WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.970 --> 00:00:04.390 Julien Faivre: I guess you can see the slides. Right? 2 00:00:05.910 --> 00:00:07.296 Julien Faivre: Okay? Good. 3 00:00:08.860 --> 00:00:27.399 Julien Faivre: so yes, I will talk about biodiversity. So one thing I'm a physicist. So I'm not an expert of this field, of course, and the second point is that I'm used to talk about it in French and not in English, so I do not know all the technical words, but I will do my best. 4 00:00:28.750 --> 00:00:35.170 Julien Faivre: So yeah, this is about countering the biodiversity loss, using particle physics, research sites. 5 00:00:35.725 --> 00:00:41.580 Julien Faivre: So the 1st question is, why should we care about this? And there are a number of arguments. 6 00:00:41.980 --> 00:00:49.739 Julien Faivre: for example, losses of biodiversity are not reversible, or also to loss for better carbon storage. 7 00:00:49.850 --> 00:00:57.575 Julien Faivre: But there is one argument which speaks to everybody which is the usefulness of biodiversity for humans. 8 00:00:58.300 --> 00:01:19.089 Julien Faivre: so this is called the ecosystem services, and there are a number of services like, for example, food through pollination or medicines or regulations of erosion, for example or tourism, and if we have less efficient services, we need to replace them with artificial solutions. 9 00:01:19.750 --> 00:01:21.709 Julien Faivre: and therefore it's expensive. 10 00:01:21.820 --> 00:01:39.710 Julien Faivre: Now there is a word of caution here. This is, I mean, ecosystem services is an accidental concept, because talking about this supposes that we consider nature and human as 2 different things, and this does not make sense in all the cultures. 11 00:01:39.910 --> 00:01:48.680 Julien Faivre: So, in my opinion, if we pretend to do inclusive research, this means that we should maintain biodiversity for itself. 12 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:53.869 Julien Faivre: Now, what do we often think that biodiversity is 13 00:01:54.470 --> 00:02:20.279 Julien Faivre: on the animal side? We see biodiversity as endangered species, or cute species, like dolphins or otherwise useful species like, for example, honeybees. Sorry I'm trying to. I'm fighting with my laser pointer, because I have this. I have this rectangle which I cannot get rid of in the middle of my screen. Okay, never mind. 14 00:02:21.090 --> 00:02:41.999 Julien Faivre: And on the plant side we can. It's pretty much the same view. We can add the trees because they are the lung and also flowers because they feed the honeybees. If we have this view in mind, we conclude that while our labs are not a protected area. They are not. 15 00:02:42.120 --> 00:02:52.330 Julien Faivre: They do not have large surfaces, and they do not host rare species. So in this view we do not have anything to do in our laboratories, and my talk would be finished. 16 00:02:52.925 --> 00:02:59.480 Julien Faivre: But if we look into what's happening in the cities, we see that something still seems possible. 17 00:02:59.780 --> 00:03:10.680 Julien Faivre: So if we look at the right hand side figure, I will get back to it later. But we can see honeybees, and we can also see beautiful trees, so apparently it answers at least partially the question. 18 00:03:10.970 --> 00:03:14.660 Julien Faivre: So this is good. But now, if we look into more. 19 00:03:14.890 --> 00:03:36.319 Julien Faivre: a more scientific definition of biodiversity, it can be defined as a diversity of species, also diversity of ecosystems, that is, of the links between the species. And it's not obvious on the 1st group of pictures. But these are all pictures of very, very similar ecosystems. 20 00:03:36.640 --> 00:03:55.990 Julien Faivre: and the 3rd part is genetic diversity. So on the top you can see a field of basically clones, and on the bottom, instead, you can see a field of wild plants, and the genetic diversity can be seen here by the diversity of the color of the flowers. 