News

From 25 to 27 May, BMD’s first All Hands Meeting took place in Barcelona, Spain, bringing project partners together to explore everything that has been accomplished so far. The event featured interactive sessions and discussions, providing an opportunity for evaluating the progress made and planning future actions in the development of BMD’s tools for biodiversity monitoring. Special guests were Laura Palomo (REA) and External Expert Advisory Board members Mette Lund (EEA) and Giovanni Strona (European Commission), who contributed with expertise and valuable perspectives that will help guide our next steps in the project.

Main accomplishments and future directions

• BMD partners presented the progress on the data harmonisation and the upcoming BMD Data Catalogue, which will be hosted by LifeWatch ERIC even after the project has been finalised, ensuring long-term accessibility and impact.

• The first version of the BMD data cubing engine, developed by B-Cubed, and the Data Space with a computing and visualisation engine will soon be released as well. You can learn more about data cubes here.

• The BMD Training Portal is now publicly available, and the first videos were filmed during the High-throughput biodiversity monitoring workshop, hosted by the project. They will cover topics such as biodiversity data collection, species identification using digital analysis platforms, and publishing biodiversity data to international repositories. 

• We evaluated the results from our stakeholder engagement activities and workshops, highlighting how stakeholder input continues to shape the project’s upcoming results. If you are working to protect, monitor and restore Europe's biodiversity, we would love for you to get involved.

• The Biodiversity Analysis Tools (BATs) are currently being developed, and partners need to ensure they comply with stakeholder needs, monitoring requirements, and technical feasibility. 

• The project is seeking opinions on the design choices for the Biodiversity Explorer, since the platform will be co-designed with the support and input of the stakeholder community. Explore the prototypes and vote for your favourite one.

Julian Oesen (UFZ) and Olaf Bánki (Catalogue of Life) presenting work package updates

The feedback and suggestions during the All Hands Meeting brought valuable perspectives to the project and will help guide our next steps.

Explore BMD’s mission and objectives in our fully animated introductory video, which brings the project’s vision for biodiversity monitoring to life.