At the end of March, around 140 experts and key stakeholders working and engaging in activities within SELINA will gather in Sofia, Bulgaria to mark the beginning of a series of interactive workshops planned within the project. The hybrid event is organised by Pensoft Publishers and the National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and will take place on 27-31 March. It will focus on the needs of decision-makers, and the enabling factors and barriers to implement BD and ES into decision processes, as well as, the structuring of the SELINA Compendium of Guidance (CoG).

During the workshop, in person and online participants will have the opportunity to learn more about the SELINA project and its activities and outputs that they can participate in/or utilise in their work. Breakout sessions and panel discussions will provide a floor to identify and discuss the enabling factors and barriers that stakeholders face when implementing biodiversity and ecosystem services concepts and knowledge within their work. Participants will also be familiarised with the co-creation mechanism for the Compendium of Guidance and with the way it will operate. Early input into the structure of the guidance will be provided.

One of the days of the workshop will be dedicated to a field trip including an urban field demonstration on remote sensing of the heat island effect. The demonstration will be led by Macroplan, which is one of the Bulgarian partners in SELINA. Also, participants will have the chance to visit a local nature site where they can explore local ecosystems and get to know the biodiversity of one of the first nature parks in Bulgaria and on the Balkan Peninsula - Vitosha.   

The agenda of the meeting is available here.