21 00:03:58.460 --> 00:04:12.899 Julien Faivre: so we often quote the losses of species. They are very impressive figures. But again, if we have this view in mind, we conclude that we do not have to do anything in our laboratories 22 00:04:13.220 --> 00:04:32.180 Julien Faivre: instead, there also are losses of populations, as you can see here. I will not go into the details, losses of ecosystems, and of resilience, and this means that ecosystem services get degraded, and there also are more risks. The second point is that 23 00:04:32.310 --> 00:04:45.030 Julien Faivre: the common species, that is, the species that we sort of encounter every day are the necessary basis for ecosystem services to be efficient, and also for rare species to settle. 24 00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:51.849 Julien Faivre: Therefore the conclusion is that yes, in our laboratories we can do something 25 00:04:53.266 --> 00:04:59.063 Julien Faivre: now. Where should we act? And so I talk about the laboratories. But 26 00:04:59.830 --> 00:05:09.349 Julien Faivre: In a more general view, the question where essentially means, in place of what? Because all pieces of land are occupied by species. 27 00:05:09.430 --> 00:05:34.970 Julien Faivre: Now it has been established that the 1st cause of biodiversity loss in Europe are agricultural practices, but this is a very difficult area to work on for various reasons. Essentially this, in place of what question? Instead, in the laboratories, it's rather easy in the sense that we do not replace something. We just add something on top of our laboratories. 28 00:05:35.590 --> 00:06:01.229 Julien Faivre: So these are not necessary. Not sorry. These actions would not be enough, but they are necessary. Now, if we go into the causes of the 5 major causes of biodiversity loss, we contribute, we as high energy physics to pretty much all those causes. But I would like to focus on the loss and fragmentation of habitats. We occupy small surfaces, but there could be high stakes 29 00:06:02.290 --> 00:06:31.199 Julien Faivre: back to this picture if we look more carefully. Now about this picture we can see that the honeybees, while they compete with wild bees. There are plants, but they are ornamental plants. There is no diversity. There are trees, but there are exotic species, and also there is a pathway here which makes it maybe improbable that a bird makes a nest in this tree because the bird would be disturbed by the movement on the pathway. 30 00:06:31.300 --> 00:06:47.069 Julien Faivre: So this has been built with this picture in mind. And this is not optimal. So what do we do? Then? We can get back to this definition of diversity. But also we can add the fact, for example, that animals must eat, they must rest, they must move, and they must communicate. 31 00:06:48.350 --> 00:06:57.283 Julien Faivre: and this drives the site, organization, and management. So there are some recommendations, as per the vegetable species. 32 00:06:57.910 --> 00:07:09.919 Julien Faivre: we should also create a diversity of habitats, and also even habitats. We do which we do not really find beautiful. We should create a habitat connectivity, that is, corridors 33 00:07:10.390 --> 00:07:14.479 Julien Faivre: on the site, but also between the site and the surrounding areas. 34 00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:29.639 Julien Faivre: We should reduce the sources of disturbance, and it could be physical obstacles or traps for animals, but also light and noise can be disturbance, and we should also create quiet zones, that is, zones with low human presence. 35 00:07:31.357 --> 00:07:51.922 Julien Faivre: A few more things because we have to take surrounding areas into considerations. It is important to have a reflection about the new sites or new accelerators, for example, about their diameter, say because the location of, for example, the access shafts would change 36 00:07:52.540 --> 00:07:58.849 Julien Faivre: and this has a consequence on the network of corridors in all the surrounding area. 37 00:07:59.642 --> 00:08:11.859 Julien Faivre: I talked about the consequences on the site organization, and these consequences translate into choices on the buildings, streets, etc. Also underground networks, as I will show. 38 00:08:12.370 --> 00:08:35.457 Julien Faivre: And the last point is that a budget has to be anticipated, for example, for building some buildings while building buildings with some characteristics, or maybe some few squared meters to buy. So biodiversity must be taken into account from the beginning of the projects. And now I just spend half a minute on real cases. 