project.
Yesterday, the launch of Greenhancenbt and several projects of the Biodiversa+ programme was celebrated in Montepellier. In front of an audience of about 120 people in the room and 160 people online, including representatives from the European Commission, Formas, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and many other project leaders from all over Europe, researcher Geovana Mercado from the Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management, presented SLU's part in the project. She also participated in a subsequent panel discussion. The project also includes Ishi Buffam, Thomas Randrup and Anna Sunding from the same department.
In total, 34 new three-year Biodiversa research projects on nature-based solutions to tackle biodiversity loss, human well-being and transformative change were presented. SLU has received funding for three of these, all at the Alnarp campus. Ramesh Vetukuri from the Department of Plant Breeding and Johan Stenberg, Department of Plant Protection Biology, also participated.
Over the next three years, SLU, together with partners in Malmö, Barcelona and Turin, will participate in the Greenhance-nbt project. The aim is to explore how nature-based thinking can support urban areas to increase biodiversity and promote human well-being through urban farming.
Biodiversa+ is a European partnership for biodiversity. It supports research that will have a significant impact on both policy and society and was jointly developed by BiodivERsA and the European Commission as part of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030.
Thomas Randrup, Professor
Department of Landscape Architecture, Governance and Management
Phone: 072 547 0508
E-mail: thomas.randrup@slu.se