Individual-based Value Assessment of Biodiversity in Policy Implementation (INVABIO). (INVABIO)

The central objective of INVABIO is to strengthen biodiversity policies by tackling the implementation gap resulting from the complexity of assessing case-specific biodiversity impacts in permitting and sanctioning decisions. INVABIO will develop a novel value assessment framework that focusses on individual specimens or habitats to qualitatively and quantitatively assess impact gravity. Hence, we merge ecological, legal and economic perspectives into a unified interdisciplinary INVABIO framework aimed at increasing the effective implementation of biodiversity conservation law. As a secondary objective, INVABIO will address the lack of detailed information on value assessment practices in permitting and sanctioning decisions by a coordinated data collection effort for Flanders and create a unique picture of the practical implementation of EU biodiversity legislation. We will evaluate and compare legally allowed (permitted) and illegal (sanctioned) actions in terms of their true biodiversity impacts. To that end, four datasets will be collected, processed and analysed by all partners of the project. These can be divided into two types of which the first pertains to document analysis of: 1. Environmental permits 2. Administrative penalty decisions 3. Criminal sanction decisions and the second type (4th dataset) concerns a survey of officials and practitioners with anonymised data. So this survey will not collect any personal data or sensitive information from the participants. Participants will be contacted in different ways: via calls in newsletters or through professional organisations, via direct emails, via calls on the project website and via snowballing. We will not have a complete list of all email addresses that will receive the call. We do not keep track of IP addresses. We only request information on gender, age group, nationality and occupation. So we cannot identify participants. Combining the INVABIO framework with the current assessment strategies will allow us to identify the dominant perspectives used, comment on the scientific validity of these strategies and formulate promising avenues for improvement. INVABIO allows to identify priority areas for a better execution of biodiversity policies and to develop strategic guidelines for policymakers. Throughout we will be attentive to the applicability of research outcomes to other EU countries. As to dissemination and valorization, INVABIO will construct a web platform which will bring together the different insights and outcomes. The INVABIO web platform will act as a decision support tool for regulatory authorities involved in implementing biodiversity-related legislation by providing access to a unique dataset. Moreover, and based on the INVABIO framework, an interactive tool will allow users to retrieve specific and science-based guidelines for assessing the gravity of biodiversity impacts.

Keywords:BIODIVERSITY

Disciplines:Agricultural and natural resource economics, environmental and ecological economics, Environmental law, Global ecology

Project type:Collaboration project