Cibiogo - 1° Peer review visit, Namur - Belgium

The Cibiogo project acronym for "Citizen Participation in Biodiversity Governance" aims at influencing regional development policy for citizen involvement in biodiversity governance, to make them more participatory in public decision-making and to address issues related to raising awareness and improving accountability in public service provision, and most importantly, in preserving and protecting nature and biodiversity.

In view of this, the first Peer Review Visit of the Project has been organized on March 19-20 and 21 in Namur, Wallonia (Belgium), and the main topics will all be those related to "Citizen Science" for a better inclusive governance of protected areas through the involvement of communities and key Stakeholders. All this will be addressed through Masterclasses, Workshops, site visits and analysis of local best practices of the Host Partner, with demonstrative actions to raise awareness towards stakeholders and citizens.

The first day will be mainly dedicated to the thematic discussions of the project, by starting with the Masterclass parts that aim at presenting the importance of biological data in the biodiversity governance mechanisms, besides the stakeholders’ workshops whose objectives will be about finding ways to improve the citizen involvement in the various processes related to the biological data in the biodiversity governance mechanisms.

During the second day study trips/ field trips will be carried out.

The last day instead, will again be dedicated to a thematic discussion and the closing of the event.

Photo: Luc Derochette