About

This year, ESP hosts its 5th European conference under the theme “Ecosystem Services: One Planet, One Health”. The theme refers to the question of how the ecosystem services concept can address the challenges involved in delivering 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 theme aligns 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 fair economic system that takes the full value of nature`s contributions to human wellbeing into account.

Ecosystem services science can greatly contribute to addressing various sustainable development and global health challenges, and presents a great potential for scientific partnerships across domains and for driving transformative change. ESP is the leading global community in the field of ecosystem services. ESP Conferences serve a vital function for this community, by providing space for knowledge exchange, networking, and innovation. At the 5th ESP Europe conference, we aim to put a special 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 output and takeaways in different ways – with a unified purpose 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 in the layout of streams and conditions but do address relevant topics for the ESP community.

The conference will take place on 18-22 November 2024 in Wageningen, the Netherlands. 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 participants in real-time. However, the conference will explore options to livestream the plenary sessions and possibly other virtual program elements.

The conference will also make a dedicated effort towards empowering young voices. The conference is committed to enabling high-impact participation of early career researchers. The program will be completed by pre-conference trainings, a conference dinner, and field trips showcasing local landscapes. Registration will open in summer.

Key Dates

Cover image by Elise van Tilborg