Biodiversity working group wins eku idea future prize 2024

It is with great pleasure and pride that the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Working Group (AG Biodiversität) at TU Dresden announces that its project ‘Experiencing and Shaping Biodiversity: Promoting the SDGs (BioSDGs)’ has been awarded the eku - Future Prize for Energy, Climate, Environment in the eku idee category. The prize, awarded by the Saxon State Ministry for Energy, Climate Protection, Environment and Agriculture (SMEKUL), recognises outstanding ideas that provide new impetus for climate, environmental and nature conservation in Saxony. The eku Future Prize is awarded annually to projects that promote climate protection, resource conservation and ecologically sustainable development. By honouring BioSDGs, the jury is honouring a project that is breaking new ground in biodiversity conservation through interdisciplinary cooperation.

Working together for biodiversity

The Biodiversity Working Group, as a working group of the Environmental Commission (KU) of the TU Dresden, is affiliated to the Chair of Business Administration, in particular Environmental Management at the IHI Zittau of Prof Remmer Sassen. Our group consists of students and employees from various areas of research and administration. We are dedicated to one of the most urgent issues of our time: the preservation of biodiversity. This is not only the basis of life on our planet, but also a crucial prerequisite for our own well-being. Together, we are committed to small and large projects to promote biodiversity on the TUD campus and beyond. After successfully creating a flowering meadow in 2023 and building an insect nesting aid made from recycled material in 2024, we developed the BioSDG project idea for 2025. The aim of the project is to use the university as a ‘real laboratory’ for the protection of biodiversity and to actively involve students, teaching staff and society.

With a creative and interdisciplinary approach, the project shows how education, research and collaborative action can support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Specifically, BioSDGs focuses on the development of measures that promote biodiversity on the TU Dresden campus while creating transferable solutions for other educational institutions and regions. Our measures promote sustainable development in line with the global Sustainable Development Goals SDG 4 (Education), SDG 15 (Life on Land) and SDG 17 (Partnerships).

The prize money will be used for three central ideas: The focus of our current work is the creation of a flexible educational programme to sensitise children to the protection of biodiversity at an early age. Last semester, we already supported a teaching format for students as part of the praxiSDG series and would like to continue this so that students can develop concrete biodiversity measures, including a monitoring strategy for the campus. At the end of the project, a comprehensive guide will be published that shows how interdisciplinary collaboration can contribute to the conservation of biodiversity.

The BioSDGs project aims to show how schools and universities can become drivers of sustainability and social transformation. Our aim is to initiate change together - not only on campus, but also in the region and beyond.

The Biodiversity Working Group would like to thank SMEKUL for the recognition and all those involved for their support in developing the project. With fresh motivation, the next steps are now being implemented to make biodiversity tangible and sustainable. We look forward to hearing from interested parties who would like to support the implementation of our ideas and cordially invite you to a joint plenary session.

More great prize winners 2024 can be seen on the website of the eku Future Prize: https://www.eku.sachsen.de/eku-zukunftspreis-2024-5000.html

(Text by Tina Werchan)