To monitor the progress of conservation and sustainability projects, governments, civil society organizations, businesses and other stakeholders need data on the state of species and habitats, the pressures they face and responses to mitigate those pressures. Although project staff need to collect primary data, complementary data from global databases can help monitor key indicators (Stephenson et al., 2015, Biodiversity, 16, 68–85). There are several well-known global databases, such as the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (iucnredlist.org), the WWF/ZSL Living Planet Index (livingplanetindex.org) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (gbif.org), but many managers do not know where to find other data.
In 2020, the IUCN Species Survival Commission Species Monitoring Specialist Group, in partnership with Re:wild, conducted the first global inventory of biodiversity data sources to identify those of potential use for conservation monitoring. Although there were challenges identifying the origins, usefulness and accessibility of the data, the study published a preliminary list and a review of factors affecting data availability and use (Stephenson & Stengel, 2020, PLOS ONE, 15, e0242923).
In January 2022, as part of a multi-stakeholder collaborative project led by the University of Lausanne and funded by the Swiss Network for International Studies, we updated the database to include data sources identified by specialist group members and a new literature review. Data sources were selected if they had potential relevance for monitoring at the global level, included at least some time-series data, and had data added in the previous 5 years.
The revised database includes a total of 167 data sources (speciesmonitoring.org/data-sources.html). We also updated the list of 29 reports published regularly to synthesize global data. We briefly describe each data source (50 relevant for monitoring biodiversity states, 48 for pressures, 34 for responses and 35 with multiple uses), identify the lead organization, and provide a link to the website. We flag the 88% of data sources that make at least some data or data products freely accessible, although some have additional restrictions for commercial use. We encourage data source managers to send us any additional information or updates to help improve subsequent versions.
This is the only initiative we are aware of that summarizes the known global biodiversity data sources. We hope it will be communicated and shared widely in relevant scientific, conservation and business communities, to help data users find the information they need to enhance biodiversity monitoring for conservation.
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