GCRI · Biodiversity Nexus
Nature data and rights
Biodiversity data come from field stations, museums, satellites, citizen scientists and the knowledge of Indigenous peoples and local communities. Publishing them openly speeds science and planning, but open locations of rare species can guide poachers, and knowledge shared without consent can be taken from those who hold it. This page sets out the rights, consent and responsible-use principles that govern ecological data, and how they shape what is published, at what resolution and under whose terms.
Nature data and rights in seven parts.
- 01The questionNature data and rights: how the risk develops
- 02CouplingsWho controls nature data shapes who benefits in every domain
- 03Reports, standards and contributionsData rights in practice
- 04IndicatorsWhat is measured, and how well
- 05SourcesWhere the evidence comes from
- 06DecisionsWho decides, and what the evidence serves
- 07Core questionsWhat experts ask
Nature data and rights: how the risk develops.
Rights, consent and responsible ecological data. The dossier below sets out how the risk develops, what is measured, where the data come from, how it is modelled and who decides.
Openness meets sensitivity
Precise coordinates of threatened species, nesting sites or valuable plants can enable collection and poaching. Responsible publishing generalises or withholds such locations while keeping the data useful for science and planning.
Knowledge needs consent
Traditional knowledge of species, seasons and land belongs to those who hold it. Free, prior and informed consent and agreed terms are needed before it is recorded, used or shared, and consent can be limited or withdrawn.
Genetic resources and benefit sharing
Samples and digital sequence information derived from biodiversity feed research and products. The Nagoya Protocol and the Kunming-Montreal decision on digital sequence information set expectations that benefits return to providers and knowledge holders.
Data gaps reproduce inequity
Where data are collected by outsiders and held elsewhere, local institutions lose control and capacity. Global datasets then over-represent well-funded regions, and decisions built on them can overlook the places and people they affect most.
LEAP workspace.
The screen a team would use to follow this subject: its measures, states and decisions. Names are examples and values are illustrative.
LEAP workspace
Nature data and rights · Landscape A · Assessment cycle 2
LEAP approach
- Locateinterface with nature
- Evaluatedependencies · impacts
- Assessrisks · opportunities
- Preparerespond · report
Dependencies and impacts
materiality, 0 low to 100 high
Scores are examples for an assessment the owner completes.
Sensitive locations
sites near high-integrity areas
Nature-related risk register
| Water scarcity at site 3 | Physical, acute | Abstraction and drought | High | Water stewardship plan |
| Habitat conversion in supply chain | Transition, market | Land use change | Medium | Supplier screening |
| Community objection | Systemic, social | Consent gaps | Medium | Consent records review |
| Pollinator decline | Physical, chronic | Pesticide use | Low | Monitor |
Who controls nature data shapes who benefits in every domain.
| Domain | How it couples here | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Food | Genetic resources for breeding are governed by the Plant Treaty’s multilateral system. See agritech and innovation. | Material transfer agreements |
| Health | Pathogen samples and sequence data feed vaccines; benefit-sharing is under negotiation for the WHO Pandemic Agreement. See infectious threats. | Sequence data sharing terms |
| Water | Indigenous and local water knowledge carries rights. | Free, prior and informed consent records |
| Energy | Location data on sensitive species can conflict with infrastructure planning. | Sensitive data handling rules |
Access and benefit-sharing follows the Nagoya Protocol (2010, in force 2014). In 2024, the CBD’s sixteenth Conference of the Parties agreed a multilateral mechanism for benefit-sharing from digital sequence information, including the Cali Fund. The CARE Principles (2020) set expectations for Indigenous data governance.
The sector signature of nature data and rights.
The sectors nature data and rights touches and how strongly they depend on each other: what a study has to observe and model together.
Signature
Biodiversity and its partners
Biodiversity gives pollination and soils to food (0.6), watershed regulation to water (0.5) and zoonotic spillover and medicines to health (0.4).
W · E · I · F · H · B
- Sectors
- 4 of 6
- Relations
- 6 of 15
- Coupling
- 0.46 share of total
Strongest relations in play
- Food → Biodiversity · land conversion0.6
- Water → Food · irrigation0.8
- Water → Biodiversity · environmental flows0.6
- Food → Health · nutrition0.7
Data rights in practice.
Every dataset in the programme carries its owner, terms and sensitivity, catalogued under NS-3b of the proposed Nexus Standards; protected knowledge never enters public outputs or model training. Findings on data governance are designed for the Methods and Technical series. Rights-holders can raise a concern about any use of their data, without an account.
How nature data and rights is modelled, measured and tested.
The model, its assumptions, its data and its uncertainty, in the form a scientist or engineer would check. Structures follow published methods. The values drawn are illustrative, not findings.
Earth observation chain
How a satellite or sensor record becomes evidence on nature data and rights, and where each step adds uncertainty.
- 01 · Acquireorbit, sensor and revisitUncertainty: gaps from cloud and orbit
- 02 · Calibrateradiometric and geometricUncertainty: sensor drift
- 03 · Correctatmosphere and terrainUncertainty: aerosol and slope assumptions
- 04 · Retrieve or classifythe variable or the classUncertainty: model and training error
- 05 · Validateagainst ground truthUncertainty: sample design and size
- 06 · Publishwith error bars and lineageUncertainty: stated, never hidden
What is measured, and how well.
