EU BON (2012) stands for "Building the European Biodiversity Observation Network". This European research project, financed by the 7th EU framework programme for research and development (FP7), started activities on the 1^st of December 2012 and will continue for 4.5 years. EU BON seeks ways to better integrate biodiversity information and implement into policy and decision-making of biodiversity monitoring and management in the EU. The aim of EU BON is to build a substantial part and contribute to the Group on Earth Observation's Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON)*, through an innovative approach of integration of biodiversity information systems. The project, built as an answer to the need of a new integrated biodiversity data, will facilitate access to this knowledge and will effectively improve the work in the field of biodiversity observation in general.

The EU BON  International Symposium "Nature and Governance – Biodiversity Data, Science, and the Policy Interface", took place in Berlin from 11 to 12 February 2013. The symposium, hosted by the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, brought together high-ranking speakers and guests from across the world to talk and discuss the different aspects of the EU BON Project. The symposium aimed at clarifying and popularizing EU BON's objectives prior to the official EU BON Kick-off Meeting. Main issues covered were the future of biodiversity information, challenges in front of new data policies, new approaches in collecting information, and ways to engage the public in biodiversity monitoring and assessments, a.o.

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* Launched in 2005, the Group on Earth Observations, GEO, is a response to the need to address issues of biodiversity preservation as well as eight other societal benefit areas: agriculture, climate, disasters, ecosystems, energy, health, water and weather. The GEO BON venture was established to coordinate the provision of sustained, cross-cutting, integrated and accessible earth observation data and information.

GEO BON stands for "Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network". It coordinates activities relating to the Societal Benefit Area (SBA) on Biodiversity of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). Some 100 governmental, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations are collaborating through GEO BON to organise and improve terrestrial, freshwater and marine biodiversity observations globally and make their biodiversity data, information and forecasts more readily accessible to policymakers, managers, experts and other users. Moreover, GEO BON has been recognized by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. More information at: http://www.earthobservations.org/geobon.shtml.

The aim of GEO BON is to build a monitoring network that presents a full picture of what is happening to biological diversity worldwide. The system will use masses of biological information with data and forecasts on climate change, pollution, land use, biological invasions and other threats to biodiversity. Currently, the lack of comprehensive information about the world's biological resources continues to undermine the efforts of policymakers and managers to set priorities, elaborate strategies and assess the effectiveness of their actions.