At its May Board meeting the NBN Trustees agreed to extend the current NBN Trust Strategy 2022-2027 to April 2028. This gives the Trust time to engage properly with members, data providers, funders, and users, and to develop the next strategy on stronger evidence.
It also approved the Trust’s Business Plan for 2026 – 2027 which outlines our priorities for the year ahead and the direction of travel as we prepare for the next phase of the Trust’s development.
A vision for the next phase
Our mission remains unchanged: to make data work for nature. As biodiversity data grows in both volume and importance, and as technologies such as AI continue to evolve, we must ensure that the Trust is well placed to provide lasting value to the biodiversity data community.
Our ambition is to help biodiversity data flow more effectively across the UK, strengthening trust, quality and connectivity to better support nature recovery. This includes continuing to develop the NBN Atlas, advancing the NBN Record Manager, supporting data providers and users, and helping biodiversity evidence inform decisions more effectively.
The year ahead: Stabilisation and strategy readiness
The period 2026 – 2027 will focus on strengthening foundations and confidence, protecting core services, progressing funding opportunities and preparing for a full strategy development process from April 2027. The extension of the current strategy to April 2028 will allow us the time needed to gather evidence, engage stakeholders and build a robust future strategy.
Our priorities for 2026 – 2027
The Board has agreed five key priorities:
- Financial resilience and operating discipline – strengthening financial sustainability, governance and organisational capacity.
- Income conversion and diversification – progressing priority funding, membership, sponsorship and partnership opportunities.
- Reliable data and platform services – maintaining and improving core services, including the NBN Atlas.
- Network confidence and engagement – strengthening communication, member engagement and network-wide collaboration.
- Strategy readiness – preparing the evidence, principles and stakeholder input needed for the Trust’s next strategy.
A phased approach
The Trust will follow a three-phase approach:
- Phase 1 (2026 – 2027): Stabilise, strengthen foundations and gather evidence.
- Phase 2 (2027 – 2028): Develop the next strategy in partnership with members, data providers, funders and users.
- Phase 3 (2028 onwards): Deliver the agreed strategy at scale and strengthen the Trust’s national role within UK biodiversity data infrastructure.
We want your views
Network feedback will play a vital role during Phase 1. We are particularly interested in your thoughts on:
- The future national role of the NBN Trust
- Development priorities for the NBN Atlas
- How we can best support data providers and users
- What a stronger biodiversity data infrastructure should enable for nature recovery.
Read the Business Plan Public Summary
Please share your comments, questions and suggestions through the feedback form.
The deadline for feedback is 31 August 2026. Feedback gathered during 2026–2027 will help inform the next stage of strategy development.
Thank you for your continued support and engagement. We look forward to working with you to shape the future of biodiversity data infrastructure and support nature recovery across the UK.