Niels Raes

The United Nations has committed to halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030. Despite this commitment, mining remains a major driver of biodiversity decline, particularly in conservation priority zones (CPZs) and areas with high species extinction risk. Regardless of growing awareness, the full extent of current and future mining threats to biodiversity remains inadequately quantified, limiting effective global conservation strategies. Here, we quantify the threats of 145,000 km² of current mining land to biodiversity. We find that 34% (49,000 km²) of these mining areas overlap with CPZs, intersecting the ranges of more than 2,300 species, including many classified as threatened. These threats span 14 biomes, with disproportionately high relative impacts in fragile ecosystems such as Mangroves and the Mediterranean. Furthermore, an additional 43% (12 million km²), 29% (2 million km²), and 37% (4 million km²) of land potentially exploitable for metals, non-metals, and coal, respectively, overlap with CPZs, highlighting the heightened risks from future mining expansion without consideration for biodiversity. Our findings offer actionable insights for policymakers and industry stakeholders, guiding conservation efforts to mitigate biodiversity loss and align mining practices with global conservation goals, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

The EU’s Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, a core part of the European Green Deal, addresses the complex relationship between human society and its environment by prioritizing the restoration of ecosystems and building resilience against climate change, deforestation, and biodiversity loss.These environmental stressors do more than just degrade ecosystems; they create a pressing need for policymakers, researchers, and society to actively track and mitigate ecological shifts. In order to design effective mitigation strategies, new political frameworks and massive simulation infrastructures are being developed with the aim to establish a common European Green Deal Data Space. The involved initiatives rely on the integration and standardization of diverse, large-scale datasets, ranging from long-term biodiversity records (e.g., eDNA) to real-time IoT sensor data (e.g., camera traps) and global Earth observation (EO) data combined with model-derived reanalysis datasets like ERA5.‘Biodiversity Meets Data’ (BMD) is a Horizon Europe project delivering a unified access point for AI-assisted biodiversity monitoring and cross-realm (terrestrial, marine, freshwater) analysis tools representing a key contribution to the thematic expansion of the European Green Deal Data Space ecosystem. By providing a robust technical infrastructure, BMD facilitates the quantification of diverse ecological pressures - ranging from climate change to land-use shifts - on biodiversity. The project is strategically focused on the EU Natura 2000 network, equipping stakeholders such as conservation managers and policy makers with the necessary tools to implement and evaluate EU Nature Directives such as the Birds and Habitats Directives.In this talk, we will present how BMD leverages FAIR Digital Objects (FDOs) and data space concepts around governance, licensing, and provenance tracking to synthesize computational workflows and diverse datasets into actionable knowledge units (“Workflow Run RO-Crate”, Figure 1). We will demonstrate our implementation path for such data-rich, self-contained digital containers building on web-based technologies such as RO-Crate (lightweight data packages) and FAIR Signposting (machine-interpretable layer describing resources). Those webby FDOs are designed to bridge the gap between practical needs of conservation stakeholders such as supporting data-driven decision making and technical capabilities of the Green Deal Data Space ecosystem.Integration of targeted feedback from stakeholders, notably Natura 2000 site managers, into our development process ensures that the FAIR-compliant data products and FDO service framework are not only technically robust, but also socially and politically actionable. Figure 1. Throughout its life cycle in the BMD data space, data is represented as RO-Crate. Initially (left), the data and the computational workflow are bundled as Workflow RO-Crate. Following processing, this is combined with the results and enriched with retrospective provenance and metadata to form a Workflow Run RO-Crate (right). Finally, these are presented as webby FAIR Digital Objects, incorporating a machine-interpretable layer based on FAIR Signposting (bottom).

Species occurrence data from in situ measurements constitutes the fundamental ingredient for analyses of status of biodiversity, including mapping of species distributions and estimating extinction risks, and thereby supplies core scientific evidence that informs biodiversity policy. These data are a critical component in monitoring progress towards targets to protect and conserve biodiversity, such as those included in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), the EU Nature Directives, the EU Biodiversity Strategy and the EU Nature Restoration Regulation. However, the availability of these data is still lacking for many parts of the world, and even for Europe, it is highly biased towards the North and West with poor coverage of Europe’s most diverse regions in the South and East.The Horizon Europe project ‘Biodiversity Meets Data’ - BMD - is developing a single access point providing users with: a) platforms for high-throughput biodiversity monitoring using camera traps, acoustic devices, and eDNA sampling combined with AI-based species identification, and b) biodiversity analysis tools (BATs) to analyse the captured data in the terrestrial, freshwater, and marine realms. Combining species occurrence information with spatial and temporal explicit Earth Observation (EO) and abiotic data in the BATs allows for powerful quantification of the effects of habitat and climate change on the status of biodiversity and the trends in species distributions and population sizes. BMD is focussed on the effectiveness of the EU Nature Directives and their implementation in the EU Natura 2000 network, and provides Natura 200 site managers and policymakers with monitoring and analyses tools.In this presentation we identify the gaps and biases in European biodiversity data and indicate which of the high-throughput biodiversity monitoring devices can be deployed most effectively to monitor the species for which the Natura 2000 sites were designated. EO data, and their derived habitat metrics, guide Natura 2000 site managers to localities for optimal deployment of high-throughput biodiversity monitoring devices.

