Peer-reviewed scientific publishing serves the research community by verifying the validity of research results, disseminating the findings, and archiving them in a stable and accessible form. Over the past decade, “open access” has gained momentum as a model for scientific publishing, intended to makes results freely accessible to the scientific community and to the public on the Internet. Controversy over public access to research continues to escalate.
March 16th, 2012 Open Access—Pass the Buck
March 10th, 2012 Asia-Pacific meeting on IPBES opens in Tehran
Press TV: Iran’s Department of Environment in cooperation with the Economic Cooperation Organization, ECO, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, is hosting the International Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services conference in Tehran. The aim of the conference is to provide better life and human living standards through the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Some 70 representatives from 42 world countries including representatives from FNR-Rio pilot countries, the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Education, Science, and Cultural Organization, (UNESCO) and United Nations Environmental Program World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) all attended this event.
March 9th, 2012 Welcome Remarks of the ECO-IEST President at the ECO Meeting in Tehran
Welcome Remarks by Dr. Asghar Mohammadi Fazal, President of the ECO Institute of Environmental Science and Technology; at the The ECO meeting on “TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SPECIMENS AND SPECIES" held on 9 March 2012 at the Olympic Hotel in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran:
February 17th, 2012 Request to provide views and comments on a draft on: Barriers to Biodiversity Data Sharing
The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has invited Parties to provide their views and comments on a draft document reviewing barriers to the sharing of biodiversity data and information, with recommendations for eliminating the barriers. Feedback received by 25 March 2012 will be taken into account when finalizing the document.
February 1st, 2012 Regional Conference on IPBES: open for registration
In preparation for the second plenary meeting on IPBES, a regional capacity building workshop and consultative meeting for ECO country members, as well as Asia and the Pacific will be held from 10 to 12 March 2012 in Tehran, hosted by the Department of Environment of Islamic Republic of Iran in collaboration with the ECO Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ECO-IEST), with support from UNEP and financial support from the Government of Norway.
January 16th, 2012 Promoting synergies within biodiversity related MEAs
UNEP-WCMC is currently working on a report on synergies between the global biodiversity-related conventions under contract to the Finnish Ministry of Environment. The report is aimed as a contribution to the international environmental governance discussion, not least in the context of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20).
December 23rd, 2011 Thriving Neighbourhoods 2012
Thriving Neighbourhoods 2012 is an international conference on emerging approaches to the planning, design and management of local neighbourhoods that are set to radically improve health, social engagement, environmental quality, productivity and the sustainable prosperity of communities. Thriving communities have the resilience needed to adapt creatively to unexpected challenges such as climate change, population change, rapid technological change, social upheaval and economic crises.
December 10th, 2011 Unlock local research potential with open access
Free and unrestricted access to research results and publications, known as open access (OA), is key to speeding up scientific discovery. There is also growing evidence that OA maximises the impact of research through better dissemination and uptake of research findings.
But how can we make this a truly global and sustainable endeavour? This was much discussed at the recent Berlin 9 Open Access conference in Washington DC.
December 8th, 2011 Rio markers
PARIS (IDN) – How to scale up, deliver and better direct international public climate finance has been a subject of discussion at the global climate change conference in Durban, South Africa. New data show that the member countries of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) apportioned up to USD 22.9 billion, or 15 percent of total official development assistance (ODA), to climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries in 2010.
November 30th, 2011 IPBES: International Expert Workshop on Policy Support
From 7-9 December, 2011 Germany will host a workshop in Bonn in coordination with UNEP for about 100 international experts. The workshop will prepare the 2nd session of theIPBES plenary scheduled for April 2012 and focus on theIPBES topic "policy support/policy relevance".
This topic is of particular interest from a German point of view. It is vital that the scientific results of IPBES are made available both on demand and for policy makers and thus constitute an important basis for day-to-day political decision-making. By hosting this international workshop Germany intends to proactively push an important topic and thus further contribute to the international process. The Network-forum for biodiversity research Germany (NeFo) at the Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) will prepare and organise the planned workshop.
