Representatives from the Regional Secretariats for Science, Technology and Infrastructures and for the Environment and the Sea participated in the Net-Biome final conference as project partners.
 
The event was also attended by biodiversity experts from European outermost regions and territories as well as by representatives from regional, national and European policy-making and scientific research areas.

This group, who met on February 15 and 16, has consolidated the work developed in the past five years of Net-Biome project and discussed its future as the funding project for the Net-Biome Consortium will be in force until the end of February.

During the final conference and sidelines meetings held by the committees in charge for the project implementation, the future of this network was under discussion and, in this context, several strategies were created to continue the work on biodiversity management as a basis for sustainable development in outermost regions and territories.

In the Azores, the Net-Biome project has been monitored by the Regional Secretariats for Science, Technology and Equipment and for the Environment and the Sea.

One should remind that following the first Net-Biome application for tropical and subtropical biodiversity research, four transnational projects which included Azorean teams were approved and are due to start in March.

The next network meeting will take place in the Azores later this semester when a memorandum of understanding will be signed between all partners with the purpose of ensuring the continuity of the activities developed under the Net-Biome Network. Meanwhile, the second application for the support to research projects will open.

Net-Biome is a regional project that comprises a consortium of 11 partners, representing regional entities or European territorial entities from five Member-States: France, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.