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Toward a global biodiversity observation network
Bruno A. Walther and Anne Larigauderie, DIVERSITAS, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle;
Neville Ash, UNEP-WCMC; Gary N. Geller, NASA Ecological Forecasting Program;
Norbert Jürgens, University of Hamburg;
Meredith A. Lane, Global Biodiversity Information Facility Secretariat
U
nderstanding, monitoring and conserving biodiversity
is one of the nine societal benefit areas of GEOSS
because biodiversity, or the variety of life on earth,
makes up and sustains all life processes of the biosphere.
Therefore, biodiversity contributes both utilitarian values,
such as ecosystem goods and services, as well as intrinsic
values, such as aesthetic enjoyment and a sense of identity, to
human well-being.
Current scientific evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates a contin-
ued decline in the status of biodiversity, because it is almost
invariably impacted negatively by unsustainable human resource
consumption. Such declining trends lead to reduced benefits for
people and increasingly limited opportunities for development
and livelihood options in the short and long term, as well as
increasing occurrences of sudden negative changes in the world’s
ecosystems and life processes. Further understanding of biodi-
versity change is therefore critical if decision-makers at all scales,
as well as the public, are to be informed about the global scale of
biodiversity degradation, and the consequences of such degrada-
tion on ecosystem services and human well-being.
A wide range of user groups began a process to express their
needs for biodiversity observation data at a GEOSS-DIVERSITAS
workshop in 2006. Those present included users of natural
resources (e.g. agriculture, forestry, fisheries), the health sector
(e.g. infectious diseases, emerging pathogens, allergy forecasts),
the genetics sector (e.g. bio safety aspects, genetically manipu-
lated organisms, genetic diversity of cultivars), the conservation
planning community (e.g. species and ecosystems change, conser-
vation management) and several international treaties (e.g. CBD,
CCD, CMS, Ramsar).
As a result of the workshop, the GEO Biodiversity Observation
Network was established as a global partnership to collect,
manage, analyse and report on the status and trends of the world’s
biodiversity. The network will provide a scientifically robust frame-
work for global biodiversity monitoring and define a strategy to
reach network goals and objectives. In broad strokes, these objec-
tives are:
• Bring together biodiversity data and information from many
different provider communities (e.g. museums, remote sensing,
intensive plot-type monitoring systems) and existing networks
of such communities
• Ascertain data requirements of user groups, develop new analyt-
ical tools, and facilitate interoperability among information
system components and the interconnectivity of
databases
• Establish a global biodiversity observation mecha-
nism and data clearinghouse, supervized by an
independent advisory board and supported by
adequate long-term international funding.
• Review and prioritize research spatially and topi-
cally by identifying 1) gaps in methodological,
taxonomic, regional or ecosystematic knowledge,
and 2) those ecosystems particularly important for
the supply of ecosystem services.
• Assess biodiversity at both the species and ecosys-
tems level, and thereby identify priorities for global
conservation, such as unique or highly diverse
ecosystems, those supporting migratory, endemic
or globally threatened species, and then use this
information to guide global conservation priorities
• Generate regular reports of global biodiversity trends,
including not only species and ecosystem trends, but
also associated ecosystem goods and services vital to
human well-being, as well as associated threats and
drivers of biodiversity change, such as habitat conver-
sion, climate change, pollution etc.
• Communicate the importance of ‘biodiversity
change’ to human well-being so that the status of
‘biodiversity change’ in the public discourse is
elevated to that currently held on climate change.
• Design decision support systems that integrate
monitoring with ecological modelling and forecast-
ing; these can then be used to generate future
biodiversity scenarios which will provide essential
information for the sustainable use and manage-
ment of biodiversity, including analysis, prediction,
early warning, conservation planning, policy
making, and management effectiveness evaluation
• Make these data, tools, analytical products and
reports available through the GEOSS web portal.
Another important strategic goal of the GEO Biodiversity
Observation Network is to increase capacity to monitor
biodiversity, especially in developing countries because
these countries host most of global biodiversity (e.g. in
the so-called biodiversity hotspots), but often lack the
resources to adequate monitoring. Therefore, the
GEOSS C
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