Scientists meet to identify top 100 questions for Mediterranean biodiversity conservation

From 13-16 June, 2017 Angela and Grant Wardell-Johnson (Curtin University, Perth, Australia) visited Francisco Moreira (Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) Ad-Hoc Committee for Mediterranean Conservation Coordinator) in Lisbon, Portugal. The SCB Europe Section funded part of the travel costs for the two Australian researchers to visit Portugal. The team, representing 2 of the 5 Mediterranean environments in the world, met to advance the top 100 questions for Mediterranean biodiversity conservation. The goal of the top 100 questions initiative is to identify priorities for the conservation of biological diversity in the world's five Mediterranean regions.

Mediterranean regions are biodiversity hotspots facing multiple threats from climate change and anthropogenic drivers of change like land use and damming of waterways. The Ad-Hoc Committee for Mediterranean Conservation was established in 2012 under SCB Europe Section with the goal of tackling conservation issues in the Mediterranean regions of Europe, and elsewhere around the world. Mediterranean-type regions exist not only in Southern Europe but also in North Africa and four other regions in the world (USA, Chile, South Africa, Australia), spanning different SCB sections. Often, biodiversity threats and conservation issues are shared across these regions. After two days of intensive work making progress on the top 100 questions for these regions, the three researchers took some time off, and travelled to Mediterranean biodiversity hotspots around Lisbon.

Finally, SCB encourages the development of topical working groups with relevance to its mission and goals  (see https://conbio.org/groups/working-groups/about-working-groups). Francisco  is actively working to establish a Mediterranean Working Group, and needs twenty active SCB members to support the idea through expressions of interest. If you are a SCB member, and interested in joining a Mediterranean Working Group, please contact Francisco (fmoreira(at)cibio(dot)up(dot)pt). 

From left to right, Francisco Moreira (SCB Europe Section), Angela Wardell-Johnson, Grant Wardell-Johnson and Pedro Beja, during the meeting at the Institute of Agronomy, Lisbon.

Thanks to Francisco for sharing the story and update!