Camille Fournier de Lauriere , Robert M McElderry , Ian Brettell, Johan van den Hoogen , Daniel Maynard, Carolina Bello Lozano, Lalasia Bialic-Murphy, Camille S Delavaux, Daisy H Dent, Thomas Elliott, Laura G van Galen, Thomas Lauber, Andrea Paz Velez, Gabriel Smith, Leland K Werden, Constantin M Zohner, Thomas W Crowther

Quantifying biodiversity across the globe is critical for transparent reporting and assessment under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Understanding the complexity of biodiversity requires consideration of the variation of life across genetic, species and ecosystem levels. Achieving this in a globally-standardized way remains a key international challenge. Here, we present the Sustainable Ecology and Economic Development (SEED) framework, which includes plants, animals, and microbes and consolidates multiple dimensions of biodiversity (genetic, species, and ecosystems) into a single measure of biocomplexity at a given location relative to a comparable, minimally-disturbed ‘reference’ ecosystem. We demonstrate the utility of the SEED framework and highlight its features using a novel measure of ecosystem structural intactness and the first-generation SEED index. As new information emerges, the SEED framework continuously integrates state-of-the-art datasets and maps to provide up-to-date estimates of local biocomplexity across the planet for decision makers who strive to improve the global state of nature.