Dear Reader,
More than a year has passed since we kicked off BioValue, the EU-funded project that aims at creating transformative change in spatial planning for valuing biodiversity; months of work and research that are now summarised in this first issue of the BioValue newsletters.
Biodiversity loss is one of the persistent problems the world is facing today. Mainstreaming biodiversity into European and national development planning is therefore crucial and urgent. That is the contribution of the BioValue project, initiated in July 2022, one of a cluster of European projects on Transformative Change for Biodiversity funded by the Research Executive Agency (REA).
In considering the potential of transformative change in spatial planning for valuing biodiversity, BioValue adopts an instrumental methodological approach. BioValue explores the capacity three complementary instrumental perspectives to support different sectors and actors in taking ownership of biodiversity concerns. The three instruments are cross-related in the analyisis, encompassing Spatial planning and management instruments (SP&MI), Environmental assessment instruments (EAI) and Economic and financial instruments (E&FI).
In these past months, BioValue has set up three Arenas for Transformation in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Federal State (Germany), Trento Municipality (Italy), and Mafra Municipality (Portugal). The project has started to map the landscape of the Arenas to design specific processes of change and define the actual contribution each Arena can bring to BioValue's spatial planning ambitions. To do so, the first two Transformation Action Workshops were organized and they are being replicated by the Arenas in their local territories.
BioValue faces a very challenging and complex topic, as illustrated in the video presentation. The ambition for the end of the project is to advance the capacity of spatial planning to generate increased value for biodiversity. That will require improvements to current policy practices that can transform the way spatial planning and policy address biodiversity in Europe.
BioValue transformative change has just begun. Keep following us, also on our Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.
Enjoy your reading!
Maria do Rosário Partidário
BioValue project coordinator
Instituto Superior Técnico - University of Lisbon
