Governments must work hand in hand with citizens to halt and reverse global biodiversity loss. A new study highlights how citizens can contribute towards 51% of the data to track progress on global biodiversity goals. To ensure this, the research identified ways to increase citizen’s participation and collaboration in monitoring biodiversity.
The study, published in Nature Sustainability on 18 October 2024, quantifies how citizens can help to monitor progress towards achieving the goals and targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). It defines “citizen involvement” as referring to the participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and other citizen groups.
It finds that involving these groups could:
- Improve the collection of 51 per cent of the data needed
- Improve the analysis as well as the collection of 30 per cent of information needed. This involves community members monitoring environmental changes, then giving their perspectives on what is happening and what needs to be done. These recommendations can range from local bylaws governing the use of resources to international policymaking processes.
To find out where citizen engagement would be most beneficial, researchers assessed 365 indicators that summarise environmental and socio-economic information across the scope of the GBF. These indicators include estimating the overall status of nature and evaluating the success of programmes to manage biodiversity. The world’s governments have agreed to use them to assess progress towards the GBF’s 23 targets and four goals.
The greatest opportunities for citizens to contribute and interpret data are on targets to reduce threats to biodiversity and to meet peoples’ needs through sustainable use and benefit-sharing from biodiversity.
More information:
Blog: Citizen Involvement in the UN’s Global Biodiversity Framework
Why Citizen Science is the Secret Weapon to Save Nature
Source: Danielsen, F., Ali, N., Andrianandrasana, H., Baquero, A., Basilius, U., Constantino, P., … & Burgess, N. (2024). Involving citizens in monitoring the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Nature Sustainability. DOI: 10.1038/s41893-024-01447-y.
URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-024-01447-y.pdf
