From data to decision: leveraging essential variables in standardizing biodiversity and ecosystem services monitoring and reporting

HyeJin Kim, Bálint Czúcz, Patricia Balvanera, Simon Ferrier, Mike Gill, Jillian Campbell, Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer, Matthew Child, Gary Geller, Frank E. Muller-Karger, Henrique M. Pereira, Laetitia Navarro

Fragmented systems for monitoring and assessing biodiversity and ecosystem services limit the ability to track progress as much at local scales as across international Multilateral Environmental Agreements. The situation makes it difficult to coordinate actions, and meet agreed upon global commitments. Filling this gap requires integrated design of data-to-decision workflows. The Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) and Essential Ecosystem Service Variables (EESVs) are standardizing tools that can coordinate structured and consistent monitoring, generate harmonized and scalable data products, and facilitate reporting in a way that is useful for multiple purposes. Specifically, EBV/EESV frameworks are intended to synthesize information to serve the needs of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the System of Environmental-Economic Accounts Ecosystem Accounting, and assessments of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. This integrative and scalable approach works if local data collection is planned with interoperability, and is fundamental to improve models and forecasts and the indicators required in key policy and decision processes. Through three application cases, we demonstrate the use of EBVs and EESVs in national assessments, modelling, and scenario analyses for strategic policy and spatial planning. These use cases illustrate scalable and repeatable workflows from primary data to indicators for decision support.