sciencemag.org SCIENCEPHOTO: TONY HEALD/MINDEN PICTURESI
ncessant political turmoil in the United Kingdom, United
States, and other nations will likely last well into the new year,
complicating many researchers’ work. The U.K. election last
month made the country’s departure from the European Union
a near-certainty, and its scientists now face losing EU science
grants and scientific collaborators. In the United States, a presi-
dential election in November will determine the role of scientists
in future policy deliberations; many experts on climate change
and other environmental issues assert that the Trump administra-
tion has ignored scientific evidence. In this section, Science’s news
staff forecasts other areas of policy and research likely to make
news this year amid the chaos, from dark matter detectors to new
efforts to rein in loss of species.What’s coming up in 2020
AREAS TO WATCH
New goals for saving biodiversity
CONSERVATION |This year will see an
attempt to revitalize the ambitious Aichi
Biodiversity Targets, named for the city in
Japan where they were negotiated. Since
they were approved 10 years ago, there has
been little to no progress in meeting most
of those 20 goals, such as preventing the
decline of endangered species. That alarm-
ing situation was highlighted last year in
a major scientific assessment by another
organization, the Intergovernmental
Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity
and Ecosystem Services. But in October,
nations will have a chance to try to set a
more effective course when they meet in
Kunming, China, to review and revise the
Convention on Biological Diversity,
the world’s flagship conservation pact.NEWS
IN BRIEF
6 3 JANUARY 2020 • VOL 367 ISSUE 6473
Published by AAAS