Role of Biodiversity in Climate change Mitigation (ROBIN): A new ILTER European, Meso and South American project.

How can we manage biodiversity and forest use in Latin America to mitigate climate change without unintended consequences for other ecosystem services and people? To realise the full potential of biodiversity (BD) in multifunctional tropical landscapes, for climate change mitigation (CCM) and the provision of other ecosystem services, we must understand the socio-ecological processes through which we respond and adapt to change. ROBIN (www.robinproject.info) is a European Union funded project focused on Meso- and South America, which will quantify interactions between terrestrial BD, forest land use & CCM potential, develop scenarios for CCM options and evaluate their effects on ecosystem services (e.g. disease mitigation) and their socio-ecological consequences. ROBIN will combine techniques (including remote sensing) for BD assessments in complex multi-functional landscapes, data-based analyses, integrated modelling and participatory-driven approaches at local and regional scales. Case studies along a gradient of sites in Mesoamerica and Amazonia will help us understand the relationships between BD & CCM options and contribute to policy development. These studies will assess options that are favoured by stakeholders, and the barriers and drivers that determine successful adoption of resource management strategies. Information and decision-support tools will be provided for policymakers and local stakeholders that are based on scenarios of socio-economic and climate change. We will provide improved indicators for BD relevant to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the design and implementation of REDD+/++ schemes (aimed at combating climate change by reducing deforestation), that will enable us to increase carbon storage in forests and multi-functional landscapes, and to monitor potential changes in BD. The main impact of the work will be to enable natural resource managers to make more informed decisions concerning the management and sustainable use of tropical forests, maximising CCM without impacting on biodiversity. ROBIN members are involved in ILTER through the UK LTER Environmental Change network at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), Mex-LTER (Conabio) and Luquillo LTER (CEH). Other project members and organizations in Europe, Meso- and South America have other links through their organizations to ILTER networks.