OBSGESSION was featured in this year’s Biodiversity Monitoring Week (BioMonWeek) Conference with oral presentations and a co-shared booth. 

During this year’BioMonWeek Conference, which took place between the 4th and 8th May in Montpellier, France, OBSGESSION shared a booth with BioAgora Project, eLTER, ANERIS Project, FORSAID Project, SELINA, ANTENNA, ForestPaths, CO-OP4CBD, TRANSPATH and RESPIN. Project partners participated in many thematic sessions, workshops, tutorial and demonstrations, working on the shared approach of monitoring Europe’s biodiversity. 

The conference was co-hosted by BioAgora, Biodiversa+, MARCO-BOLO, Alliance for Nature, and GBIF. Science, policy, and business communities gathered to discuss ideas and exchange knowledge on reversing the global biodiversity crisis. 

Highlights from the sessions   

On the first day of the conference, 5th May, OBSGESSION’s coordinator - Professor Petteri Vihervaara from the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), chaired a session on Mass Monitoring. Prof. Vihervaara gave a talk, titled ‘Novel remote-sensing approaches for biodiversity monitoring using multiple sensors,’ discussing the integrations of various sensors, including in-situ data to benefit the biodiversity monitoring at a larger scale. He reviewed the topic, by presenting examples of in-situ data as one of OBSGESSION’s methods for biodiversity monitoring. You can watch the full presentation here.

Petteri Vihervaara giving a talk on ‘Novel remote-sensing approaches for biodiversity monitoring using multiple sensors’

During the same session, an OBSGESSION’s partner - Lori Gianacovo from VITO Remote Sensing, presented their work on a standardised algorithm benchmarking framework, aiming to advance the production of RS-based EBVs. 

Lori Gianacovo presenting a standardised algorithm benchmarking framework

Tiina Laamanen, from the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), was another highlight of the event. She took part in the ‘Freshwater habitats’ session, discussing her work the Finnish national eDNA roadmap and several other projects, among which OBSGESSION, where Laamanen is involved in the environmental DNA in-situ data methodologies.

Tiina Laamanen discussing her work the Finnish national eDNA roadmap

During the third day BioMonWeek 2026, OBSGESSION’s Wilfried Thullier (CNRS) took part in the Novel RS approaches session with two presentations. In the first one, titled From stratified soil eDNA sampling to soil food web predictions in space, he discussed the current limited knowledge of factors, shaping the distribution of soil organisms from specific taxonomic groups and ways to address this challenge. The second presentation, authored by Sara Si-Moussi (CNRS Alps), showcased wall-to-wall maps for dynamic habitat monitoring using Earth observation foundation models. 

Alongside the parallel sessions and workshops, at the co-shared booth, OBGSESSION presented the project’s first policy brief, “Prioritising Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) to support European Union (EU) policy needs based on the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 (EU BDS 2030)”. The brief was developed by a project’s partner - UNEP-WCMC and is based on its Deliverable 1.1 Policy landscape and needs. The report identifies 37 priority EBVs and aims to support the EU BDS 2030 in implementation and biodiversity monitoring. You can read the full policy brief here.

BioMonWeek 2026 gave scientists, policymakers and relevant stakeholders the opportunity to exchange knowledge and create a network in the field of biodiversity monitoring. The next BioMonWeek is scheduled for 2028 and will take place in Turku, Finland. Stay tuned through their website for updates on the future event.