GEOBON Report of the breakout session

Challenge to GEO The global biodiversity community is coming together because of GEO bringing global tasks and related data sharing to the forefront GEO should help to mobilize national support for the implementation of GEOBON Data sharing and accountability is a joint issue: – Biodiversity data are shared with difficulty – Public sector are largely funding the data BUT government cannot rely on NGOs to share data – Further development of OGC and standards for biodiversity is essential

Challenge to the scientific community and space agencies Develop Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) that are representative for all regions (terrestrial and marine) in the world Develop global and regularly updated observations suitable for monitoring of terrestrial and marine biodiversity: – Primary data from satellite & in situ: species, (number). Derived products are species presence and abundance, population size, etc. – Primary data from satellite & in situ: NPP, LUE, evapotranspiration, total AG biomass, structure etc. From these data we derive carbon balance and storage, as well as plant functional type or life form. – First level derived products: species, carbon storage, PFT or life form. Derived products are Ecosystem extent and structure

Challenge to the social science community Develop economic and social data in the context of biodiversity and ecosystem services and their observations such as: – Socio-economic data for identifying drivers of change; – Societal aspects triggering motivation for biodiversity conservation and observation; – Integration of ecosystem services in decision making.