The NBN Trust brought practical experience of the UK’s biological recording and data community to COP17, the UN biodiversity conference held in Yerevan, Armenia, in October.
The conference’s first global review found that the world remains off track to meet its 2030 biodiversity targets. Agreements on accelerating action were welcome, but gaps in funding, capacity, and access to evidence remain.
Our position statement, published ahead of COP17, called for evidence needs to be planned and funded from the outset, including verification, responsible sharing, and continuing stewardship. It also highlighted the support needed by the people and organisations behind biodiversity records.
NBN Trust Chief Executive, Dr Gareth Thomas, discussed these priorities with Defra’s Chief Scientific Adviser, GBIF, researchers, and other partners. Conversations explored how existing data can better support nature recovery and reporting, without creating further disconnected systems.
Gareth said:
“The records shared through the NBN Atlas depend on the skill and commitment of recorders, verifiers, schemes and societies, local environmental records centres, and other data partners. Their work needs recognition and continuing support.
At COP17, we highlighted the importance of investing in this community alongside the digital infrastructure. Making records accessible is part of the task; helping people interpret and use them responsibly matters too.”
Learning from COP17 will inform the Trust’s Defra-supported work on improving data flows, testing emerging data types, and showing how shared records are used. Our focus remains on practical improvements that help contributors share their data and ensure their efforts inform research, conservation, and decisions.