Gaps in nature data are narrowing as technologies enable companies in extractive sectors to scale up ecosystem monitoring, say experts from data company NatureMetrics.

The increasing accessibility of technologies including environmental DNA (eDNA), satellites, motion-triggered cameras, and bioacoustics is helping companies improve their data assessments, NatureMetrics executives said.

Unprecedented scalability of technology is “solving the data gap”, said Pippa Howard, chief nature strategist at NatureMetrics, during a webinar on the technologies used by extractives companies to measure nature.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence can develop insights that might otherwise not have been possible, Howard said. “It’s an incredibly exciting time to be in this space.”

UK-based company NatureMetrics helps companies in sectors such as mining to gather biodiversity data, powered by eDNA, with the aim of helping them to reduce their nature-related risks.

The analysis of eDNA enables more comprehensive biodiversity monitoring as it can detect a wide range of organisms, from bacteria to large mammals, through detecting DNA traces left in the environment without the need for direct observation.

Joe Huddart, biodiversity solutions engineer at NatureMetrics, said the ability to have anyone – not just ecologists – collect samples of soil, water, and air opens up “extraordinary” possibilities for nature monitoring.

Although he cannot foresee a future without ecologists, there is a “bottleneck” of demand for them that increasingly lower-cost technology can help solve, he said.

“We’ve historically monitored biodiversity by experts like myself into the field, with a pair of binoculars and a net to identify everything for a week. We realised that that’s not really going to be scalable, efficient, or comprehensive.”

“To get these kind of ecosystem condition measures, we really need to start embracing new technology, looking at things like bioacoustics, camera trapping, eDNA technology, for that very granular level data on the ground. And then also satellites, that’s probably been the biggest development in this field.”

NATURE POSITIVE

Technology is enabling companies to look beyond historical metrics like species abundance to areas such as habitat condition, helping companies become more nature positive, Huddart said.

Source: NatureMetrics

The use of ‘nature positive’ has grown in recent years, despite no clear alignment between business, government, and civil society on its meaning. However, it is mooted to take on the politically salient role that ‘net zero’ has played for climate action.

For a company to take steps towards being more nature positive it must understand its impacts on the ground, Howard said.

In December, an executive at UK-headquartered The Biodiversity Consultancy said that mining companies want biodiversity credits to enable them to go beyond offsetting to make nature positive claims.

Metals and mining companies have the fifth-highest potential impact on biodiversity out of 10 identified sectors in a 2023 assessment by the Finance for Biodiversity Foundation. Companies in food, oil and gas, and chemical sectors were the most impactful, it said.

By Thomas Cox – t.cox@carbon-pulse.com

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