The GaP project in the ICCB 2025 in Australia

The GaP project recently participated in the 32nd International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB 2025), hosted by the Society for Conservation Biology Oceania Region. The event took place from June 15–19, 2025, at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre (BCEC) in Brisbane/Meanjin, Australia.

Representing the project, Konstantina Spiliopoulou, a postdoctoral researcher at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, delivered an oral presentation titled "Key Biodiversity Area Identification to Support Global Biodiversity Targets to 2030: The case of Greece."

During her session, Konstantina highlighted the critical need for countries to update their Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) to encompass multiple taxonomic groups, emphasising how these comprehensive updates are a vital step toward fulfilling targets set by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Illustrating this approach with a case study of Greece, the presentation detailed results based on the assessment of 2,080 terrestrial species. The analysis identified 432 potential sites covering 15.5% of Greece’s land. Notably, these potential KBAs overlap with existing KBAs by 41.7%, meaning many fall completely outside of current protected networks—even though protected areas already cover 35% of the country's land area. The findings also revealed that invertebrates and plants make up the vast majority (88.2%) of the 999 species triggering KBA criteria, while the KBAs of the country are identified using only bird species. Stakeholder engagement remains a key next step in successfully navigating the KBA identification process for Greece and creating formal proposals to officially update the KBAs of the country.