Side Event

Bridging biodiversity science and society: A youth contribution towards mainstreaming GBO4 findings

Organizer
GYBN - Global Youth Biodiversity Network and DIVERSITAS

Date and Time
10 October 2014 18:15 - 19:45

Meeting
Twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Jointly hosted by the Global Youth Biodiversity Network and DIVERSITAS, this Side Event will discuss the gaps between science and policy makers and how youth can contribute to bridge the gap between Biodiversity science and society, communicating scientific findings to a more diverse range of communities. Mainstreaming scientific findings and improve the society's understanding of the current state of Biodiversity in the world is essential to implement the Convention and reach the Aichi targets. Youth can be a great partner for science and policy makers to close this gap so that scientific findings can become accessible to a broader range of stakeholders and become integrated into policies. During SBSTTA-18, the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) decided to show how young people can be an effective agent to mainstream scientific findings. Together with DIVERSITAS, we established a task force of committed young scientists and communicators to translate GBO4 findings into a youth-friendly language, grasping the main messages and developing interactive ways of contributing it. GYBN has also collected testimonies from youth around the world, showing how this findings are affecting their local realities and how they expect governments to act. During this Side Event we will be presenting primary outcomes of this initiative. A panel of experts from a wide variety of backgrounds will discuss the next steps to bridge the gap between Biodiversity science and society, what partnerships should be endorsed and what role youth can take on in this process.