image: A group photo of the on-site participants in the SELINA third thematic workshop
Credit: Pensoft Publishers
SELINA’s third thematic Workshop took place in Leiden, the Netherlands from 5 - 9 February 2024. Themed 'Developing Salient Information for Evidence-Based Decision Making,' and hosted by Capitals Coalition, one of the Dutch partners in SELINA, the Workshop centred on identifying biodiversity and ecosystem services information crucial for the SELINA Demonstration Projects (DPs), relevant stakeholders and beyond.
Nearly 90 participants gathered on-site in the inspiring Leiden Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (PLNT) and online, to collaborate on the uptake of the ecosystem service assessment results in private and public decision-making. Among the attendees were SELINA project partners, representatives of the Municipality of Leiden, alongside other local stakeholders from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, The Netherlands Enterprise Agency, Consultancy and Research for Environmental Management (CREM), BNP Paribas Asset Management, and the University of Leiden.
Participants of the third SELINA Workshop were welcomed with a reception ceremony at Leiden City Hall by the vice mayor of the city, Ms. Yvonne van Delft. The three-day workshop then unfolded with a dynamic and interactive agenda, offering attendees a diverse array of activities. From keynote speeches and project updates to engaging panel discussions and parallel World Café group sessions, the Workshop provided an enriching experience for all involved. The primary focus of the meeting centred around the 15 SELINA DPs, their encountered challenges, and potential strategies for SELINA to provide support for their specific decision-making contexts. Among the key updates and highlights of the meeting were the following:
- Workshop participants received updates on the status and accomplishments of SELINA's individual strands and work packages. Several key concepts were further explored in a subsequent World Café group activity.
- The 15 SELINA Demonstration Projects (DPs) are advancing and DP leads have identified barriers hindering the incorporation of scientific information into their decision-making processes. Participants and DP representatives worked in four thematic groups based on their DP focus (Agriculture and water, Forestry and finance, Coastal and marine, and Spatial planning) to identify key challenges to incorporating ecosystem services, condition, and accounting in DP decision-making processes, along with potential strategies and approaches to address these challenges.
- Participants discussed potential solutions within SELINA to support DPs, encompassing various options such as workshop trainings, webinars, expert visits, and guidance documents.
Alongside the project-related activities, Workshop participants had the opportunity to either explore one of the SELINA Demonstration Project sites at Dunea near The Hague or participate in a creativity-boosting workshop hosted by PLNT, which featured Lego Serious Play.
To ensure SELINA's mission continues to inspire the next generation of scientists, a catch-up meeting of the SELINA Early Career Researchers Network (ECRN) was also organised in Leiden.
'It was a pleasure to host the third SELINA Workshop here in Leiden and to once again embrace the diversity of knowledge and cultures within the SELINA Consortium. After such an eventful week, we are delighted to pass the baton for the next SELINA Workshop in Norway to the Norwegian Institute for Natural Research (NINA).’ Martine van Weelden from the hosting organisation, Capitals Coalition, concludes.
This Workshop marked the third out of the eight thematic workshops planned in SELINA and built upon the momentum from the previous two SELINA workshops already held in Sofia and Madrid. The next one is scheduled for June 2024 in Trondheim, Norway.