Tomorrow's Biodiversity consultation phase

The conclusions of the research phase - that there was no strong evidence to highlight particular groups of organisms that can address gaps in surveillance & monitoring linked to specific drivers of biodiversity change - was largely supported by an extensive consultation with the biological recording community that we undertook in 2014.

During the consultation 99 people affiliated with more than 100 organisations were consulted over the course a series of workshops and meetings. Very few people firmly identified particular groups of organisms as potential new indicators of biodiversity change and no groups received overwhelming support (although some, such as worms, springtails and mosses were suggested more often than others). The great majority of consultees were more interested in achieving a significant expansion of the suite of indicators of biodiversity change across the board, identifying barriers to realising this wide representation and suggesting possible solutions.

Click on the PDF icon for full synthesis of the Tomorrow's Biodiversity consultation. This synthesis was well-received in the community as a couple of quotes will illustrate...

There is some really useful stuff in here. We are currently working on a new Biodiversity strategy and this helps with some of the thinking.

It contains lots of really interesting and thought-provoking ideas, some of which I’ll want to explore for my own recording scheme. Definitely a worthwhile exercise.