From 16 to 21 June, the 7th European Congress on Conservation Biology took place in Bologna, Italy. The Congress attracted around 1,000 participants from many countries in Europe and beyond. During the five hot days, over 800 presentations filled nearly 150 sessions, including plenary, regular, poster sessions, symposia and workshops. Here is some information about how our group participated in ECCB 2024.
In addition to receiving the Ikka Hanski European Distinguished Service Award, Nuria Selva presented a plenary lecture and co-organised a panel discussion on the protection of old-growth forests, with scientists, forest policy experts and Members of the European Parliament. In addition, she presented a poster on the impact of boundary walls on wildlife and the environment. Monika Hoffmann took part in a session on people and nature, highlighting the important role of roadless areas in protecting nature and combating global warming. Carlos Bautista participated in a symposium on the coexistence of humans and predators. In addition, together with Nuria Selva, Carlos co-organised and chaired another symposium, on human-wildlife conflicts in the context of global change.
As part of the WildINTEL project, funded by Biodiversa+, we attended the sessions on the use of artificial intelligence, citizen science and phototrapping and discussed the next steps and further collaboration with our colleagues running similar projects.
ECCB2024 was very inspiring and fruitful for us. There is a lot of work ahead of us on the aforementioned topics in terms of research and its application in nature conservation. We would not have been able to be so active without the help of all our colleagues and collaborators and the colleagues who attended our sessions. We would like to thank them all, as well as the organisers!