Triin Sellis, a member of our Agroecology Research Group, participated in the World Biodiversity Forum 2026 in Switzerland, where she presented ways to assess the impacts of agriculture on biodiversity more accurately.
Triin Sellis doing her presentation in the World Biodiversity Forum.
Key messages from her presentation:
- Current methods for assessing the environmental impacts of agriculture do not adequately account for biodiversity.
- Landscape elements surrounding agricultural fields—such as hedgerows, trees, field margins, and semi-natural grassland strips—play an important role in supporting biodiversity and should be better integrated into environmental impact assessments.
- In addition to discussing the environmental footprint of agriculture, we should place greater emphasis on its environmental handprint—the positive impacts that farmers and other land managers can have on nature through their practices.
After the forum in Switzerland, Triin travelled to Budapest to attend the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc) conference, where she was elected to the organisation’s general board. She is the first Estonian and the first representative of early-career researchers based in Estonia to serve on the Eurodoc Board.
Eurodoc represents the interests of doctoral candidates and early-career researchers in European research policy and advises the European Commission and other research policy stakeholders on issues related to doctoral education and research careers.