Each indicator carries its unit, its cadence, the kind of source behind it and the evidence label a value would carry. No values are shown: a programme supplies them under its own authority.
| Indicator | Unit | Cadence | Source type | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Records with generalised coordinates | count of records by sensitivity category | continuous | Publisher and aggregator metadata | DECLARED |
| Datasets with a stated licence | count of datasets by licence class | continuous | Aggregator metadata | DECLARED |
| Internationally recognised certificates of compliance | count of certificates | continuous | Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-House | Published statistics |
| Datasets carrying Traditional Knowledge or Biocultural labels | count of datasets | continuous | Local Contexts registry and publisher metadata | DECLARED |
| Records published by in-country institutions | share of records by publishing country | annual | Aggregator statistics | REPORTED |
| Consent status of community data | documented consent category per dataset | per dataset | Data governance agreements | DECLARED |
Where the evidence comes from.
Named public datasets and institutional records, each with its licence class. Sources by agreement are used only under their terms and never republished.
| Source | What it gives | Licence class |
|---|---|---|
| GBIF data use agreement and sensitive data guidance | Licensing rules and practice for generalising sensitive species data | Free and open, attribution |
| Access and Benefit-sharing Clearing-House (CBD) | Permits, certificates of compliance and national measures under the Nagoya Protocol | Public records |
| CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance (Global Indigenous Data Alliance) | Collective benefit, authority to control, responsibility and ethics | Free and open, attribution |
| FAIR Guiding Principles | Practices for findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable data | Free and open |
| Local Contexts Traditional Knowledge and Biocultural labels | Labels and notices that attach community terms to data and collections | Free to use under Local Contexts terms |
| LandMark global platform of Indigenous and community lands | Mapped Indigenous and community lands and their legal status | Terms per dataset, some layers restricted |
Who decides, and what the evidence serves.
Biodiversity Nexus prepares evidence. The decisions below are taken by the authorities named, under their own rules, and never by the platform.
| Who decides | The question | Evidence this page serves |
|---|---|---|
| Indigenous and community governance bodies | Whether, how and on what terms their knowledge and land data are recorded and shared | Consent records, labels, data governance agreements and access logs |
| National biodiversity data publishers and GBIF nodes | Which records to generalise or withhold, and under which licence to publish | Sensitivity lists, generalisation rules, licence metadata |
| Competent national authorities under the Nagoya Protocol | Whether access to genetic resources and associated knowledge meets national requirements | Permits, prior informed consent and mutually agreed terms |
| Research funders and journals | Which data management, consent and benefit-sharing conditions to require | Alignment with CARE and FAIR, licence and consent statements |
Outputs this topic produces
- Responsible publication guides for sensitive species data
- Data governance templates recording licence, consent and terms
- Generalisation rules for public maps with resolution stated
- Notes on access and benefit-sharing obligations for data users
What experts ask.
Data stewards, researchers and rights holders work on a set of practical questions.
- Who owns or has rights over ecological observations, including those made on Indigenous and community lands?
- What consent is needed to record, use and publish community and traditional knowledge, and how is it kept current?
- Which data are sensitive, and how should locations be generalised or access restricted?
- How are contributors, including citizen scientists and communities, attributed and how do benefits flow back?
- How can open data principles be reconciled with the right of communities to control data about them?
Why openness and protection must be designed together.
Open biodiversity data has transformed the field, allowing records from many sources to be combined into continental and global analyses. But openness by default can expose vulnerable species and people. Location data on rare orchids, reptiles or birds of prey has been linked to collection and persecution, and maps of community resource areas can be used against those communities in land disputes.
Indigenous data sovereignty frameworks hold that peoples have rights to govern data about themselves, their lands and their knowledge. Applied to ecology, this means consent before collection, community control over use, benefit to the community, and responsibility for long-term care. These principles sit alongside, not against, findability and reuse: the aim is data that is both usable and governed.
How the evidence is built, and where it stops.
- 01
Sensitivity classification
Data is classed by the harm its release could cause. Classes need regular review as threats change.
- 02
Generalisation and access control
Coordinates are coarsened or held under managed access. Generalisation can reduce scientific usefulness, and the trade-off must be stated.
- 03
Free, prior and informed consent
Consent processes agreed with communities before work begins. Consent is ongoing and can be withdrawn.
- 04
Provenance and labelling
Metadata and labels record source, rights and conditions of use, applying geospatial data standards. Labels only work if downstream users respect them.
How it is studied, and what the methods cannot say.
- 01Geospatial information systemsOverlap with sensitive biodiversity · Connectivity and corridor analysisApplied here
- 02Ecology and biodiversity scienceSpecies distribution modelling · Population trend and viability analysisApplied here
- 03Spatial statistics and geostatisticsBias-corrected distribution surfaces · Hotspots of change and threatApplied here
- 04Earth observation and remote sensingForest loss and disturbance alerts · Wetland and mangrove dynamicsApplied here
Where this page’s references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
- Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing (CBD, 2010; in force 2014)
- CBD decision 16/2 on digital sequence information and the Cali Fund (2024)
- Carroll and others, The CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance, Data Science Journal 19 (2020)
- NS-3b, Dataset and product metadata profile, a proposed standard
Questions and answers.
Why are some species locations hidden?
What are the CARE principles?
Does open data mean anyone can use it for anything?
Does the platform publish exact locations of threatened species?
Can a community withdraw consent for its data?
How do I raise a concern about data use?
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium’s quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
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