Project
BIOdiversity and ecosystem protection driven by Environmental JUSTice (BIO-JUST)
Biodiversa+ is the European co-funded biodiversity partnership supporting excellent research on biodiversity with an impact for policy and society. It was jointly developed by BiodivERsA and the European Commission (DG Research & Innovation and DG Environment) and was officially launched on 1 October 2021. Within the 2021-2022 call, the project “BIO-JUST: BIOdiversity and ecosystem protection driven by Environmental JUSTice” was granted to an international consortium that includes the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), Universidad de la Laguna (Tenerife, Spain), Universidade Federal do ABC, Sao Paolo, Brazil, BRGM - Direction Eau Environnement Processus et Analyses, Montpellier, France; Danone Water, France, the Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, Associacao Natrualeaza Portugal (ANC/WWF), Portugal, and the Water Resources Management Group of Wageningen University.
This project aims to develop and test a set of evaluation tools that will be used to analyze seven water conservation projects in Europe and Latin America. All of the chosen case studies aim to secure the water supply of growing cities while enhancing biodiversity and preserving ecosystems and their services. However, little attention has been given to the evaluation of these environmental services and the consequences these projects have for the people that live-in and off the areas that are being protected. Therefore this project aims to innovatively assess the implications these projects have in terms of environmental justice. In doing so it aims to contribute to the design, implementation and evaluation of these and other similar projects.
Within the Water Resources Management Group this three year project, which will run from April 2023 to April 2026, will be executed by Jaime Hoogesteger and Juan Pablo Hidalgo who will analyze the cases of the Water Funds in the Ecuadorian Highlands and the Watershed Protection Measures of the Southern Veluwe in the Netherlands.