National Museum of Natural History, Sofia participating in the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Assistant Professor Dr Salza Palpurina of the National Museum of Natural History, Sofia (NMNHS) participated in the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP17) in Yerevan, Armenia. She attended in her role as Regional Technical Support Associate for Europe and Central Asia at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), a role carried out through collaboration between NMNHS and GBIF.

A highlight of her participation was the GBIF discussion “Enriching biodiversity data to accelerate delivery of policy- and indicator-ready data for the GBF”, in which Dr Palpurina served as a panellist. The discussion focused on enriching and standardising biodiversity data to support more effective policymaking, indicator calculation and national reporting on progress towards the Kunming—Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

A key feature of the conference was the Data to Action Pavilion, which brought together scientists, institutional representatives and conservation organisations to explore practical ways of turning data into decisions for biodiversity conservation.

As part of the GBIF team, Dr Palpurina also contributed to the practical component of “Putting Target 1 into Practice: Interactive Marketplace of Spatial Tools and Platforms”, organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The event showcased tools and platforms for spatial planning, including GBIF and BON in a Box.

“One of the most impressive aspects of the Data to Action Pavilion was the opportunity for scientists, representatives of government institutions and conservation organisations to work side by side towards a shared goal: conserving biodiversity,” said Dr Palpurina.

She also attended “Bridging Biodiversity Data and Policy: How Regional Observation Networks Support National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans”, organised by COOP4CBD. Meetings during the conference provided opportunities to exchange experience with partners from Europe, Central Asia and other regions.

Discussions also explored how data published through GBIF by Bulgarian research institutions could be used more widely to inform national biodiversity conservation policies and reporting on international commitments.

GBIF is an international infrastructure providing free and open access to standardised biodiversity data. NMNHS uses it to publish data from its scientific collections and research projects, contributing to open science and making information on species distributions more accessible.

Useful links:
Data to Action Pavilion: https://cop17pavilion.org/
NMNHS profile on GBIF: https://www.gbif.org/publisher/826e5964-1925-48e4-a839-f4b418e75260
GBIF Bulgaria CESP project: https://www.gbif.org/project/CESP2026-018/bolstering-technical-and-data-mobilization-capacity-in-gbif-bulgaria
COOP4CBD at COP17: https://coop4cbd.eu/cop17
Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON): https://geobon.org