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Biodiversity and Ecosystems

Research

Safeguarding biodiversity and its ecosystem services secures our natural resources. The BMBF supports projects that provide innovative approaches in this field. 

Opportunities

  • Biodiversity provides important ecosystem services which are crucial to people’s well-being, for example the pollination of fruit trees, soil formation, climate regulation and water purification.
  • Biodiversity secures the availability of our food, provides medicinal plants and is the basis of renewable biomaterials for the growing bioeconomy.
  • Diversity in nature makes us more resilient to climate change impacts such as increased aridity or sudden torrential rain.
  • Biodiversity is also important for our recreation. Nature is a place for our leisure, retreat and recreation and thereby essential for our well-being.

Biodiversity crisis: twin of climate crisis

Biodiversity is the diversity of life on our planet – from plants and animals to ecosystems. It is essential for the many diverse ecosystem services which are vital to human life: our food, clean water, clean air, healthy seas and oceans and a stable climate. The use and overexploitation of resources such as soil and water, deforestation and the destruction of areas rich in biodiversity has continued to increase. It is internationally recognized that lasting climate change and a growing loss of biodiversity are twin crises which are closely related.

Research Initiative for the Conservation of Biodiversity (FEdA)

In 2019, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) initiated the Research Initiative for the Conservation of Biodiversity (FEdA) to stop the loss of ecologically valuable and sensitive habitats and improve biodiversity protection. Under this initiative, the research teams develop a scientific basis for making decisions for a better treatment of nature as well as innovative solutions and approaches. The researchers use the latest scientific methods and techniques, including artificial intelligence (AI) to improve biodiversity monitoring and scenario development. The BMBF supports projects under the initiative with up to €200 million.

Protecting biodiversity – an international task

Similar to climate change, Germany as a country cannot tackle the loss of biodiversity on its own. The search for solutions can only be successful in a concerted global effort. This holds particularly true for oceans which have no state borders and therefore require international cooperation and coordination. That is why we support the international networking of science and research.

Since 2005, we have supported the European research partnership BiodivERsA, now Biodiversa+. It enables us to contribute our national expertise to European and global research projects.

Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

In addition, together with the Federal Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection (BMUV), we have set up a German Coordination Office for the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The Office coordinates our national activities in advising and informing political decision-makers about the status and development of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Besides the latest knowledge, researchers also present possible actions to protect biodiversity and ecosystems.

Editorial deadline for this text: 01.11.2024

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