A team led by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, NatureScot and the University of Edinburgh have been announced as winners of the Innovation Award at the prestigious RSPB Nature of Scotland Awards 2020. The team worked with 43 scientists from 18 organisations to develop a new method for the rapid assessment of risk due to the loss of genetic diversity in wild species.

The assessment method enables Scotland to respond to the 2020 biodiversity targets set in Aichi, Japan, but will also be used in setting future global targets. By using a combination of available data and expert opinion, this ‘world-first’ can be applied by all nations, helping governments identify and respond to conservation priorities. The project was supported by SEFARI, the Scottish Government collective of environment, food and agriculture research institutes. 

Find out more about Scotland’s Biodiversity Progress to 2020 Aichi Targets: Conserving Genetic Diversity

A short video about the project is available watch online.