Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service Scenarios Network – ScenNet

The goal of the ScenNet project is to strengthen national and international ties between researchers working on scenarios of biodiversity and
ecosystem services. The project involves researchers from a wide range of disciplines covering all aspects of scenarios including modeling of impacts
of global change on biodiversity and ecosystem services, scenarios of socio-economic development that take into account biodiversity and ecosystem
services, and feedbacks of changes in biodiversity and ecosystem services on decision making. At the global level, this project will support the newly
initiated Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and reinforce the recently launched interdisciplinary global
change program, Future Earth. Strong ties and coherence with these are ensured through significant participation of researchers involved in both
IPBES and Future Earth. ScenNet focuses on networking and capacity building in all eight countries participating in the Belmont Forum call for
proposals. Networking and capacity building in ScenNet is based on i) international workshops, ii) development of national networks, iii) a large
international conference on biodiversity and ecosystem scenarios to be held in 2016 and vi) a web-based networking tool. The project also builds on
and brings added value to a number of other research programs and networks at national and international levels. Substantial participation by nonfunding countries has been ensured by linking ScenNet to on-going international projects with similar objectives; for example, the EU-COST Action Harmbio project that focuses on harmonizing global biodiversity modeling and the Eur-oceans project that includes the harmonization of regional and global marine systems modeling.