Research priorities for maintaining biodiversity's contributions to people in Latin America

UCL Open Environ. 2019 Aug 8:1:e002. doi: 10.14324/111.444/ucloe.000002. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Maintaining biodiversity is crucial for ensuring human well-being. The authors participated in a workshop held in Palenque, Mexico, in August 2018, that brought together 30 mostly early-career scientists working in different disciplines (natural, social and economic sciences) with the aim of identifying research priorities for studying the contributions of biodiversity to people and how these contributions might be impacted by environmental change. Five main groups of questions emerged: (1) Enhancing the quantity, quality, and availability of biodiversity data; (2) Integrating different knowledge systems; (3) Improved methods for integrating diverse data; (4) Fundamental questions in ecology and evolution; and (5) Multi-level governance across boundaries. We discuss the need for increased capacity building and investment in research programmes to address these challenges.

Keywords: capacity building; data availability; ecosystem services; environmental change; governance; investment in research; knowledge systems.

Grants and funding

The workshop was supported by a Researcher Links grant (ID 2017-RLWK9-358985276) under the Newton Fund. The grant was funded by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and delivered by the British Council. Daniela Manuschevich was also supported by CONICYT FONDECYT grant 11150281. Dario Moreira-Arce was also supported by CONICYT FONDECYT grants 3160056 and 11181180. David Prieto-Torres extends his gratitude to the Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (DGAPA-UNAM) for the Postdoctoral scholarship that allowed to contribute in this work. We thank Chris Langridge, Susana Fallas, Fabiola de la Cruz, and Humberto Gallegos for their help in the organisation of the workshop, and the Centro del Cambio Global y la Sustentabilidad, AC for the logistic support.