The main objective of the HarmBio partnership is the harmonization of current models and datasets of terrestrial, freshwater and marine biodiversity to improve the reliability of future projections of biodiversity change under various policy options enabling environmental decision making, potentially as input to IPBES and similar assessment processes.

Global biodiversity is declining rapidly, largely as a result of human activities. Effective policy and adaptive management strategies in the face of global change require anticipation of future changes. Mid- to long-term planning will therefore depend, at least in part, on model-based projections. Unlike the well-coordinated climate modelling community, the biodiversity modelling community is currently disparate and largely uncoordinated. Hence, there are no agreed metrics of biodiversity produced as standard output from models, nor are there common datasets used for calibration and validation by modelling efforts. This Action facilitates the harmonization of current models and datasets of terrestrial, freshwater and marine biodiversity to improve the reliability of future projections of biodiversity change. This cross-community initiative aims to accelerate the development of transparent and scientifically robust biodiversity models, through validation, calibration and intercomparison of models and data, and ultimately to enable environmental decision making based on state-of-the-art projections of biodiversity change under various policy options.

This is an Action funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) programme to enhance collaboration amongst global biodiversity modelling researchers. Biodiversity modellers from COST countries and COST reciprocal countries are welcome to join.

UNEP,WCMC
Universit Paris-Sud Laboratoire ESE
Sofia University
State University for Library Science and Information Technologies
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Univ. J. Fourier, France
Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberg Gesellschaft fur Naturforschung, Germany
University of Macedonia
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Trinity College Dublin
The Israel Nature & Parks Authority
Universit di Roma La Sapienza, Italy
PBL-Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, Netherlands
University of Bergen, Norway
Universidade de Lisboa
Geological Institute of Romania
University of Bucharest
University in Belgrade
Slovenian Forestry Institute
National Museum of Natural Sciences, Spain
Imperial College London, UK
CSIRO
Yale University
University of British Columbia