The United Nations has committed to halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030, yet mining remains a major driver of biodiversity decline, particularly in conservation priority zones and areas with high species extinction risk. The accelerating clean energy transition intensifies this conflict, as demand for critical minerals essential for renewable technologies creates unprecedented pressures on biodiversity hotspots. Despite growing awareness, the full spatial extent of current and future mining threats to biodiversity remains inadequately quantified, limiting the effectiveness of global conservation strategies and sustainable development pathways.Here, we provide the first comprehensive, spatially explicit assessment of mining threats to biodiversity by compiling 145,000 km² of current mining footprints and analyzing their overlap with conservation priority zones (CPZs) and species extinction risks across 14 biomes globally. We find that 34% of current mining areas overlap with CPZs, threatening over 2,300 species, including many classified as critically endangered, endangered, or vulnerable. These threats disproportionately affect fragile ecosystems such as Mangroves and Mediterranean biomes. Critically, our analysis reveals that minerals essential for the clean energy transition, including lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare earth elements, show the highest overlap with CPZs and areas of elevated extinction risk compared to fossil fuels, creating a direct conflict between climate mitigation and biodiversity conservation goals.Future projections demonstrate that without proactive spatial planning, an additional 43% (11.7 million km²) of areas potentially exploitable for metals, 29% (2.2 million km²) for non-metals, and 36% (387,000 km²) for coal overlap with CPZs, highlighting heightened risks from mining expansion. Our buffer analysis shows that inadequate spatial containment could escalate biodiversity threats by 4-54 times for CPZs and 7-562 times for extinction risks.We provide actionable solutions for navigating this nexus: spatial exclusion of mining from high-priority biodiversity areas, strengthened governance and community co-management, advanced restoration technologies, and circular economy strategies to reduce mineral demand. Our spatially explicit findings offer critical guidance for policymakers and industries to align mining practices with the Global Biodiversity Framework and Sustainable Development Goals, demonstrating pathways to reconcile resource extraction with biodiversity conservation in the clean energy era.

Human activities are profoundly reshaping the planet, driving accelerating biodiversity loss and widespread habitat degradation. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) call for halting human-induced extinctions and safeguarding critical ecosystems by 2030. Yet economic growth and associated pressures, including land-use change, resource extraction, climate change, pollution, and invasive species, continue to erode biodiversity, especially in global hotspots. Achieving the Kunming-Montreal goals requires not only global commitment but also robust, spatially explicit assessments that allow public and private sectors to understand, mitigate, and manage their biodiversity impacts.In response, regulatory frameworks such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) now require companies to assess their biodiversity impacts and dependencies. However, existing tools, including IBAT, WWF’s Biodiversity Risk Filter, ENCORE, and AI-driven platforms, capture only partial aspects of biodiversity. Many rely on coarse spatial units, static datasets, sector-level averages, or black-box algorithms. Importantly, none combines site-specific biodiversity state, direct pressure assessment, and temporal monitoring needed for informed, location-based mitigation and nature-positive planning.THRIVE (Toolset for Hierarchical Reporting and Insightful Validation of Ecosystems) was developed by Naturalis Biodiversity Center in collaboration with KPMG to fill this gap. THRIVE is a spatially explicit, site-level biodiversity monitoring tool that integrates globally recognised datasets (e.g., Biomes, WWF ecoregions, WDPA, Key Biodiversity Areas, Red List, GBIF) with regional and national biodiversity data. It merges dynamic land-use change, fragmentation, encroachment, wetland conversion, species occurrence, and habitat condition into a hierarchical set of indicators, revealing biodiversity state and pressures at each location. Unlike many existing tools, THRIVE uses transparent, externally verifiable data aligned with TNFD LEAP and CSRD reporting, ensuring auditability and actionable, site-specific decision-making rather than coarse risk scanning.By linking corporate activities directly to observed biodiversity conditions, THRIVE enables companies to identify high-impact or high-risk sites, prioritise mitigation and restoration actions, and contribute to global biodiversity targets. While not yet designed for portfolio-level aggregation, THRIVE provides a scientifically rigorous, decision-ready foundation for nature-positive corporate strategies, ensuring biodiversity assessments are aligned, credible, spatially explicit, and fit for the 2030 and 2050 ambitions.

