The DiSSCo Research Infrastructure signed in May 2019 a letter of agreement with the German Organization for International Cooperation (GIZ) to actively contribute to the efforts carried out by the Biodiversity Information Management and Reporting (BIMR) Regional Platform.
The BIMR team, supported by the GIZ-Open Regional Fund for South-East Europe-Biodiversity (GIZ/ORF BD), consists of experts representing environmental-related institutions from all the economies in the Balkan region.
DiSSCo will contribute to the development of a policy paper to set up the requirements to achieve a higher political profile of biodiversity information management and reporting. It is expected that the policy paper will enable functional and operational biodiversity information management activities in the region and harmonisation with EU legal requirements.
Furthermore, DiSSCo emphasies the role of Natural Science Collections as the taxonomic backbone for transdisciplinary research and key elements to respond to the Grand Societal Challenges of our time. Collections preserved in the Balkan region constitute the most precious testimony of its biodiversity richness and a unique source of multiple data sets and will therefore be considered very relevant stakeholders during the entire collaboration between DiSSCo and GIZ/ORF BD.
The cooperation established between DiSSCo Research Infrastructure and GIZ/ORF BD aims to support a sound change in the way of doing research in Europe and will enhance cross-sectoral research, efficient knowledge-sharing and data-driven decision-making processes.
You can find additional information in this article.