UN Convention on Biological Diversity
In February 2021 the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) became observer organization to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on my initiative. As representative for SPNHC I am virtually attending as much as possible the meetings of the Convention’s bodies, their webinars and follow the negotiations and decisions.
Topics of main interest to SPNHC and the collections community are the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and its monitoring strategy, indicators for monitoring species and genetic diversity, access and benefit sharing (ABS), policy options for “Digital Sequence Information” (DSI), knowledge management including pathways for planning, monitoring, reporting and reviewing, and engagement of all involved stakeholders.
Submissions to the public review processes of the CBD can be accessed here.
Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections
Since 2020, I am a member of SPNHC‘s Biodiversity Crisis Response Committee and have been, together with Dr. Libby Ellwood (iDigBio), co-chair of the committee from 2021 to 2023. My primary interests are in biodiversity conservation at the cross-continental, global level, partnership development, and genetic diversity as a component of an integrated approach to the assessment of biodiversity across scales.
In addition to being SPNHC’s representative to the CBD, I am also liaison for SPNHC to the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF).
Joining SPNHC’s Legislation and Regulations Committee in 2023 and collaborating with CETAF’s ePublications working group since 2021, I keep up-to-date with the dynamically evolving legal and ethical landscape for collection objects, data, information and knowledge, and contribute to the development of data governance frameworks.