39 00:08:35.990 --> 00:08:58.250 Julien Faivre: in a laboratory you cannot really see. But in this plan, actually, we wanted to plant trees because it was relevant, and we could not, because there were all different networks underground, so it was not possible to plant trees, or here a tree that was hosting a number of birds had to be cut because there was 40 00:08:58.250 --> 00:09:06.340 Julien Faivre: too little space with respect to the surrounding buildings. We wanted also to plant trees on the south part of the building, because 41 00:09:07.230 --> 00:09:27.897 Julien Faivre: to make shadow in summer and air cooling, and it was not possible, because this was the firefighter access and last point. The the blue track which you see here is the the access for the trucks. So in all this way, so part of it is not really used apart from trucks. 42 00:09:28.310 --> 00:09:54.959 Julien Faivre: but this fact makes it impossible to remove the asphalt. So this means that if biodiversity is not taken into account very early in the project there can be irreversible things, and you can see here, on those 2 different schemes on the right. Both schemes, for example, have a corridor. They have a road, a building, and a source of noise, but those 2 different 43 00:09:55.150 --> 00:10:12.920 Julien Faivre: schemes have different impacts on biodiversity. So this, of course, is a work which has to be done by experts. But there's a lot of feedback from many kilometer size projects. So there is material to start with. And my last slide is about 44 00:10:13.050 --> 00:10:16.419 Julien Faivre: specific characteristics of high energy physics. Site. 45 00:10:16.967 --> 00:10:31.399 Julien Faivre: They are hosted by nonprofit institutions. So this allows for a non-biased approach. And there's a stable governance for decade. And this is extremely important for biodiversity restoration. We cover wide areas, and 46 00:10:31.530 --> 00:10:37.967 Julien Faivre: we can do interesting things with connections. We you can see here, Virgo here, which 47 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:46.460 Julien Faivre: at least up to recently, was a very strong barrier in the middle of this environment, while it could have been a very beautiful corridor 48 00:10:47.044 --> 00:10:58.225 Julien Faivre: you can see here the the plots hosted by Cern, the properties of Cern. We map really squared kilometers, and we also have rarely visited technical zones. 49 00:10:58.810 --> 00:11:01.929 Julien Faivre: which means that we can create quiet areas. 50 00:11:02.100 --> 00:11:22.299 Julien Faivre: And also we can be a showcase which would trigger similar actions. And this was my my conclusion. I just want to flash this to say that biodiversity is also possible on the buildings themselves. You can see here this building, which shows a full connection with a lot of different 51 00:11:22.886 --> 00:11:32.509 Julien Faivre: environments, full connections from from ground level to roof level, where you can see children going in a forest. 52 00:11:39.930 --> 00:11:40.910 Julien Faivre: That's it. 53 00:11:41.770 --> 00:11:52.559 Shreyasi Acharya: Thank you very much. It was indeed an intriguing talk, a different kind of talk definitely. So yeah, please go ahead. Well, with any questions. 54 00:11:52.970 --> 00:11:53.880 Shreyasi Acharya: Anybody? 55 00:12:10.420 --> 00:12:31.739 Shreyasi Acharya: okay, we still have some time. So maybe just I can ask you more rather on your experience on this. So what were kind of like, did you find anything? So I believe you're also involved in implementing all of this designs 56 00:12:33.020 --> 00:12:33.810 Shreyasi Acharya: or. 57 00:12:34.105 --> 00:12:36.469 Julien Faivre: Not not at an expert level, of course. 58 00:12:36.650 --> 00:12:38.030 Shreyasi Acharya: Well, yeah, but. 59 00:12:38.030 --> 00:12:39.760 Julien Faivre: But on small scales. 60 00:12:39.800 --> 00:12:48.400 Shreyasi Acharya: Yeah, so what were your like positive or negative experiences while implementing this? And like talking to people integrating stuff like this? 61 00:12:48.796 --> 00:12:49.660 Shreyasi Acharya: If you could share. 