The Faculty of Science of the University of Navarra has created the Institute for Research in Biodiversity and Environmentto address key questions about nature and the future of the planet. The center aims to contribute to making Navarra a benchmark in research and scientific dissemination in this field. Its objectives also include providing industry with the results of its studies, offering services and collaborating with public and private entities that contribute to achieving a sustainable environment.

"Navarra is the ideal setting for nationally representative studies," says Jesús Miguel Santamaría, scientific director of the Institute. The board of directors also includes professors Ignacio López Goñi, José María García-Mina, Rafael Miranda and Inmaculada Pascual. 

The Institute is organized into four transversal lines of research: ecosystem monitoring and management (establishing methods for measuring data in natural, agricultural, urban and industrial environments); impacts of human activity on the environment; global change and biodiversity (studies aimed at predicting future changes in ecosystems); and environmental communication and education (an area of outreach work, linked to the activities of the Science Museum).

These lines will be articulated through the departments of Environmental Biology, Chemistry, History, History of Art and Geography, Communication and Construction, Installations and Structures; five research groups in different areas and the Science Museum. The center initially brings together a total of 35 researchers, who will be joined by experts from other faculties such as Law and Economics.

"To effectively address environmental problems, it is necessary to form interdisciplinary teams, since the processes that occur in nature are interconnected and never operate in isolation," explains Professor Jesús Miguel Santamaría. "Understanding problems such as climate change, environmental pollution or biodiversity loss requires applying a multidisciplinary approach to research, forming teams of professionals from different areas capable of providing consensual and comprehensive solutions".

Promote environmental education and citizen participation.

The center aims to be a meeting point between university research and the administration, companies, managers and the international community. But, above all," explains Santamaría, "it seeks to promote environmental education and citizen participation, transmitting positive messages based on science that help people understand the need to invest in research and to apply specific policies to guarantee the sustainability of the planet.

Although the Institute's researchers are involved in numerous international projects, a significant part of their activities will continue to be carried out on a regional scale, thus helping Navarra to become a reference in the environmental field. "Our region is characterized by being one of the Spanish communities with the greatest biological richness, where three biogeographical zones converge," Santamaría emphasizes. "Navarra is an ideal environment to host an Institute dedicated to researching and providing data that will help preserve its extraordinary natural heritage."

The creation of the Institute of Biodiversity and Environment reinforces the commitment of the University of Navarra and the School of Sciences to quality research and scientific dissemination. In these areas of work during the last ten years (2009-2018), 617 scientific articles have been published and 51 doctoral theses have been defended. 129 research projects (regional, national or international) have been obtained and the funding received exceeds 12 million euros.