The 5th ESP Europe Conference was held in Wageningen, Netherlands, from 18-22 November 2024. Centered around the theme "Ecosystem Services: One Planet, One Health," the event brought together over 500 participants from 49 European countries, as well as attendees from Russia, Canada, and the USA. The event was organised by the Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP), Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD) and Wageningen university & research, all of which are partners in the SELINA project.
The goal of the conference was to highlight the interdependence of human health, animal and plant health, ecosystem health, and the health of the global environment.
SELINA attended as one of the EU-funded projects showcased at Pensoft's booth, alongside REST-COAST and SpongeBoost. Representatives of the projects engaged with attendees, sharing promotional materials such as brochures, badges, and informational leaflets. These resources provided a comprehensive overview of the projects' activities and objectives, fostering meaningful exchanges with participants.
The conference offered numerous presentations on various aspects of ecosystem services, creating opportunities for participants to increase their understanding of this field. Members of the SELINA project also contributed actively, presenting their studies in multiple sessions throughout the event.
Some of the presentations that significantly contributed to SELINA’s progress and goals included: “How to make ecosystem services science outcomes applicable for evidence-based decision-making?”, presented by Joana Seguin from Leibniz University Hannover, “Science-Policy-Society Dialogue: Horizon Project SELINA” presented by Katie Wilson from UNEP-WCMC, “Enhancing Justice Dimensions for Integrated Ecosystem Assessment: Implications for Decision-Making” presented by Jarumi Kato-Huerta from the University of Trento.
SELINA’s presence at the conference was promoted on social media under the ESP’s official hashtag #ESP2024europe, encouraging participants to visit the booth and learn more about the project. All of the insights from the event can be found on SELINA’s official channels on social media.
