Effective Biodiversity Monitoring Needs a Culture of Integration
Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
Despite conservation commitments, most countries still lack large-scale biodiversity monitoring programs to track progress toward agreed targets. Monitoring program design is frequently approached from a top-down, data-centric perspective that ignores the socio-cultural context of data collection. A rich landscape of people and organizations, with a diversity of motivations and expertise, independently engages in biodiversity monitoring. This diversity often leads to complementarity in activities across places, time periods, and taxa. In this Perspective, we propose a framework for aligning different efforts to realize large-scale biodiversity monitoring through a networked design of stakeholders, data, and biodiversity schemes. We emphasize the value of integrating independent biodiversity observations in conjunction with a backbone of structured core monitoring, thereby fostering broad ownership and resilience due to a strong partnership of science, society, policy, and individuals. Furthermore, we identify stakeholder-specific barriers and incentives to foster joint collaboration toward effective large-scale biodiversity monitoring. Many people and organizations independently engage in biodiversity monitoring. It is important that independent biodiversity observations are integrated, in conjunction with structured core monitoring. In this Perspective, we propose a framework for aligning different efforts to realize large-scale, integrated biodiversity monitoring through a networked design of stakeholders, data, and biodiversity schemes. Recognizing and valuing distributed monitoring expertise is important and efforts for integrating these provide benefits for society, policy, science, and individuals.
Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 462-474 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | One Earth |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Publication status | Published - 23 Oct 2020 |
| Peer-reviewed | Yes |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- biodiversity monitoring, citizen science, distributed expertise, integration, policy, society, stakeholder engagement, stakeholder network