New database for navigating biodiversity data portals, platforms and tools and recommendations for future data systems.

Historically, biodiversity data were stored on paper copies, available only to those who knew where to look. This is no longer the case. Over the past two decades, there has been a major surge in the number of online biodiversity portals, platforms and tools offering insights to biodiversity trends and supporting different stakeholders with determining what action they can take to protect ecosystems.  

With wider access to data has come a wider range of users, ranging from conservation experts to corporate sustainability professionals. Not all users have the same biodiversity expertise, so it is important that online data systems clearly communicate their differing functions and any data gaps, to enable users to find the data they need for their purposes, and to ensure that data are used appropriately and effectively. 

To better communicate the uses of existing data systems, scientists at UNEP-WCMC have developed a new database of 698 global, more than 200 regional and 1,400 national online biodiversity data systems. They have also created a new typology to categorize these systems, which will help users navigate existing datasets and better select ones relevant to their needs. 

The new database explained 

This new database contains over 2000 data systems, split into six different types. One type is data portals which house single or multiple databases, such as the World Database on Protected and Conserved Areas, which contains information on the world’s protected marine and terrestrial areas. Another type is decision support tools which provide data to assist specific groups to execute tasks, such as the UN Biodiversity Lab which provides spatial data for national-level use and facilitates spatial planning, monitoring and reporting. 

Users are able to search these categories to find the right portal, platform or tool for their needs. The database contains information for a wide variety of users, including governments, businesses and financial institutions, civil society and non-governmental organizations, academics, researchers and journalists. 

The typology used to categorize these different types of databases is called DPSR+B, referring to drivers, pressures, state, responses and benefits. These categories are defined as: 

• Drivers: factors that alter the makeup of ecosystems by applying direct pressure on biodiversity 

• Pressures: natural and anthropogenic drivers of biodiversity loss, such as climate change 

• State: the present level of abundance, distribution or condition of biodiversity at a gene, species or ecosystem level 

• Responses: recommendations on how to respond to drivers of biodiversity loss 

• Benefits: data on the benefits biodiversity and ecosystem services provide for people 

The team found that global-level online biodiversity data systems were most widely used by scientists and businesses, with the most common topics covered being species data, business impacts and risks and ocean data. These results highlight the wide range of ways data systems can inform different types of biodiversity decision-making, from scientific research priorities and government policy through to business decisions. This database will support a broad range of stakeholders to navigate available tools and select the one that can best inform their decision-making processes. 

Common challenges across data systems

The team also discovered that common challenges exist across many of these data systems. One example is the replication of existing datasets, rather than the development of new ones in underrepresented areas. Datasets relating to protected areas and species-level insights are often reproduced, where more value would be added in developing datasets on issues like the sustainable use of resources, with comparatively few associated tools and platforms. 

Another issue arises when new data systems are created without in-depth user research. Portals, platforms and tools should respond to real user needs, such as monitoring goals in international biodiversity conventions or illustrating nature-related business opportunities. 

A vision for future online data systems

The paper’s authors set out clear recommendations to guide the development of future online data systems. These include shifting towards federated data systems whereby data are shared between organizations while still enabling them to maintain their own platforms. As many platforms repurpose the same underlying data, it will be important to maintain trustworthy datasets, especially with a rise in use of AI which may enable the proliferation of new, but less robust data systems. Moreover, there has been an increased interest in understanding Indigenous and local knowledge, as well  as for the use of broader citizen science. Including these forms of knowledge into datasets, in a just and consensual way, remains a key priority. 

Main image: tolly65, Adobe Stock #365599381