5th ESP Europe Conference in November 2024

This year ESP organizes its 5th European conference under the theme "Ecosystem Services: One Planet, One Health. The theme focuses on how the concept of ecosystem services can address the challenges of achieving the global vision of One Health. It highlights the interdependence of human health, animal and plant health, ecosystem health and the health of the global environment. The conference will be held in Wageningen, the Netherlands, November 18-22, 2024. The ZALF scientist Prof. Dr. Bettina Matzdorf is part of the Scientific Program Committee.

The theme is consistent with international commitments under the Global Biodiversity Framework and is at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals. These goals can only be achieved in a healthy and equitable economic system that takes into account the full value of nature's contributions to human well-being. 

Ecosystem services science can make a major contribution to addressing various challenges to sustainable development and global health and offers great potential for scientific partnerships across sectors and for driving transformative change. ESP is the leading global ecosystem services community. ESP conferences serve a vital function for this community by providing a space for knowledge exchange, networking, and innovation. 

At the 5th ESP Europe Conference, we aim to focus on two thematic streams: a) Ecosystem services and health, and b) Ecosystem services and conditions for transformative change. The streams are inspired by the overarching conference theme and will feed into the conference outputs and takeaways in different ways - with the common goal of scaling up the positive impacts of ecosystem services research. Of course, as always, there will also be ample room for session proposals that do not fit neatly into the streams and conditions layout, but address topics relevant to the ESP community. 

The 5th ESP Europe Conference will be an in-person conference to provide an enriching experience that allows attendees to fully immerse themselves in the conference, interact with speakers, and engage with other attendees in real time. The conference will also make a special effort to empower young voices. We are committed to enabling high-impact participation by early-career researchers. The program will be complemented by pre-conference trainings, a conference dinner, and field trips showcasing local landscapes. Registration will open this summer. 

We look forward to welcoming you all to Wageningen in November to meet and connect with passionate people, learn from their experiences, and gain valuable insights into the connections between ecosystem services and One Planet, One Health! ​