A global nature-related data facility accessible for the public should be created to support governments, businesses, and civil society stakeholders in drawing up policies, setting targets, and making investments to combat the global nature crisis, according to a study released Friday by the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).

The London-based organisation teamed up with a dozen other groups to consider ways to close the massive data gap that currently renders accurate, comparable, and decision-useful nature data unavailable for a vast number of those working on nature and biodiversity issues.

“High quality, nature-related data is clearly a global public good of value to a wide array of public, private, and civil society stakeholders everywhere. Wherever possible, nature-related data should be accessible to a broad range of stakeholders and not kept behind paywalls or in proprietary systems,” the study found.

The current problem is not a lack of data in itself, but that existing data is based on different methodologies, of varying quality, and held by a large number of different organisations and institutions – often kept confidential.

The most promising solution, according to the TNFD-led study, is to set up a distributed access, public  facility that provides a global entry point to a decentralised data exchange that connects information made available by contributing organisations.

“This option is most likely to deliver the desired outcomes of enhancing the credibility, collection, consistency, and connection of nature-related data for a wide range of data users, both public and private, at a global scale, within a reasonable time frame, and at a reasonable cost,” the report concluded.

It did not take a position on whether a new organisation should be established to manage the data facility or if it could be handled by an existing one, but said the UNFCCC and the CBD should take the issue under serious consideration.

Once established, the facility should focus on the shared global need for better ‘state of nature’ – or input – data, the report found.

“While there will inevitably be similar demand for nature-related transition data (output data), we believe better state of nature input data is the principal binding constraint at present and therefore the first priority that needs to be addresses by a nature-related public data facility as soon as possible,” it said.

HELPING HAND

Better access to better nature data would be a great help for many stakeholders, the report said, not least government officials working to draw up National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) to put their countries on track to meet targets set under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

International processes, such as UNFCCC, CBD, and UNCCS COPs, would also benefit, as would corporations striving to meet recently introduced mandatory and voluntary nature reporting obligations, the report found.

Financial institutions would also be better placed to shift financial flows to nature positive – and net zero – outcomes, it added.

But better data would also benefit nature markets, such as that for carbon credits with biodiversity co-benefits, or the emerging global voluntary biodiversity credit market.

“Underpinned by the right scope, governance, financing and incentive structures, and enabled by globally consistent methods and standards for nature-related data, a global nature-related public data facility would be a game-changer for better risk management and enabling new nature markets to emerge,” Simon Zadek, chair of Nature Finance, one of the organisations that participated in the study, said in an accompanying press release.

Along with consultancy Carbone 4, Nature Finance prepared a roadmap earlier this year that is providing a foundation for the process to build a global biodiversity credit market, spearheaded by the UK and France.

The organisations working with TNFD on the project were Global Commons Alliance Accountability Accelerator (GCAA), Capitals Coalition, CDP, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), Open Earth, MRV Collective, Science Based Targets Network (SBTN), and UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), with research and project management support by Nature Finance and Systemiq.

By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com

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