25 August 2025 marked a major milestone for the National Biodiversity Network Trust as we celebrated our 25th anniversary! That’s 25 years of making data work for nature, supporting the UK’s nature conservation community through collaboration, innovation, and a shared passion for biodiversity.
Over the years, the NBN Trust has, and continues to:
- Connect hundreds of organisations through the National Biodiversity Network — the UK’s largest partnership for nature.
- Develop and manage the NBN Atlas — the UK’s largest biodiversity data portal.
- Enable thousands of people and organisations to access and share vital data to help protect and restore our natural world.
But our story goes back even further, over 300 years to individuals like John Ray and Gilbert White. Following these pioneering naturalists, many volunteer recorders and species experts joined together to form local and national natural history societies, which are still a vital component in the flow of biodiversity data today. In addition, Local Environmental Records Centres, wildlife conservation charities, statutory nature conservation bodies, ecologists, academics, researchers, school children, the public and many more all play a vital role in recording wildlife to help protect and restore the UK’s biodiversity.
A lot has changed since 2000, in particular technology. Here are a few headlines:
- Google was just 2 years old – how did we survive without it?!
- Social media was in its infancy. Friends Reunited was launched, but Facebook wouldn’t exist for another 4 years and LinkedIn for another 3.
- The iPhone was 7 years away and even the first Blackberry smartphone wouldn’t be released for another 2 years. We were generally happy with the trusty Nokia 3310 in 2000 as all we did was make calls and send text messages – happy days!
- Most websites were text heavy, with basic navigation and sparse use of images. Users frequently turned off images to save bandwidth on old dial up connections. Remember Pshhhkkkkkkrrrrkakingkakingkakingtshchchchchchchchcch*ding*ding*ding !!
But some things don’t change and that’s the people. The heart of the Network is still the recorders: the volunteers, the citizen scientists, and the organisations who collect, share and verify data. Without them, there wouldn’t be an NBN Atlas, an NBN Trust or a National Biodiversity Network.
So as we celebrate 25 years, we’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who’s part of the NBN community. Whether you’re a member of the NBN Trust, a partner in the NBN, a data partner to the NBN Atlas, or someone who’s just starting out recording wildlife – you’re helping us make data work for nature – thank you!
Here’s to the next 25 years of collaboration, innovation, and making data work for nature!
