Quantifying Biodiversity Loss: A Data-Driven Perspective

Biodiversity can be simply understood as all living things on the planet, the environment or ecosystem in which they live, and the relationship established between them. The sum of all organisms is the living part of the stock of renewable and non-renewable natural resources that human beings use to make life possible, collectively called natural capital. Earth’s biodiversity is facing unprecedented threats due to human activities and climate change. Success in a world dependent on natural capital will require an increasing awareness of climate-change effects. It will also require assessing directions and magnitudes of the effects these changes have on short- and long-term business and community activities and their respective biodiversity impacts. Successful responses will increasingly include satisfactorily meeting recommended and regulatory data disclosures.

Descriptive Data and Baselines

Biodiversity impacts typically are measured in terms of the numbers and distributions of individual or groups of species. While these measures enable identification of change, they do not determine what caused the changes nor what future changes are likely to occur. Biodiversity information must be combined with additional data and information to establish a baseline against which both historical and projected changes can be measured.

Moreover, from this baseline, the results of mitigation efforts can be compared. Credible and comprehensive science-based platforms include biodiversity data and translational information. Integration of biodiversity data with land-use data and climate projections can satisfy the need for this data over a range of spatial and time scales.

Biodiversity Data Utility

The need to monitor, measure, and use science-derived data to report on biodiversity changes with climate indicators has never been more critical. Defensible, descriptive biodiversity data to accompany climatic data is imperative in describing the entire scope of changes that are happening now and are likely to happen in the future. The potential benefits of data-based adaptation and planning can increase significantly with increasing resolution and the amalgamation of different data types.

For example, agricultural decisions have, to date, largely been based on local knowledge, historical data, and short-term forecasting. Today’s practices can be augmented by projected precipitation and temperature information. Relevant soil data available at farm to regional scale, when combined with high-resolution climate and biodiversity observations and projections, enable fine-scaled agrobusiness planning and operation. This combination of various data types can be projected forward in time to address both business and environmental issues.

Similarly, precipitation and drought projections enable business and resource-management entities to identify potential operational and biodiversity risks. Identifying risks at site or on a community scale allows for the design of realistic and successful solutions. The availability of biodiversity indicators enables inclusion of the biosphere in risk mitigation response development.

Credible Data Platforms Identify Biodiversity Impacts

In the face of climate change and the subsequent biodiversity impacts, it is essential that scales and magnitudes of impact be determined to enable development of reasonable, measured responses. Responses must be based on defensible biodiversity and climate-related data. Business disclosures of both climate and biodiversity impacts and responses have been recommended by multiple entities over the last decade.

In 2023, the EU issued regulations specifying disclosure mandates, and similar regulations will likely follow elsewhere. Disclosure is also increasingly becoming a mandate from shareholders to corporate enterprises that use natural capital. Credible data platforms provide indicators that, when combined with enterprise data, provide a clear picture of the impacts of both climate change and business activities on biodiversity.

As reporting requirements and guidance continue to evolve, entities can better identify and measure the extent to which their activities have or might have biodiversity impacts. Recommended and increasingly required disclosures of operational biodiversity impacts will motivate natural capital users to become more transparent with their biodiversity and climatic impacts. Such disclosures become easier to understand, and defend, if supported by defensible data and information.

Emerging Recommendations and Regulation:

The last decade has seen the emergence of recommendation frameworks for the reporting of climate- and nature-based data and information attendant to financial industry operations (TCFD, TNFD). Many companies are already using these evolving guides for environmentally relevant information in annual disclosure reports. Legislation targeting climate concerns also has recently emerged in the European Union. European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), released in 2023, are the first requirements to specifically identify information related to climate change that must be included in company disclosures. These standards undoubtedly encourage non-EU entities to commit to TCFD or TNFD recommendations. It is likely that, as governments worldwide develop or intensify efforts to combat climate change, regulatory requirements will become more stringent and reporting requirements more comprehensive.

Conclusion:

Climate change has been happening for decades and will continue. Its effects are measurable and will persist, for centuries, affecting the entire planet. The ability to identify and measure changes will be an increasingly important part of business intelligence, community planning, and governmental policies in the short term and in the future. Data and information describing observed and projected changes must be defensible, accessible, and readily useable to support the development and implementation of measures to identify, estimate, and address current and projected risks. They also must be available at spatial and time scales that enable clear understanding of the issues and development of optimal responses across a wide range of disciplines, interests, and concerns.

Disclaimer

The Earth Knowledge Blog is provided for general informational purposes only and is not meant to address specific climate conditions, risks, regions or time periods or to provide recommendations for any specific uses, actions or applications. You should not rely on the material or information in this Blog as the basis for any risk assessment, or to make any business, operational or other decision.