| Current status | 2020 |  |
| Short term status | 2016 - 2020 | |
| Long term status |  |
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The National Biodiversity Data Centre organised a Biodiversity Knowledge Quest event in Waterford (26-27th August, 2010). The purpose of hosting the event was twofold: i) to provide a stock take on the state of knowledge of Ireland’s biological diversity to coincide with the first global biodiversity target; namely ‘to halt biodiversity loss by 2010’; and ii) to identify some of the key knowledge gaps that could realistically be filled between now and 2020, the timescale for the next global biodiversity target.
The format for the Biodiversity Knowledge Quest was to invite recognised national experts to provide an account of the current state of knowledge for a particular aspect of biodiversity. The account was based around answering the following questions:
• Is there a published checklist?
• Have basic surveys been carried out?
• Is there a national database?
• Has a national conservation assessment been completed?
• Are there monitoring systems in place?
• Are there capacity building requirements?
• Are there other knowledge gaps?
These expert sessions were followed up with a series of knowledge gap workshops which identified and prioritised the remaining knowledge gaps for that group or habitat, and which gaps could be filled most easily over a ten year period.
The major outputs from the Biodiversity Knowledge Quest exercise was a published summation of existing knowledge on Irish biodiversity (Fitzpatrick et al., 2010) and the identification of priority knowledge gaps to be filled by 2020. More information on the state of knowledge on Ireland’s biodiversity and the knowledge gaps identified can be found here:
https://biodiversityireland.ie/key-gaps-in-irelands-biodiversity-knowledge/
References:
Fitzpatrick, Ú., Regan, E., Lysaght, L. (Editors) 2010. Ireland’s Biodiversity in 2010: State of Knowledge. National Biodiversity Data Centre, Waterford. http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Irelands-Biodiversity-20101.pdf
National Biodiversity Data Centre, 2010. Ireland’s Biodiversity in 2010: Knowledge Gaps. National Biodiversity Data Centre, Waterford. http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Knowledge-Gaps-20101.pdf
Number of gaps filled that were identified in the “State of Knowledge: Ireland's Biodiversity 2010”
Carried out in 2010 by the National Biodiversity Data Centre, the State of Knowledge report on Ireland’s biodiversity highlighted a number of information gaps through its analysis of the range of taxonomic groups. While the information contained therein would need to be summarised succinctly, the indicator could track improvements to biodiversity data management, the number of monitoring programmes, fundamental surveys conducted and conservation status assessments completed over time.