The interdependence of human, animal, plant and ecosystem health necessitates systemic, cross-domain collaboration to address global challenges, such as emerging diseases, climate change and biodiversity severe change. Through the Crete Declaration, Europe’s (e-)infrastructures, organisations and projects that focus on the functioning of our biosphere commit to jointly advancing the One Health approach. In doing so, the signatories aim to strengthen Europe’s resilience and leadership through the sharing of data and expertise, the development of innovative solutions and the promotion of evidence-based policies.

Measuring the use of natural history collections is essential to understand their past and present impact on science, to underpin decisions about their management and to assist with deploying them optimally to address societal challenges. Using the vast natural history collections of Naturalis Biodiversity Center as an example, this paper assesses the significance and relevance of quantifying collection use. Four aspects are discussed: 1. standardisation, 2. relevance of having standardised metrics on collection use, 3. the level of detail and completeness of the information and 4. the interactions between digitisation of collections and physical collection use. Based on a set of transparent and objective parameters to describe collection use, it is proposed to further develop these into international standards.

Biodiversity loss is now recognised as one of the major challenges for humankind to address over the next few decades. Unless major actions are taken, the sixth mass extinction will lead to catastrophic effects on the Earth’s biosphere and human health and well-being. ELIXIR can help address the technical challenges of biodiversity science, through leveraging its suite of services and expertise to enable data management and analysis activities that enhance our understanding of life on Earth and facilitate biodiversity preservation and restoration. This white paper, prepared by the ELIXIR Biodiversity Community, summarises the current status and responses, and presents a set of plans, both technical and community-oriented, that should both enhance how ELIXIR Services are applied in the biodiversity field and how ELIXIR builds connections across the many other infrastructures active in this area. We discuss the areas of highest priority, how they can be implemented in cooperation with the ELIXIR Platforms, and their connections to existing ELIXIR Communities and international consortia. The article provides a preliminary blueprint for a Biodiversity Community in ELIXIR and is an appeal to identify and involve new stakeholders.

Designing multispecies systems with suitable climatic affinity and identifying species' vulnerability under human‐driven climate change are current challenges to achieve successful adaptation of natural systems. To address this problem, we need to (1) identify groups of species with climatic similarity under climate scenarios and (2) identify areas with high conservation value under predicted climate change. To recognize species with similar climatic niche requirements that can be grouped for mixed cropping in Brazil, we employed ecological niche models (ENMs) and Spearman's ρ for overlap. We also used prioritization algorithms to map areas of high conservation value using two Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP2‐4.5 and SSP5‐8.5) to assess mid‐term (2041–2060) and long‐term (2061–2080) climate change impacts. We identified 15 species groups with finer climatic affinities at different times depicted on hierarchical clustering dendrograms, which can be combined into agroecological agroforestry systems. Furthermore, we highlight the climatically suitable areas for these groups of species, thus providing an outlook of where different species will need to be planted over time to be conserved. In addition, we observed that climate change is predicted to modify the spatial association of these groups under different future climate scenarios, causing a mean negative change in species climatic similarity of 9.5% to 13.7% under SSP2‐4.5 scenario and 9.5% to 10.5% under SSP5‐8.5, for 2041–2060 and 2061–2080, respectively. Synthesis and applications. Our findings provide a framework for agroforestry conservation. The groups of species with finer climatic affinities identified and the climatically suitable areas can be combined into agroecological productive systems, and provide an outlook of where different species may be planted over time. In addition, the conservation priority zones displaying high climate stability for each species individually and all at once can be incorporated into Brazil's conservation plans by policymakers to prioritize specific sites. Lastly, we urge policymakers, conservation organizations and donors to promote interventions involving farmers and local communities, since the species' evaluated have proven to maintain landscapes with productive forest fragments and can be conserved in different Brazilian ecosystems.

Biodiversity loss is now recognised as one of the major challenges for humankind to address over the next few decades. Unless major actions are taken, the sixth mass extinction will lead to catastrophic effects on the Earth’s biosphere and human health and well-being. ELIXIR can help address the technical challenges of biodiversity science, through leveraging its suite of services and expertise to enable data management and analysis activities that enhance our understanding of life on Earth and facilitate biodiversity preservation and restoration. This white paper, prepared by the ELIXIR Biodiversity Community, summarises the current status and responses, and presents a set of plans, both technical and community-oriented, that should both enhance how ELIXIR Services are applied in the biodiversity field and how ELIXIR builds connections across the many other infrastructures active in this area. We discuss the areas of highest priority, how they can be implemented in cooperation with the ELIXIR Platforms, and their connections to existing ELIXIR Communities and international consortia. The article provides a preliminary blueprint for a Biodiversity Community in ELIXIR and is an appeal to identify and involve new stakeholders.