The School of Science at the University of Navarra has established the Institute for research Biodiversity and the Environmentto address core topic nature and the future of the planet. The institute aims to help make Navarra a leader in knowledge dissemination research knowledge dissemination in this field. Among its objectives is also to provide industry with the results of its programs of study, offer services, and collaborate with public and private entities that contribute to achieving a sustainable environment.

"Navarra is the ideal framework to carry out nationally representative programs of study ," says Jesús Miguel Santamaría, director scientific high school. The board board is also made up of professors Ignacio López Goñi, José María García-Mina, Rafael Miranda and Inmaculada Pascual. 

The high school is organized in four transversal lines of research : monitoring and management of ecosystems (establishing methods for measuring data in natural, agricultural, urban and industrial environments); impacts of human activity on the environment; global change and biodiversity (programs of study aimed at predicting future changes in ecosystems); and environmental communication and Education (area of work linked to the activity of the Science Museum).

These lines will be articulated through the Departments of Environmental Biology, Chemistry, History, Art History and Geography, Communication and Construction, Facilities and Structures; five groups of research in different areas and the Science Museum. The center initially brings together a total of 35 researchers, who will be joined by experts from other Schools such as Law and Economics.

"To effectively address environmental problems it is necessary to form interdisciplinary teams, since the processes that occur in nature are interconnected and never operate in isolation," explains Full Professor Jesús Miguel Santamaría. "Understanding problems such as climate change, environmental pollution or biodiversity loss requires applying a approach multidisciplinary to research, constituting teams of professionals from different areas capable of providing consensual and comprehensive solutions."

The center aims to be a point of meeting between the university research and the administration, companies, managers and the international community. "But, above all," explains Santamaría, "it seeks to promote environmental Education and citizen participation, transmitting positive messages based on science that help to understand the need to invest in research and to apply determined policies to guarantee the sustainability of the planet.

Although researchers at high school are involved in numerous international projects, a significant part of their activities will continue to be carried out on a regional scale, thus helping Navarra to become a reference in the environmental field. "Our region is characterized by being one of the Spanish communities with the greatest biological richness, where three biogeographical zones converge," Santamaría emphasizes. "Navarra is an ideal environment to host a high school dedicated to research and provide data to help preserve its extraordinary natural heritage."

The creation of the Institute of Biodiversity and the Environment reinforces the commitment of the University of Navarra and the School of Science research and the knowledge dissemination . In these areas of work the past ten years (2009–2018), 617 scientific articles have been published and 51 thesis have been defended. A total of 129 research projects research at the regional, national, or international level) have been secured, and the funding received exceeds 12 million euros.