• Two pilot cases have been developed:
  • Activities held at the University of Antananarivo (Madagascar) and Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia) include Teaching Programmes in different faculties, intensive modules of lessons, series of seminars, and in the case of the University of Antananarivo, a Research/Teaching Programme with the involvement of local NGOs, research action, field studies.
  • the Chepkoilel University College (constituent college of Moi University, Kenya) has established the Chepkoilel (MOI) University – IUNCBD Network Research Centre on “Biodiversity, Culture and Policy Interface”. IUNCBD has been actively working on analysing and designing methodologies, research/teaching programmes and curricula participating in local meetings and activities. Among them the Presentation of the IUNCBD Network initiative at the Chepkoilel (MOI) University College Workshop “Establishment of the IUNCBD University Network – Chepkoilel (Moi) University Centre for Culture and Biological Diversity”, Eldoret (Kenya), 28 November 2011.

• In Madagascar the IUNCBD Network has promoted the establishment of the Association “Research and Action on Gender and Biodiversity”. Students of the University of Antananarivo and experts are members of the association. 

• Initiatives carried on for the 2012 CBD Conference of Parties – COP11 in Hyderabad:
  • in five missions – January, April, December 2011, January and July 2012 – the IUNCBD Network presented the initiative in India, shared its conceptual framework and proposed several activities – among them the events for the launch of the IUNCBD International University Network Action Plan “Biodiversity 2020: Linking Education, Science Policy and Society” during the CBD Conference of the Parties (COP11, Hyderabad, October 2012), and a Summer School on specific thematic areas of the IUNCBD Network.
  • Indian institutions – Andhra Pradesh Forest Academy, Tirupati University, State Biodiversity Board members and universities across the country – have enthusiastically reacted and have established the Indian Network on Cultural and Biological Diversity (INCBD) and the Network of Indian Universities on Cultural and Biological Diversity, both promoted by, and linked directly to, the IUNCBD International Network.
  • IUNCBD initiatives have been presented in several universities across India, including among others:
    • Forest Academy (Andhra Pradesh) Workshop “Biodiversity & Livelihood”, Hyderabad, 13-14 December 2011.
    • 99° INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS, Bhubaneshwar, 3-7 January 2012, Special Panel “Biodiversity Governance – Role of Communities and Women” 

• The IUNCBD Network and Sapienza University of Rome – SPES Research Centre have been conducting the Research Project “Identifying the Potential Monetary and Non-monetary Benefits Arising from the Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources under the Multilateral System of Access and Benefit- sharing of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture”, the project has been carried on in partnership with institutes and international organizations, including the Secretariat of the ITPGRFA Treaty, Bioversity International, Lancaster University, Reading University.

• The IUNCBD Network Sapienza University of Rome – SPES Research Centre are active members of the UNEP Global Universities Partnership on Environment and Sustainability (GUPES) and have participated in:IUNCBD Network Keynote Lecture “Biodiversity and Indigenous Knowledge: the Experience of the International University Network on Cultural and Biological Diversity” at the International Centre for Science, High Technology and Environmental Sciences (ICST), Kerman (Iran) – UNESCO Iran “International Conference on Indigenous Knowledge for Biodiversity Conservation (ICIKBC 2011)”, Kerman (Iran), 14-15 December 2011.
  • UNEP Global University Partnerships on Environment for Sustainability GUPES First Consultative Meeting, UNEP Headquarters, Nairobi, Kenya 18-19 November 2010,
  • Presentation of the IUNCBD Network initiative at the UNEP – GUPES Consultative, Sharing and Learning Meeting for University Leaders on Environment for Sustainability, Santiago, Chile, 5‐6 September 2011,
  • UNEP Official Launch the Global University Partnerships on Environment for Sustainability GUPES, Shangai, 5-6 june 2012,

• The IUNCBD Network and Sapienza University of Rome – SPES Research Centre have co-organise the Workshop “Biological Prospecting and International Coordination for Transforming Mega-Biodiverse Countries India and Sri Lanka as Developed Nations”, 3rd International Conference on Medicinal Plants and Herbal Products, University of Colombo (Sri Lanka), 19-21 December 2011,IUNCBD Network presentation “Biocultural Heritage and (Soft) IPRs: Creating Benefits that Matter the Poor – IPRs for Products Based on Biocultural Heritage”, at the IIED side event, WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) 20h Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, Geneva, 16 February 2012,
  • IUNCBD Network Keynote Lecture “Biological Prospecting and International Cooperation between Developing and Developed Countries” with the presentation of the IUNCBD initiative.

• IUNCBD Network presentation “The Experience of the International University Network on Cultural and Biological Diversity – Case Study in Madagascar, NTFP”, at the International Union Forest Research Organization – IUFRO ALL DIVISION 9 CONFERENCE,  Sarajevo,  May 9 -11- 2012,
• Joint initiative CBD Secretariat / IUNCBD Network – San Buenaventura Universidad Cartagena: “Biodiversity and Health” E-Forum for Americas (September 2012 / June 2013) as operative innovative follow-up of the CBD Secretariat – WHO-PAHO Regional Workshop on the Inter-Linkages between Human Health and Biodiversity in the Americas, Manaus, Brazil, 4-7 September 2012,
• Joint Programme Ministry of Environment of Madagascar / IUNCBD Network: “Programme for the Universities of Madagascar – Biodiversity 2020: Linking Education Science Policy and Society”. Launching event: Workshop “CBD Implementation, High Education and Academic Programmes – Operative Debate for the University of Antananarivo: Teaching/Research/Outreach Activities”, Antananarivo (Madagascar), 1 October 2012,
• IUNCBD Network Side-events at the CBD Conference of Parties (COP11):
  • “Innovative Strategies to Implement the CBD – Policy Makers/Universities/Society: Pilot Cases in Madagascar, Latin America and Asia on Biodiversity & Health and Biodiversity & Development”, Hyderabad, 11 October 2012,
  • “Linking Education, Science, Policy and Society: the Biodiversity 2020 Action Plan of the International University Network on Cultural and Biological Diversity (IUNCBD)”, Hyderabad, 15 October 2012

participation in other initiatives >>