Environment Week 2024: NFDI4Biodiversity introduces itself

190 exhibitors from science, politics and civil society who share their visions for a greener future – this is what the Week of the Environment offers, which takes place in Berlin on 4 and 5 June. Since 2002, the Federal President and the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) have been inviting visitors to Bellevue Palace Park, where they have the opportunity to learn about projects and initiatives that are developing exciting ideas for a more sustainable life.

Better available biodiversity data for better protection of biodiversity

NFDI4Biodiversity was also selected from around 400 applicants and is contributing an interactive information stand.

Since 2020, more than 50 stakeholders from science, environmental authorities, national parks, citizen science projects, natural history societies (such as expert associations for dragonflies, spiders, birds and fish) and museums have been working on the project, which is funded by the German Research Foundation and the federal and state governments, to establish a digital infrastructure that facilitates the long-term storage of and work with biodiversity, ecology and environmental data – also in order to contribute to nature and species conservation. The common credo: data diversity for biodiversity.

The approach of bringing together experts from scientific and non-scientific institutions, who often have decades of expertise in the management of biodiversity data, is an absolute novelty – and a path that has proven its worth: In a collaborative effort, more than 1.2 million previously unpublished data units have been published to date and thus made available for long-term use. In addition, more than 25 pilot projects are testing how data from research, citizen science and other contexts can be mobilised, standards established and storage infrastructures set up. The aim is to use real challenges to test how things can be done even better – in order to be able to offer help to other institutions and initiatives in the future.

What is biodiversity data and what can you do with it? A video created for Environment Week provides answers

In Berlin, the members of the biodiversity data project will focus on explaining to visitors what data on species diversity and biodiversity actually is and why it is so important to make it more accessible and available in the long term.

A video, which is being produced together with the various institutions in the partner network, makes it clear how this data is collected – for example through animal or plant observations in the field, through experiments or genetic analyses – and what it reveals to researchers and other data enthusiasts.

Digital tools that facilitate and enrich working with data

We also invite visitors to try out some of the software tools and programmes that have been developed in NFDI4Biodiversity and are constantly being optimised. These include BIIGLE, for example, software that makes it easier for researchers to count and annotate even the smallest creatures on images and video recordings – such as recordings generated by remote-controlled research robots in the deep sea, a place that is still barely accessible to humans. Each of these photos or videos contains a number of microorganisms that would take researchers a lot of time to record with the naked eye. BIIGLE does this work for them, counting and naming the recognised organisms. At the NFDI4Biodiversity information stand, visitors can test this technology for themselves using selected images – and thus understand the work of biodiversity researchers.

ROV Team/GEOMAR, CC-BY 4.0

A card game explains why there is a great need for improvement when it comes to data management

But why is there a need to optimise the management of (research) data in the first place? Visitors can find out in a games corner where employees present, among other things, the Data Scary Tales - a card game in the style of the popular "Black Stories", which explains how valuable data is often lost today - and why it should be secured and shared in the long term.

This will not only involve biodiversity data, but also data sets from a wide range of disciplines. After all, what NFDI4Biodiversity aims to achieve for biodiversity, ecology and environmental data is also relevant for data from many other research areas. The National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI), to which NFDI4Biodiversity belongs as a consortium for biodiversity data, is working to establish data as a common good in order to promote excellent research. The NFDI currently comprises 26 consortia covering a wide range of scientific disciplines: from cultural sciences, social sciences, humanities and engineering to life sciences and natural sciences.

Unique gathering of innovative environmental protection topics and projects – with around 400 applications

"Concrete solutions to pressing environmental problems are more important than ever. The park at Bellevue Palace offers exhibitors a unique atmosphere in which to present their ideas to a nationwide audience," says DBU Secretary-General Alexander Bonde. A total of around 190 exhibitors will present their innovations and solutions for greater environmental protection in the park of Schloss Bellevue, the official residence of the Federal President, during Environment Week 2024. A high-calibre jury from the worlds of society, business and science has reviewed around 400 applications in a nationwide competition. The Innovation Show is dedicated to highly topical aspects of climate, environmental and species protection: on 4 and 5 June, discussions and a talk by the Federal President with young people on the main stage as well as more than 70 specialist forums will provide fresh impetus and solutions. "It's about the central challenges of our time," says Bonde. Topics to be discussed include climate neutrality and energy security, hydrogen technology, biodiversity and resource conservation, sustainable change and social cohesion. Other topics include education, digitalisation, infrastructure and the economy.

Seventh edition of "Environment Week"

The "Week of the Environment" was launched in 2002 by the then Federal President Johannes Rau and has since been organised together with the Osnabrück-based German Federal Environmental Foundation. This year, the seventh edition will take place in the park of Bellevue Palace, as it did last time, and is intended to inspire all participants to create a sustainable future.

Are you interested in visiting us at our stand at the Woche der Umwelt? You can register free of charge until 15 May. You can find more information on how to take part here.