From September 4th to 6th 2019, Joost went to Sarajevo in Bosnia to attend the 2nd meeting of G-BiKE, a new European COST network focussing on Genomic Biodiversity Knowledge for Resilient Ecosystems.
G-BiKE is a research network within the Horizon 2020 COST Programme to link scientists and practitioners across the EU and beyond, highlighting the importance of genetic and genomic tools in biodiversity conservation. The main challenge is to establish the use of genomic data as a standard tool for monitoring and managing plants and animal species in order to ensure their persistence, and the continued supply of nature-based ecosystem services.
As the acronym itself refers to a bicycle, the basic idea of G-BiKE is to link two „wheels“, one that represents scientists and the other made of all those who directly implement ecosystem protection programs. The network programme is divided into five thematic units that are operationally organized as working groups (WG). WG1 focuses on implementing genetics into management, WG2 on monitoring strategies for genetic diversity, WG3 on the importance of genetic diversity for ecosystem services, WG4 on biotechnological assessments, and WG5 on knowledge sharing.