BMD takes part in a new policy brief addressing the biodiversity information lag
Managing biodiversity often depends on incomplete information, delayed or unevenly distributed. Currently, when rapid change makes timely knowledge more valuable, the systems for collecting, identifying, publishing and using biodiversity data often struggle to keep pace. That’s why the six EU-funded Horizon projects BMD, B-Cubed, OneSTOP, MAMBO, GUARDEN, and AURORA have developed a new policy brief addressing this exact issue.
The brief, titled “The Lag from Observation to Information”, highlights systemic challenges in the way biodiversity data is handled before and after it becomes available. It also provides suggestions and policy directions for reducing the information “lag” and, consequently, for improving environmental governance in Europe.
To support the goal of timely, accurate, and evenly distributed biodiversity data, the policy brief outlines five policy directions, ranging from platforms for usable data and AI-assisted identification to institutional changes in data publication standards and feedback mechanisms. The policy directions are as follows:
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Reducing institutional bottlenecks, which will help with shared standards and automation for the data pipelines from field collection to open publication
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Rethinking incentives, which aims to make data publication and timely sharing compensable
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Strengthening identification capacity, which will enhance taxonomic workflows by investing in AI-assisted identification, reference collection, and expert networks
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Encouraging near-real-time data use by developing platforms for provisional decision-making data with metadata on taxonomic uncertainty
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Embedding feedback loops to ensure that data quality will be improved with the help of constantly moving results and corrections from previous information
The way BMD aims to reduce the information lag in biodiversity data is by improving the flow of biodiversity observation into policy-relevant information. This can be accomplished by using high-throughput monitoring with camera traps, passive acoustic monitoring, and environmental DNA with AI identification for capturing data. Afterwards, the data can be uploaded to GBIF with regard to FAIR data mobilisation principles. Finally, the biodiversity data can be analysed with user-centred analysis tools. As a result, all of the collected information will then be available in a single platform – the BMD Biodiversity Explorer, creating a more accessible way to work with biodiversity data.
In addition to collecting biodiversity data, BMD aspires to help those data translate more quickly into forms that support reporting, site management, and conservation action, thereby shortening the distance between changes in biodiversity and the necessary information to support them.
Each participating project outlines its own strategy for addressing the information lag in biodiversity data. Find out more about the issue and the future directions of each project in the policy brief available on Zenodo and our website.
