We are delighted to have learnt that a paper resulting from a CCI Collaborative Fund for Conservation project that was published by the leading journal Conservation Biology has recently been announced to be one of the top 10 most-cited papers published by that journal during 2022-2023. ‘A quantitative global review of species population monitoring’ led by Caroline Moussy has been cited  35 times since its publication two years ago. Citations indicate that the work is extremely relevant and useful to others working in the field. Furthermore, data collected in this project have been proposed by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to be used as a baseline from which to monitor progress towards the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

This project was selected to be the recipient of a CCI Collaborative Fund grant in 2017, and aimed to undertake the first global audit of biodiversity monitoring. Creating a better understanding of the distribution and methods of biodiversity monitoring across the globe was recognised as an important step towards increasing the uptake of monitoring and improving consistency and coordination of monitoring data – all of which helps decision makers take positive actions to prevent biodiversity loss.

The project was led by BirdLife International, in collaboration with four other CCI partners: RSPB, UNEP-WCMC, IUCN, and Cambridge University (the Department of Zoology and the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk). The project team created a database of nearly 1200 schemes to review spatial, temporal, taxonomic, and methodological patterns in global species monitoring. Through their research they detected trends and gaps, identifying the potential to be gained from creating an open global meta-database of biodiversity monitoring schemes and concluding that ‘species population monitoring for conservation purposes remains strongly biased toward a few vertebrate taxa in wealthier countries’.

Their work has caught the attention of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and has been proposed to form part of the basis of an indicator for monitoring progress towards Target 21 of the GBF, which aims to ‘Ensure that knowledge is available and accessible to guide biodiversity action’. The GBF was adopted during CBD COP 15 after a four-year consultation and negotiation process and sets out an ambitious pathway to reach the global vision of a world living in harmony with nature by 2050. Work on developing a suitable indicator for this target is being taken forward by the Group on Earth Observation Biodiversity Observation Network.

Dr Paul Donald, Senior Scientist at BirdLife International, who managed the project and was corresponding author of the paper, explains how the collaborative nature of the project was vital to its success.

‘A project of this magnitude benefits enormously from collaboration as it enables access to a wide diversity of skills, networks and resources. By working across organisational boundaries, we face fewer restrictions and can create resources that have impact for many organisations across the globe.’

The CCI Collaborative Fund was created to support collaborations between CCI partners, and others, that deliver outcomes for nature conservation. The Fund was established in 2008 and has funded almost 100 collaborative conservation projects since then. Projects cover a range of areas that intersect with biodiversity conservation including capacity building, policy, climate change and monitoring. As a result of these, over 160 open-access resources have been published and are available to all on the CCI website. Many projects have continued to grow, securing further funding based on the outputs created as a result of the Collaborative Fund project.

Elizabeth Allen, CCI Collaborations and Engagement Manager who manage the Fund said ‘We set up this fund in recognition of the lack of funding opportunities designed specifically to support cross-discipline collaboration. We didn’t know at the time just how much appetite there would be for it. The fund has been described as the ‘glue’ that holds CCI together, fostering new connections across the CCI partnership and beyond while delivering benefits for nature.’

The CCI Collaborative Fund has recently announced support for three new projects and will be publishing details of the CCI website shortly.

Find out more about the project that resulted in this paper on the CCI website here: 

A global audit of biodiversity monitoring

Find out more about the CCI Collaborative Fund projects here:

https://www.cambridgeconservation.org/our-work/collaborative-fund/projects/