Plans for nature recovery should specify the evidence needed for decisions and provide for its verification, sharing, and continuing stewardship from the outset.
COP17 is the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the UN biodiversity COP. Meeting in Armenia, it will undertake the first global review of collective progress towards implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. This is an opportunity to consider how the evidence supporting implementation is produced, connected, and used.
Our mission, ‘Making data work for nature’, contributes to the Framework’s Targets 20 and 21: capacity and technical cooperation, and access to biodiversity data and knowledge.
The Trust contribution
UK biodiversity evidence draws on the work of volunteer recorders, recording schemes, local environmental records centres, research institutions, conservation organisations, public bodies, ecological consultants, land managers, and other public and commercial data providers. The NBN Trust plays a key role through developing and hosting the NBN Atlas, fostering data sharing partnerships, and through the development of new technologies, helping participating organisations share data while recognising the distinct roles of local services, recording schemes, and specialist systems. The NBN Atlas brings together more than 387 million records of over 51,000 UK species, making the contributions of data providers accessible for wider use.
As the UK node for the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), we share datasets from the NBN Atlas with GBIF, with data partners’ permission, so that UK records can inform research, conservation, and decision-making worldwide.
COP17
Reliable biodiversity evidence can inform the planning and investment decisions that support nature recovery, long-term economic security, and sustainable growth. This requires early identification of data needs, collaboration with existing recording and data infrastructure, and sustained support for the people, verification, and stewardship that make evidence useful.
The NBN Trust will use COP17 to identify emerging requirements, assess their implications for UK biodiversity data infrastructure, and agree practical priorities for follow-up with partners.
Position Statement
The NBN Trust’s COP17 Position Statement sets out why it is attending this important event and what it aims to achieve.
Read “Biodiversity evidence for nature recovery”, the NBN Trust’s Position Statement for COP17