AUSTRALIA—GERMANY WORKSHOP ON BIODIVERSITY
The Shine Dome, 13-17 March 2006
Response
by Dr Christian Stienen, Head of Division, Asia and Oceania, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
In his response, Dr Stienen said that the new German Government was aware of the importance of science, technology and education, and its new program would significantly increase the amount of money available for these areas.
A biological oceanographer, Dr Stienen emphasised the importance of biodiversity. He worked in the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study, especially in phytoplankton, and learnt that taxonomy was an important basis for a lot of applications. Good taxonomy goes into computer models, and the results of those models on climate and global change then feed into discussions for political consideration. He said taxonomy should be considered of more interest to everyday life than was presently the case.
