Transcript Presentation of GEO BON at GEO Plenary VI

GEO BON
Group on Earth Observations
Biodiversity Observing Network
RJ (Bob) Scholes
Chair, GEO BON
CSIR Natural Resources and Environment
PO Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
IGOS-GEO Symposium,
Washington DC
19 November 2009
The mission, paraphrased
• What forms of biodiversity
•
•
•
are changing
Where, and
Why; and
with what consequences?
Where are we at?
• Stakeholder endorsement received
•
•
•
•
-
Users: CBD, IPBES, IUCN, National nature protection agencies
Providers: Biodiversity NGOs, GBIF, Space Agencies
Founding documents (Concept and Implementation Plan) accepted
A network has been formed, committee and task groups appointed
Detailed design in progress
Work underway on early products
GEO BON Early Products: Example 1
Protected Areas Monitoring Pilot
PA boundary
From WCMC
Species
from GBIF
Early products Example 2
Continuous Plankton Recorder
Various
WWFLiving
Planet
GOFC/GOLD
GEOSS
IUCN
Red
list
GBIF
WCMC
GEOSS
ITIS
Catalog of Life
GBIF
GenBank
BOLD
Space
agencies
Scholes, RJ et al 2008 Towards a global biodiversity observation system. Science 321,1044-5
Some missing pieces
• A global database of interaction observations
-
Food webs (who eats who?)
Pollinators
Hosts and pathogens/parasites
Symbionts, mutualists
-
Species that co-occur
• Relative or absolute abundances
Community attributes
• Functional type profile (broadleaf, needleleaf, grass…)
• Structure (Height, crown cover, biomass, leaf area…)
• Function (NPP, albedo, bulk conductance…)
• A community/plot/site database
-
• Uses of biodiversity (societal benefits)
-
Nature of use (food, fibre, medicinal, cultural…)
Use intensity
Value
Making the links
Spatial location
Non-biodiversity data
Ecosystems
Organisms
(indexed by species)
Persistent identifier
Gene sequences
species
Interactions Functional types
Abundances
(indexed by popn,
polygon and time)
Simplicity in complexity: A biodiversity syntax
[optional] (quality control)
Hypothesis: there are just three basic types of record
• Nouns: What, where, when,[how many],(by who),(how)
- Ecosystem extent
- Species presence/absence/abundance record
- Genetic record
• Adjectives: A is a member of B (says who) (when)
- Nested taxonomies
- Cladistics
- Functional types
- Communities
• Verbs: A performs action C on B [intensity] (where)(when)(by who)
- Food webs
- Non-tropic interactions
- Ecosystem service flows
A natural succession in biodiversity information
Simple
1.
2.
Presence/absence
Abundance
1.
2.
3.
3.
4.
Complex
Confidence intervals
Time series
Known individuals
Genetic relatedness, phylogenetics
Species interactions
Dealing with institutional diversity and complexity
Countries &
Organisations
Users
International /
global
International
bodies
Brokers/intermediaries
GEOSS
GEO BON
public
GenBank GBIF WCMC
Encyc
TDWG
of Life
National/
local
researchers
Observers/data holders
GxOS
Nations
International
Environment
NGOs
Space
agencies
Local biodiv
NGOs
Information divergence versus convergence
2010 target
Goals
Subtargets
Indicators
Reduce rate of biodiversity loss
Rate of loss
Sustainable use
Threats
Ecosystems
Integrity
Traditional
knowledge
Benefit
sharing
Financial
resources
Example of an integrated indicator
Ecosystem type
Land cover/use (A)
Change in abundance (I)
Species richness (R)
 R A I
BII 
 R A
ij
i
j
jk ijk
k
ij
i
j
jk
k
Biodiversity Intactness %
Scholes, RJ and R Biggs (2005) A biodiversity intactness index Nature 434, 45-9
Some thoughts on the post-2010 targets
• A positive vision
-
Perhaps based on avoidance of critical thresholds
eg Increasing natural capital, sufficient supply of key services
Stay within adaptive limits
• Based on the possible and desired, rather than the readily
•
available
Small set that is socially relevant and specific
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Health, food and other ecosystem services, hazard avoidance
Key ecosystems: eg Amazon, Great Barrier Reef etc
Central tendency and limits at ecosystem, species and gene levels
• Gene level
• Phyllogenetic richness
• The genetic foundation of the global food basket
• Species level
• Broad-based abundance (population trends in several thousand representative
species)
•
• Risk of extinction (eg red list index)
Ecosystem level
• Natural capital (the capacity to deliver ecosystem services)
• Effective extent of critical ecosystems
Achieving the power of integration within GEOSS
Disturbances
Agriculture
AG-06-02: Data Utilization in Fisheries and Aquaculture DI-09-03b: Implementation of a Fire Warning System at
Global Level
Health
HE-09-03c: Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Health
EN-07-02: Energy Environmental Impact Monitoring
CL-09-01a: Enhanced Climate, Weather, Water and
Environmental Prediction
CL-09-01b: Climate Information for Decision-making
and Adaptation
Biodiversity
BI-07-01b Invasive Species Monitoring System
BI-07-01c Capturing Historical and New Biodiversity Information
Ecosystems
EC-09-01a: Ecosystem Classification and Mapping
EC-09-01b: Ecosystem Status and Trends
EC-09-01c: Regional Networks for Ecosystems
EC-09-01d: Protected Areas Assessment and Monitoring
EC-09-02a: Impact of Tourism on Environmental and Socio-Economic Activities
EC-09-02b: Impact of Transport Infrastructure Development
EC-09-02c: Vulnerability of Sea Basins
EC-09-02d: Vulnerability of Mountain Regions
What is going on in 2010
•
Early Products’ throughout 2010, the International Year of
Biodiversity
•
GEO BON all working group meeting,
Asilomar, USA 22-25 Feb 2010
• The run-up to the CBD
- Preparatory science conference, Nagoya, Japan
22-23 March 2010
-
Inputs to CBD SBSTTA, Nairobi,May 2010
World Biodiversity Day, 20 May 2010
UN General Assembly special session on Biodiversity,
September 2010
- CoP in October 2010
[email protected]
http://www.earthobservations.org/geobon_par.shtml