62 00:12:50.098 --> 00:12:53.170 Julien Faivre: Yeah, I think that the the most 63 00:12:53.320 --> 00:13:02.559 Julien Faivre: difficult part that I encounter is is this thing. That is what people have in mind and what are the consequences on 64 00:13:02.750 --> 00:13:31.299 Julien Faivre: on the organization, I mean, of the project? What comes out? This really is the the big, the major problem. And the second point, which is also correlated to this is anthropocentrism in the sense that when people make choice about a project taking care of biodiversity, what comes in mind is always 1st usefulness for humans. 65 00:13:31.350 --> 00:13:45.629 Julien Faivre: for example, like, you know, it's exactly this, you know, putting the the honey bees and maybe planting fruit trees, etc. But fruit trees are not so useful as wild trees for fauna, for example. 66 00:13:46.675 --> 00:13:51.924 Julien Faivre: So we we 1st have to deconstruct all. 67 00:13:52.900 --> 00:14:01.459 Julien Faivre: I don't know the technical terms. I apologize, but all the beliefs of the people about what would be good for biodiversity. 68 00:14:01.750 --> 00:14:18.029 Julien Faivre: And and the last point which is again correlated is this thing that you need the nettle. You need the dead wood, and you need the neglected areas. And all these things that look bad. People think that biodiversity should be beautiful, but it is not the case. 69 00:14:28.010 --> 00:14:28.660 Shreyasi Acharya: Cute. 70 00:14:30.420 --> 00:14:31.140 Shreyasi Acharya: Claire. 71 00:14:32.610 --> 00:14:33.470 Claire Antel: Alright. 72 00:14:33.470 --> 00:14:36.760 Claire Antel: Thanks for the interesting talk so recently in the 73 00:14:37.210 --> 00:14:42.570 Claire Antel: the Cern Bulletin. They advertise this new Cern biodiversity web application. 74 00:14:42.880 --> 00:14:46.969 Claire Antel: and I was wondering if you oh, part of that. 75 00:14:47.340 --> 00:14:55.400 Julien Faivre: No, I I very rarely go to Cern, so no, I'm not. But I am in other on other places. Yes. 76 00:14:56.060 --> 00:14:56.740 Claire Antel: Okay. 77 00:14:56.910 --> 00:15:08.800 Claire Antel: yeah. It made me I mean, I'm excited to use it now, once I'm back at zoom. Yeah. Now, now, with your presentation. I was thinking of the ways 78 00:15:09.050 --> 00:15:11.339 Claire Antel: that they possibly use this data. 79 00:15:11.950 --> 00:15:15.780 Claire Antel: So I haven't so much about invasive species. And. 80 00:15:16.020 --> 00:15:22.861 Julien Faivre: Yes, yes, exactly, actually. The point. Yeah, this is actually an interesting question. 81 00:15:23.540 --> 00:15:43.690 Julien Faivre: the importance of this is that it provides data. It provides data not only to the scientist on a global scale, but also to cern in this case for making plans for organizing the site in the sense that? Well, maybe. Okay. I know my pictures are not very 82 00:15:44.330 --> 00:15:54.330 Julien Faivre: clear, but on the bottom here you can see this sketch before reflecting about how you would organize the site 83 00:15:54.700 --> 00:16:08.399 Julien Faivre: you need 1st to make to, to make the point of the situation and understand what there is on the side. So the first, st the very 1st thing. The very 1st step is a step of observation. 84 00:16:08.490 --> 00:16:37.600 Julien Faivre: and Cern has already made a number of actions. But I guess that this project has those 2 aims. The 1st one is to to make this observation and understand what we can find on the site and measure the evolution. Possibly, but also to decide what to do what is relevant to do. And then the second point is to the second aim is to involve persons, and 85 00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:57.199 Julien Faivre: because this has been shown to be an important step to have people understand that biodiversity is an important topic, and it can be reached through this kind of projects, even though even for projects that would not have a scientific aim. Really. 86 00:17:01.350 --> 00:17:02.360 Claire Antel: Yeah. Thanks. 87 00:17:04.050 --> 00:17:14.450 Shreyasi Acharya: And then there also, if you would like, would you also share this? link of the app in the chat, so that all of us can follow. 88 00:17:14.660 --> 00:17:16.109 Shreyasi Acharya: That would be very nice. 89 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:18.360 Shreyasi Acharya: Thank you. 90 00:17:18.470 --> 00:17:22.150 Shreyasi Acharya: So thank you again, Julian, for the excellent talk. 91 00:17:22.778 --> 00:17:32.829 Shreyasi Acharya: So we move to Deepak, who will speak on the sustainable sciences. At this practice Atlas computing practices in South Africa.